Adopted: How God’s Love is Revealed
An Adoption Story
I am the husband of someone who was adopted.
Years ago, a ranching couple in tiny Gordon, Texas prayed that they would be able to adopt a little baby girl. They began the process: legal action, costs, paperwork, but it was anything but easy. Finally, the official day came that their little girl was going to legally join their family. All that needed to happen was for her to arrive from Korea. It was then that the bad news started coming.
“So sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Turner, but your new daughter has been kidnapped by a family member.” “We think she was kidnapped to be sold.” “We don’t know where she is.” “We will never be able to find her.” “Let us know how you would like to proceed.”
My in-laws did proceed, but not to resign themselves that Alta Lynn (her new name) would never be found. Instead, they asked their church family to gather and pray that she would be found.
So, they prayed and prayed, and a neighbor in Korea called the local police informing them that there was a baby hidden under a tub in the yard of the house next door. The police investigated and found…Alta Lynn.
The neighbor confessed to the police, and the baby was brought to the missionaries who were going to bring Alta Lynn to the United States. Then the missionaries reimbursed the family member who had stolen Alta Lynn the money she would have received if she had sold Alta Lynn.
And Alta Lynn became a daughter of H. D. and Josephine Turner—my father and mother-in-law.
Benefits We Enjoy From Being Adopted Into God’s Family:
Just as Alta Lynn received all privileges, obligations and inheritance rights as a member of the Turner family, when we belong to Jesus, we too enjoy the privileges and inheritance rights of being adopted into God’s family.
We are able to talk to God and relate to Him as a good and loving Father. You are deeply loved by God as His child. “We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3 NLT
We relate to other believers as members of our family. The church is a family. “Never speak harshly to an older man but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.” 1 Timothy 5:1-2 NLT
We honor our Father in heaven. We represent our Father by our actions, thoughts and heart.
Lessons God Taught Me:
Adoption is a powerful reflection of God’s love. He first loved us, even while knowing our flaws, our failures, our past. When we belong to Jesus, we are part of the family no matter what.
God’s plans are better than ours. God did surprising, hard and amazing things for Alta Lynn to be adopted. God’s plan is best.
A price was paid. Though those missionaries didn’t have to pay that family member the amount she would have received from selling Alta Lynn when Alta Lynn was found, they did. A great price was paid for every person by Jesus on the cross in order for anyone to have the opportunity to be a son or daughter of God.
God redeems. God is in the business of healing and redeeming.
God feels strongly about family. “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.” Ephesians 1:5 NLT Part of the legal process of adoption includes the phrase “and she will be able to legally inherit”. To be added to a family and given a name and an inheritance is adoption, but also what we have when we belong to Jesus Christ.
For me, knowing Alta Lynn’s adoption story has opened my eyes to God in a way I never would have seen if adoption was not part of our lives.