“…we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly
as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons…”
Romans 8:23
Adoption is a beautiful thing. I firmly believe that truth. If it’s God’s will for us, my husband and I hope one day to experience the blessing of adopting a child into our family. Yet even as I look forward to that time, I can’t do so without remembering that the joy of adoption always emerges from sadness. If we are given the chance welcome a child into our home, it will mean that someone else has had to say goodbye.
In his article “No Such Thing as Adoption without Suffering,” Dan Cruver of Together for Adoption provides a moving description of both the pain involved with adoption and the promise of hope afforded by the gospel…
Romanticizing adoption is so very easy and tempting to do.
But adoption always involves suffering. Just ask any birthmother or a child who is one of three hundred orphans in a Chinese orphanage or an adoptive couple who has lived with infertility for years or an adoptive couple who is experiencing the high-ups and low-downs of the adoption process. Sometimes the suffering is deeply intense and ongoing—like that of an orphan languishing each day in a nightmarish orphanage—while other times it’s the heavy heart of the couple waiting to bring their child home. There is no such thing as adoption without suffering.
The same thing is true of our adoption by God. The adoption to which we were predestined (Eph. 1:5) could not have happened without Jesus redeeming us “through his blood” (Eph. 1:7). There is no such thing as being adopted into God’s family apart from the suffering of Jesus. Jesus cried “Abba! Father!” in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36) so that we could become sons of God who cry “Abba! Father!” by the Spirit (Rom. 8:15). Our adoption necessarily involved suffering—infinite suffering.
I love windows. They allow me to sit in a small “world” (my home, for example) and look out into a big world. Through windows we can see beautiful beaches, lush green meadows, and towering snowcapped mountains…
Our suffering now as the children of God is a window that provides us with the opportunity to get glimpses of a world more beautiful and more wonderful than can be imagined. Paul writes, “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). You don’t groan unless you are suffering. Happy people don’t groan. Suffering people do. Orphans groan. Birthmothers groan. Adoptive families groan. A broken world groans.
But with the eyes of faith suffering people who have been given the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15) can look through the window of their suffering into a future world where all things are made new…
Read the entire article HERE.
Photo: Allan Korup
Great thoughts… I will repost this one!
In just a few days, after over 2 years in the foster care system & YEARS of neglects & abuses, our 4 foster children’s biological parents will lose their parental rights at trial & our adoptions will move forward. Four children, all grieving in different ways, at different grief stages – and we, who are thrilled to make them legally ours, know NOT to jump for joy because it HURTS. It’s not just children in orphanages around the world, but also those in permanancy-limbo in US foster care homes, too!
Our kiddos are amazing – domestic adoptions are rescue missions, too!
Renee
Praise the Lord for the way you are ministering to your children, Renee! What a powerful testimony of God’s grace to them and to the world around you. I agree with you about the importance of adopting here in the U.S. also. Bringing children home from the foster care system is another desire of my heart. May the Lord bless you and your family as you face the joys and challenges of adoption together.