Watched some videos this morning of a family currently in Ukraine, adopting two waiting children with some medical needs. I of course first heard about this family from Adeye. It is a remarkable story, one of redemption and hope. My favorite kind.
And now watching these videos through tear-filled eyes, I'm thinking to myself, how beautiful the love that compels someone to step out in faith on behalf of the waiting orphaned child, and ultimately on behalf of life. And how deep the truth coursing through this story's veins, even as it is being written. This story that brings together a family who loves, and a little girl and little boy who need to both give and receive that precious love. Truth and grace and mercy are present.
I see this mama and child and I am stunned by how quickly things can change when people say yes to God. Some change is slow, yes, even painfully slow, but some is incredibly sudden. Not too long ago there was little hope for sweet Julia's future. And now she is being treasured and cherished and cuddled by her mom. She is experiencing a loving human relationship for possibly the first time in her life. This is deep stuff, not just schmaltzy Hallmark-ian sentiment.
Some will look at parents raising children from the hard places, and/or children with medical needs or developmental delays, and wonder how they do it...that is not something I could do...it's just too hard and that is for other people, NOT me. Well, perhaps not. But what if each of these children, in addition to being an incredible blessing from God, also represents an opportunity to enter into the mess with Jesus and love generously? Being a mother is surely filled with hard times and sacrifice and the giving away of oneself. It involves frustration and sadness and self-doubt. It requires you to think hard and problem-solve and give up on your own ideas of how life should go. It's not easy and it isn't meant to be easy. Life here on earth is SO incredibly short, and aren't we all looking for meaning? What if some of that meaning is right in front of us?
Please hear me when I say that adoption should NEVER be about doing "ministry", and these children should NOT be seen as charity cases in that sense. It should not be pursued just because you want to do something good or because you are religious. When you adopt a child, that is your child. You are their parent. As surely as when you birth a child.
And yet at its core, love is patient, kind, full of sacrifice, and generous. It is a generous love that is open to the addition of a child to the family--biological or adopted. It is a generous love that pursues the adoption of a child with known (and unknown) medical issues.
It is a generous love that bears, believes, hopes and endures--yes, endures--all things.
This sort of virtuous love is incredibly beautiful to watch. I am in awe this morning. Completely inspired by this family. Completely inspired by the many families I know in real life (how blessed I am to know so very many!) who are in the trenches fighting for the lives of their children from the hard places. It is love in action, it is real, and while it may not always feel good/look tidy/go the way we thought it would, it is a self-giving sort of love. Complete with true depth and fulfillment, and where you just know that, well, Jesus is there.
Love.
