My pastor (who also happens to be my husband) is preaching through the book of Luke. Today he preached the second of a three week section on the Fatherhood of God. We were in the first half of Luke 3. He also prayed through Psalm 42 for his pastoral prayer. There was also a baptism - Donny's first to officiate. It was one of those Sundays where all of the elements of the service lined up for God to wash over me a very clear message: I have to adopt. I need to adopt.
Psalm 42 (the guide for our pastoral prayer this morning) begins:
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
So my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Donny began the prayer leading us in corporate confession that "panting for God" is not always the attitude of our hearts. We don't thirst as we should, and when I do thirst, I often seek satisfaction or the quenching of my thirst apart from God.
During the baptism and the sermon (which included Jesus' baptism), Donny taught that baptism is not as much a sign for the believer of his/her commitment to God as it is God's sign and seal of his commitment and faithfulness to his own. He also compared the giddiness of a new father at the birth of his child to the much, much greater love, affection, and approval of the Father for his son, Jesus, at his baptism.
You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. Luke 3:22b
I learned a lot today about God's fatherly affection and approval of Jesus. I also learned that God's fatherly love for me is the same, but there is a significant difference in our relationship. I am not his begotten. I am his betrayer. I am not his by birth. I am the daughter of sin and death. I was made in the image of God and have defecated on it. I belomg, by birth through Adam, to the grave. BUT...I am God's...by death...by the death and resurrection of his begotten, his one and only begotten. God has given his godly affection and approval to his Gentile, outsider children, because he planned before the beginning of time to rescue and redeem us. The Fatherhood of God and all the approval and affection is mine. My God is an adoptive God.
My soul thirsts for God. Psalm 42:2a
I have struggled throughout my 20+ years as a believer with the Fatherhood of God. I haven't always known how to picture and receive his love, grace, admiration, affection and all those benefits I have as his child. I often keep him at an arm's distance because I think he is out to disapprove of me when I fail. My view of him is often skewed.
My soul thirsts for God.
In my new found thirst for God and a longing to understand his fatherhood more deeply, I am realizing that he has some things to teach me in our adoption that I would have a hard time learning any other way. Things about his love. Things about salvation and redemption. About true affection and acceptance.
This child we are adopting. He/she was not born into the Friederichsen Family. He/she isn't even on the same continent or of the same ethnic or national descent as our family. There is no natural reason why we should ever know each other, love each other, or experience life together.
But we will.
Back in June 2012, once Donny and I were confident of the Lord's call to adopt at this time in our lives, we began what will be a lifelong process of initiative and advocacy on behalf of a child we don't (at this point) even know. We made calls. We have taken steps. We have inquired. We have signed contracts. We have sought education. We have paid money...lots of money...with still more to go. We have traveled for fingerprints and interviews. We have pushed through bureaucracy. We have gathered papers. Found signatures. Embossed and notarized. Written essays. Answered questions. Been examined. Flown envelopes of papers to Louisville, Utah, D.C., and to Ethiopia. We are waiting. And we will wait. And wait some more. Then there will be more money. And more waiting. And more flying. And more waiting. And then...ADOPTION. We will be family. He/she will be ours. A Friederichsen. A son or daughter. An heir (or heiress). A brother or sister. Once God clearly called us to this process, we were ALL IN. And, I will say, there is nothing that will stop us from seeing this adoption complete. It's oftentimes consuming...because you know your family is not how it is fully meant to be...and you will do just about anything to get it there. To bring them home. To make them ours. And we still don't even know him/her. Not one little bit about them.
The process of earthly adoption is a grace God has given to redeem the effects of the fall of man that leaves children as orphans. This process is hard and beautiful. And I know I have only scratched the surface of how hard and beautiful the process will be. But this process...this long, hard, expensive, heart-wrenching process...is nothing compared to what my heavenly Father has done to adopt me. To call me daughter. Sister to Christ. Heiress. Beloved. One with whom he is pleased. The only reason I can know and experience the affectionate and approving love of my Father is because of the plan he made, the steps he took, the wait he endured, and the price he paid to adopt me.
When the time comes for our family to be matched with a waiting child for adoption (probably in a year or more), we will be given referral documents that will list all that our agency was able to obtain about the child. Pictures. Birth family info. Circumstances surrounding the abandonment. Health info. Developmental info. And more. We will then review this information and decide if this child is "ours." Many families testify to seeing the pictures and just knowing that the child was theirs.
When God adopted me, here is what he knew about me - what my "referral papers" said: Sinful at birth, hater of God, self-seeking, prideful, independent, rotten, corrupt, outsider, unable not to sin, betrayer. And he said, "Yes, she is mine. I will do whatever it takes to adopt her." My words, of course. Here are a few glimpses about what scripture says about the whole thing:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will
Ephesians 1:3-5
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:4-7
If you talk with adoptive families who are either in the paperwork process, who are waiting on a referral, or who are waiting to bring a child home, you will hear them lament mostly about two things: money and waiting. It's the cost of adoption. It is expensive, and most families endure a very long wait. These two things are not true for everyone, but they are true for most adoptive families.
God has used the scriptures to show me his cost for my adoption. He chose me before the foundation of the world. When we talk about the story of redemption, it is the story of God's long wait/plan to redeem, rescue, and adopt his children. He waited a long time and still waits for the world to be fully redeemed according to his plan. He knows my wait, because he waited long for me.
He also paid a great price. He sent forth his Son. The money we will spend on our adoption is not even a drop in a bucket compared to the price God paid for me through Jesus.
There is so much that I have to learn about the Fatherhood of God. I am thankful to be thirsting and longing to know him in this way. This longing to know him more as Father only confirms our decision to adopt. I have to adopt. I need to adopt. Why in the world wouldn't I want to experience this small, minuscule glimpse of what my God did to adopt me? Today, in some ways, I feel my motivation to adopt is a little selfish. I don't want to miss this lesson on the fatherhood of God and what he did to secure my adoption. I am sure God can teach about his Fatherhood to many people in many ways. BUT...our adoption is doing a special work in my life right now. As we take steps to seek funding for our adoption, and as we enter month two of what will likely be a 12-18 month wait for a referral, I am humbled by the cost that my Father paid for me, wretch that I am. Totally undeserving. He waited from before creation, and he paid the ultimate price of his only begotten Son to redeem, rescue, and adopt me.
There are many more thoughts to come from our adoption, I am sure...which only confirms how I need to adopt. Yes, children around the world and in our own neighborhoods need forever families. We have been called to that and long to meet that need in our child's life. BUT...today our adoption is serving another purpose. Today, because of our adoption process, I relish more fully in my Father God who made me part of his forever family. I am no longer a slave. I am a daughter. God affectionately and approvingly calls me his own. His child.
Thank you, Abba Father, for the great, great price you paid for my adoption. Thank you for calling our family to the special grace of earthly adoption and for how you are using it to deepen my understanding of you as my loving, affectionate, and approving adoptive Father. May I continue to thirst for all you have for me in this process.
Psalm 42 (the guide for our pastoral prayer this morning) begins:
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
So my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
Donny began the prayer leading us in corporate confession that "panting for God" is not always the attitude of our hearts. We don't thirst as we should, and when I do thirst, I often seek satisfaction or the quenching of my thirst apart from God.
During the baptism and the sermon (which included Jesus' baptism), Donny taught that baptism is not as much a sign for the believer of his/her commitment to God as it is God's sign and seal of his commitment and faithfulness to his own. He also compared the giddiness of a new father at the birth of his child to the much, much greater love, affection, and approval of the Father for his son, Jesus, at his baptism.
You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. Luke 3:22b
I learned a lot today about God's fatherly affection and approval of Jesus. I also learned that God's fatherly love for me is the same, but there is a significant difference in our relationship. I am not his begotten. I am his betrayer. I am not his by birth. I am the daughter of sin and death. I was made in the image of God and have defecated on it. I belomg, by birth through Adam, to the grave. BUT...I am God's...by death...by the death and resurrection of his begotten, his one and only begotten. God has given his godly affection and approval to his Gentile, outsider children, because he planned before the beginning of time to rescue and redeem us. The Fatherhood of God and all the approval and affection is mine. My God is an adoptive God.
My soul thirsts for God. Psalm 42:2a
I have struggled throughout my 20+ years as a believer with the Fatherhood of God. I haven't always known how to picture and receive his love, grace, admiration, affection and all those benefits I have as his child. I often keep him at an arm's distance because I think he is out to disapprove of me when I fail. My view of him is often skewed.
My soul thirsts for God.
In my new found thirst for God and a longing to understand his fatherhood more deeply, I am realizing that he has some things to teach me in our adoption that I would have a hard time learning any other way. Things about his love. Things about salvation and redemption. About true affection and acceptance.
This child we are adopting. He/she was not born into the Friederichsen Family. He/she isn't even on the same continent or of the same ethnic or national descent as our family. There is no natural reason why we should ever know each other, love each other, or experience life together.
But we will.
Back in June 2012, once Donny and I were confident of the Lord's call to adopt at this time in our lives, we began what will be a lifelong process of initiative and advocacy on behalf of a child we don't (at this point) even know. We made calls. We have taken steps. We have inquired. We have signed contracts. We have sought education. We have paid money...lots of money...with still more to go. We have traveled for fingerprints and interviews. We have pushed through bureaucracy. We have gathered papers. Found signatures. Embossed and notarized. Written essays. Answered questions. Been examined. Flown envelopes of papers to Louisville, Utah, D.C., and to Ethiopia. We are waiting. And we will wait. And wait some more. Then there will be more money. And more waiting. And more flying. And more waiting. And then...ADOPTION. We will be family. He/she will be ours. A Friederichsen. A son or daughter. An heir (or heiress). A brother or sister. Once God clearly called us to this process, we were ALL IN. And, I will say, there is nothing that will stop us from seeing this adoption complete. It's oftentimes consuming...because you know your family is not how it is fully meant to be...and you will do just about anything to get it there. To bring them home. To make them ours. And we still don't even know him/her. Not one little bit about them.
The process of earthly adoption is a grace God has given to redeem the effects of the fall of man that leaves children as orphans. This process is hard and beautiful. And I know I have only scratched the surface of how hard and beautiful the process will be. But this process...this long, hard, expensive, heart-wrenching process...is nothing compared to what my heavenly Father has done to adopt me. To call me daughter. Sister to Christ. Heiress. Beloved. One with whom he is pleased. The only reason I can know and experience the affectionate and approving love of my Father is because of the plan he made, the steps he took, the wait he endured, and the price he paid to adopt me.
When the time comes for our family to be matched with a waiting child for adoption (probably in a year or more), we will be given referral documents that will list all that our agency was able to obtain about the child. Pictures. Birth family info. Circumstances surrounding the abandonment. Health info. Developmental info. And more. We will then review this information and decide if this child is "ours." Many families testify to seeing the pictures and just knowing that the child was theirs.
When God adopted me, here is what he knew about me - what my "referral papers" said: Sinful at birth, hater of God, self-seeking, prideful, independent, rotten, corrupt, outsider, unable not to sin, betrayer. And he said, "Yes, she is mine. I will do whatever it takes to adopt her." My words, of course. Here are a few glimpses about what scripture says about the whole thing:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will
Ephesians 1:3-5
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Galatians 4:4-7
If you talk with adoptive families who are either in the paperwork process, who are waiting on a referral, or who are waiting to bring a child home, you will hear them lament mostly about two things: money and waiting. It's the cost of adoption. It is expensive, and most families endure a very long wait. These two things are not true for everyone, but they are true for most adoptive families.
God has used the scriptures to show me his cost for my adoption. He chose me before the foundation of the world. When we talk about the story of redemption, it is the story of God's long wait/plan to redeem, rescue, and adopt his children. He waited a long time and still waits for the world to be fully redeemed according to his plan. He knows my wait, because he waited long for me.
He also paid a great price. He sent forth his Son. The money we will spend on our adoption is not even a drop in a bucket compared to the price God paid for me through Jesus.
There is so much that I have to learn about the Fatherhood of God. I am thankful to be thirsting and longing to know him in this way. This longing to know him more as Father only confirms our decision to adopt. I have to adopt. I need to adopt. Why in the world wouldn't I want to experience this small, minuscule glimpse of what my God did to adopt me? Today, in some ways, I feel my motivation to adopt is a little selfish. I don't want to miss this lesson on the fatherhood of God and what he did to secure my adoption. I am sure God can teach about his Fatherhood to many people in many ways. BUT...our adoption is doing a special work in my life right now. As we take steps to seek funding for our adoption, and as we enter month two of what will likely be a 12-18 month wait for a referral, I am humbled by the cost that my Father paid for me, wretch that I am. Totally undeserving. He waited from before creation, and he paid the ultimate price of his only begotten Son to redeem, rescue, and adopt me.
There are many more thoughts to come from our adoption, I am sure...which only confirms how I need to adopt. Yes, children around the world and in our own neighborhoods need forever families. We have been called to that and long to meet that need in our child's life. BUT...today our adoption is serving another purpose. Today, because of our adoption process, I relish more fully in my Father God who made me part of his forever family. I am no longer a slave. I am a daughter. God affectionately and approvingly calls me his own. His child.
Thank you, Abba Father, for the great, great price you paid for my adoption. Thank you for calling our family to the special grace of earthly adoption and for how you are using it to deepen my understanding of you as my loving, affectionate, and approving adoptive Father. May I continue to thirst for all you have for me in this process.
