A Costly Love

A Costly Love

A Costly LoveShannon and I adopted our son in November of 2005. The process of adopting was pretty overwhelming. The red tape and paper work and home studies were all time consuming and trying. Our adoption included a trip to Ohio that ended in disappointment and frustration as the birthmother changed her mind after our arrival. There followed 4 months of anxiety and waiting. Finally, on October 31, 2005 our phone rang again and a case worker for the adoption agency informed us that the birthmother from Ohio had changed her mind.

The adoption laws of Utah suited our situation so we moved the process to that state. The birthmother apologized for what happened four months previous. Four difficult months convinced here that she was incapable of rearing this child and providing properly for him.

We have a marvelous story of successive miracles. Money miraculously provided. An angel at work for us in Virginia. A praying cowboy at the airport. It was amazing to watch God at work in the whole adoption experience.

I gained a whole new perspective of what it means to be adopted into the family of God. “God chose us in him before the foundation of the world…” Eph. 1:4. Adoption legally changes our status. We have all the privileges of a natural son. We are joint heirs with Jesus. The judge in Utah asked us if anyone was coercing us to adopt Kameron. We answered, “No one is forcing us. We are adopting out of love and love alone.”

God the Father adopted me into His family when I was poor and destitute. Christ purchased my adoption willingly on a cross two thousand years ago. He wasn’t coerced, he sacrificed himself willingly because he loved. I was sickly and putrid in my sin yet he loved me when I was most unlovable. When no one seemed to care and all I could see were the backs of others, he embraced me and brought me into the family. I discovered that God adopts the unlovely.

We paid a very steep price to complete the adoption of the son we love so dearly. We wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again because he has brought so much joy into our family. Christ paid a very steep price to make our adoption possible. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” We love our son so much. The difficulty and cost of the adoption process only makes him more special to us. God’s love for us is a costly love. The glory in it is that it was costly! Adoption says that there is a great love in God for you and I!