Why Are We Adopting?

1.  We are adopting because we've been adopted!  Not physically, but spiritually.  The Bible teaches that we are all sinners and born enemies of God (Romans 5:12-17).  There is nothing we can do to earn favor with the Lord (Gal 2:16, Titus 3:5).  However, we can be reconciled to the Father by putting our hope and faith in Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life, died on the cross to atone for our sins, and was raised again defeating Satan and death (1 Corinthians 3:3-4).  God promises that if we confess our need for salvation and believe in what Christ has accomplished on the cross then we will be saved and he will purify us from all unrighteousness (Romans 10:9; 1 John 1:9)!  He promises that He will not leave us as orphans (John 14:18) but instead give us the Holy Spirit, who intercedes on our behalf.  When this happens we are no longer called enemies of God, but children of God (1 John 3:1-2)!  In addition, as God’s children, we are also called heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17).  So, in an attempt to show the love of Christ to another we desire to physically adopt in order to symbolize our spiritual adoption.

2.  We are adopting because God has called us to adopt!  Over and over again in scripture God commands believers to care for the poor, needy, widows, and ORPHANS (James 1:27)! We do not believe that this means every believer should adopt, but we are confident that God has laid that on OUR hearts!  For me (Amanda) the desire began when I was studying abroad in Thailand and Burma.  One afternoon as I was walking with a friend through a small village, a distraught woman approached us, handed over her child, and went away.  We did find the woman and gave her back the child, but my heart was broken.  I wept and wept over that child and if there would have been any way in the entire world I could have kept it, I would have.  My heart has longed to return to Asia and bring home a child to call my very own.  Shortly before Josh and I were engaged, we agreed that we both felt adoption was in our future.  After three years of marriage we began trying to have biological children and struggled with infertility.  The desire in our hearts for adoption grew during the trials we faced although we did not have a peace about pursuing adoption at that point in time.  Soon afterwards the Lord was gracious to give us not one, but TWO biological children.  We have truly experienced what joy children bring and firmly believe that they are a blessing from the Lord.  After much prayer, we finally feel God leading us down the path of adoption that we have known for so long that we would one day travel.

3.  We are adopting because there is a need!  Statistics vary depending on where you look but one thing is certain, there are hundreds of millions of children worldwide who have lost one or both parents.  It is estimated that between 70-80 million orphans exist in Asia alone. Every child deserves to be loved!  For more information on orphan statistics please click here.