God reminded me of this truth this week when I was traveling down the road. At first I was reflecting on Jesus, but as often happens these days, my mind wandered to Micah and to adoption in general. You see, when Christ redeemed my life it was with a great price. The price was his life. Jesus set aside the glories of heaven to dwell with men and become the living sacrifice for me. The price was high, but it was paid for the sake of love. This got me thinking to the sacrifices made in adoption.
God has reminded me that he is using our family—to redeem Micah’s life. Not necessarily in a spiritual sense, although we’re hoping that Micah will come to know Christ, but rather in a physical sense. This will not be without cost. If foster care taught our family one thing, it is that the blending of new people into an existing family is not easy. We are no longer naïve to the difficulties of merging together as a new (but improved) Forbes family. We realize that the waiting that we are doing right now, all the fundraising, and all the paperwork-- that’s the “easy” part! The days of adjusting on one another, everyone re-finding their “nitch” in the family, bonding with one another—these are things that are a little more difficult and require reliance on God to make it happen. They say it takes at least one full year (and maybe more) after the adoption of a child for the family to find normalcy again. Maybe God has allowed us to walk some of our foster care paths to prepare us to do that part of it again. Redemption requires sacrifice.
God gave us a passion for orphans many years ago and that passion has never faded. Actually, it continues to grow all the time. We know, that we know, that this is the right decision for our family. And, because we trust God’s plan for us, we know he will work out all the details—for Micah, for our other children, and for us. There will be hard days, but we trust that God will carry us through. We are in the palm of his hand and we won’t be doing this adoption journey alone. Much the opposite! Instead we will strive to let God lead the way.
Although we do believe that the redemption of this child’s life will require sacrifice, we also believe that it will be more than worth it! And make no mistake, Micah will sacrifice as well. As inferior as orphanage life is compared to life spent in a loving family, the orphanage is all that Micah has ever known. So, to gain a family, Micah must sacrifice as well, although his sacrifices will be different from ours—he will sacrifice his familiar caregivers, his familiar bed, food, and the sounds and sights that make up his world. Without knowing it is coming, he will be thrust into a whole new world—an unfamiliar and scary world. Redemption requires sacrifice.
In one of the videos that we plan to share at our adoption luncheon in a few days, an adoptive dad says this: “There is no physical thing that you can buy that’s actually going to give you true peace and happiness. And the pure joy that will come from a rescue and a ransom of a child’s life is probably the most satisfying thing you can imagine.” Micah’s life is worth more than any sacrifice our family will make. And I’m praying that once Micah is settled here, that he too will recognize that joining us was worth all the things he had to leave behind. Jesus’ example reminds me that redemption is his plan—for me, for all people who trust in him, for Micah, for all orphans who long for a family.
Erin
