Adopted.

I use the phrase “life-changing” on a daily basis. I would be extremely embarrassed to hear the number of times I say something along the lines of “It changed my life,” in a single day. Honestly, there are few things that have actually affected my life. In even more honesty, I have seriously claimed moments as “life-changing,” not realizing what would continue taking place deep down in my soul.

In my freshman year of college, I found myself in the dreaded Intro to Public Speaking course. We had to give three speeches during a semester: an informative speech, a persuasive speech, and a special occasion speech. I did a horrible job presenting the informative speech. It may come as a huge surprise to all who know me well, but I am not very confident speaking in front of a room. If I am sitting safely in my chair among others, I can talk to anybody, but put me in front of a class and I get emotional (I will blame that on Kerry’s genes). When we discussed the persuasive speech, I knew EXACTLY what I was going to speak over. It was something that interested me for several years before, and I had recently become extremely comfortable talking about it often: adoption.

I gave the speech—I was probably the most confident I had ever been speaking in front of people—and scored a 99 percent (Using my hands got a slightly bit out of control on that speech. Hey, I was extremely passionate, or so I thought).

Prior to this speech I had read a few books about orphan care. I could quote and share my opinion and views with the best of them. Looking back, I would only classify this as “head knowledge,” but there was a true life-changing moment right around the corner.

A year after I presented my persuasive speech over adoption, I found myself on a trip to Zambia to work in an orphanage for two weeks. After all, is that not what someone who is interested in orphan care does? They go, they come back, and they talk about it for the rest of their lives. That easily could have been me.

I tried to write this “life-altering feeling” off as exhaustion, culture shock, or an emotional high at the beginning. But there I sat after two weeks beside the most beautiful children I had ever known, having stories that made me hurt down to my bones and smile through tears of relief thanks to what God had done through New Day. We were leaving the next day. We had been in a village all afternoon and this was our last time to see the children before we were supposed to say goodbye. It was during the Wednesday night prayer meeting. A little girl came to sit on my lap. She soon fell asleep against my chest. One of the older boys sat right next to me, holding my hand. Another small boy sat in the floor with his arm wrapped around my leg. Even though I did not realize the full extent of it then, I knew I was experiencing a life-changing moment. I cried and cried as I thanked God for rescuing these children. When it was time to leave that place, I stood up and stared at where I sat for a long time. I knew I would never be the same.

Months and months later, I found myself broken every time I read the growing number of orphans in the world. Do not get me wrong, it always stopped me dead in my tracks before, but I would soon forget and go on like normal. However, I could not do that anymore. See, I had held one of those 153 million children in my arms as she fell asleep. I held the hand of one of the 153 million orphans as he prayed to his Heavenly Father. That staggering number with six zeroes behind it was no longer only a statistic to me. No, it had been made real. 

The world tells the orphan they are worthless, burdensome, and unlovable. That used to be me. I was a spiritual orphan. I was a sinner separated from the Most High God. I had nothing to offer. I was dirty, poor, and without a Father. But God in His great grace…

 “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:4-5.

“…You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” Romans 8:15.

…adopted me through Jesus. He tells me my worth. He takes my sin and burdens away; He chooses me and loves me. He is my Father. He rescues. He redeems. He restores. He makes me apart of His family, forever.

Like I found out, we cannot make this identification and then simply stop. Throughout scripture God identifies Himself as a Father to the fatherless. He hears and sees the earthly orphan, the same as He hears and sees the spiritual orphan. (Watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQXGRwR4N2Q)

“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home...” Psalm 68:5-6.

And God calls His adopted children to action.

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." Isaiah 1:17.

I may read countless books over adoption, fly across the country for conferences, watch thousands of adoption videos, and talk about the doctrine until my face becomes blue, but until my head knowledge turns to heart knowledge and I am moved into action, it is all in vain.

I can hear the arguments now: “Madison, I am not called to care for the orphan.”

Please let me point you to James 1:27.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27.

James 1:27 simply does not come with asterisks. We are all showed this grace by God adopting us so that we can show it to others.

“Well, I know I am not called to adoption.”

Too often we think that is the only way to care for the orphan. Adoption is one way; there are COUNTLESS other ways to fulfill this commandment, based on what the Holy Spirit leads you to. (Examples: Pray, advocate, sponsor a child,  give to orphan care ministries, families on the adoption journey, etc., volunteer your time at orphanages and children’s homes, for adoptive/foster families, etc, adopt, foster care, mentor…Oh, and I will just go ahead and throw out a few websites that I know a bit about and give you a start: here, here, and here)

My prayer for this post is that someone sees orphan care in another light. Whether that be to see it is a command in scripture, the picture of the gospel it portrays, or ways to get involved.

We are all called to care for the orphan in some form or fashion. I pray that you will have that life-changing moment, realizing your adoption through Christ into God’s family, and that it will sink deep down into your soul, leaving your head and settling in your heart, and move you to obey.

Lord willing, one day I will be able to sing these words over my child. I can assure you, it will be another one of those few, true, life-altering moments for me.

“I've never felt this way before. 

Funny how you found your way to my door, 

and suddenly my prayers are coming true. 

These arms are not letting go of you.

This love, this love is the deep kind. 

You’re my baby; you’re my sunshine. 

I’ll hold your hand, be your biggest fan, 

and I’ll love you all of the time.

Our eyes are not quite the same shade, 

and your hair blows in the wind a different way.

But I am your mother, and I love you just the same.

so I'll take your hand, honey, and you can take my name.

My heart has been redeemed, adopted, 

and now I know my Father. 

This grace that I’ve received, 

I want to show you, I want to show you.

This love, this love is the deep kind. 

It hangs on through the storm and the sunshine. 

I’ll hold your hand, be your biggest fan, 

and I’ll love you all of the time.”

Sleep and Sunrise.

My mother has always said that I require more sleep than the average human being. She has told me countless times that I am the person who keeps the average number of hours needed up to eight. Growing up, if I did not get my much needed rest, I would be sick in a matter of days, inevitably. It has been a way of life. I get this from my dad, who is the only farmer I know that would not get out of bed until after 8:00am.

This being said, I hate waking up, especially early. I am NOT a morning person. I just do not care for mornings. They have been my least favorite part of the day all of my life. My mom had to work extra hard to wake me up when I lived at home, and Ryan can attest to my cries of agony every morning when my alarm goes off. Mornings…they are just for the birds.

You could understand the horror when I realized how early I would have to get up to get to work this fall. School starts early. I live an hour away. I am a lady; it takes me an hour to get ready and out the door. Yikes. That is early. And that realization hit me about August 1. I began to panic. HOW ON EARTH WILL I SURVIVE WAKING UP AT 5:30AM?!?! I only know of one 5:30 during a 24-hour period. I was positive there just could not be another. And I was wrong.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. I begin to sob. Ryan tries to tell me something about mornings being great and I drag myself to the bathroom to get ready. An hour later I am getting into my car, bags and purse in hand that I had purposefully packed the night before because I knew I would not know what was what at 5:30am. I begin to drive…in the dark. That is another of my not-so-favorite things: leaving the house before the sun comes up. It should be against the law. It is technically not “day” time until the sun shows up, but unfortunately, no one asked me.

Once I get going, I realize I am much more awake than I expected (thanks to my morning Mountain Dew), but I am still super cranky about this whole driving in the dark thing. I grumble, complain, and whine to myself for about thirty minutes. As I drive passed this small community, I look off in the distance. It is by far one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It is a sunrise. 

Before you laugh, I can honestly tell you before this day, I had seen less than a handful of sunrises and I can assure you they did not have this same effect on me.

My breath was taken away. The grumbling, the complaining, and the whining instantly stopped, and I became filled with awe of the Creator of the sunrise. Many scriptures began to flood my mind:

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above declares his handiwork." Psalm 19:1.

"From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised." Psalm 113:3.

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23.

All in an instant, my outlook of these early mornings changed. Since then, I hop out of bed (most days), and I race out the door to find a different viewpoint for this daily display of God's splendor. I start to smile as I can see the sun peeking above the horizon. For me, it has been the most tangible way to feel his new mercies every morning. Every single sunrise, I am reminded how God cares about the small things. He showed me just how amazing early mornings can be. He did not have to bring my attention to the beauty of His creation, but He did. He never stops wooing us, even after years of knowing Him. He is beautiful, my friends. 

Even in the simple, silly, mundane, everyday, sleep-and-sunrise-type-of-things, He is beautiful. He is faithful. He is merciful.

"Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun moon, and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.

"Great is Thy faithfulness!" "Great is Thy faithfulness!" Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided-- "Great is Thy faithfulness," Lord, unto me!