the {miracle} of adoption

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Better to love God and die unknown
than to love the world and be a hero;

better to be content with poverty
than to die a slave to wealth;

better to have taken some risks and lost

than to have done nothing and succeeded at it.

{E. Lutzer }

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That is the quote at the top of the Livesay Family's Blog.  They love the children that they adopted from Haiti so much that they moved there to serve Hatians and serve Jesus. An incredible amazing family.

Yesterday, Troy wrote about the miracle of adoption at the Together for Adoption blog.  With their permission, I wanted to share what he wrote about the Miracle of Adoption.  Thank you Troy & Tara for how your lives have impacted and inspired our family as we wait to adopt our first (of hopefully many!) babies and raise them to love Jesus.

When Tara and I first began considering adoption, it was born out of my desire to have a son. We had two daughters, and after struggling through miscarriages and infertility treatments we eventually decided to adopt. Our first trip to Haiti was to pursue the adoption of our son, Isaac, in 2002. Since then, we have also adopted two daughters from Haiti and have moved there to serve full time.

If I had known what amazing things we would learn and experience through the course of our adoptions and sharing our lives with our adopted children – I never would have hesitated for a second.

I did not know, however, and I did hesitate.

One of the reasons I held back was that I shared a common misconception and fear with many others who have considered adoption – the idea that an adopted child might not be as loved or cherished as a biological child. Before I say another word (and if this is the only thing I said about the matter) let me say this – ridiculous and completely untrue.

The feelings of love and attachment I have for Isaac, Hope, and Phoebe are no different than what I feel towards Brittany, Paige, Noah, or Lydia. Each one of them is an absolute miracle and testament to God’s power, beauty, creativity, and grace. I am blessed and humbled and thrilled that I get to fill in as earthly father for each of them.

The miracle of birth is no more amazing to me than the miracles I witnessed as God led us to adopt, and the miracles that resulted in placing these children in our family.

• It was miraculous how God revealed the needs of waiting children in Haiti and around the world to us.
• It is miraculous how our hearts have been changed by the adoption experience.
• It is miraculous that we have learned so much and understand so much more about our world and our relationship with our Heavenly Father because of adoption.
• It is miraculous that God turned my selfish desire to have a son into something so beautiful and life-changing.
• It was miraculous how God provided financially for our adoptions.
• It was miraculous that our son was standing up in his crib with arms wide open and smile beaming at us when we arrived at his orphanage in Port au Prince the first time.
• It is miraculous that these adoptions ever get completed in the face of powers and principalities that are in the control of the enemy who desires to crush these precious children.
• It is miraculous how God can impart His supernatural and transcending love to us and empower us to share it with others.

This list could go on forever – because God is real and God is still doing miracles.

You will experience miracles in your life if you enter into His plan and desire to be a ‘father to the fatherless’ (Psalm 68:5), ‘defend the cause of orphans’ (Isaiah 1:17), and ‘care for orphans in distress’ (James 1:27). This is God’s heart for the lost and lonely children of the world. This is His desire for us who have been adopted into His family – that we in turn would show the same grace and love for the lost in this world that He showed to us.

Adoption is one part of reaching this lost world for Christ. In our experience, it was instrumental in opening our eyes to countless other ways that we have changed and grown in order to be more fully involved in the advancement of God’s Kingdom here on earth.

Our adopted children make this family complete. They have helped us all understand our place in God’s family better, and reminded us how fragile and broken our relationships and lives here on earth are without God’s saving grace and power. They are a daily reminder of God’s love and care for us. Thank you God, and thank you Isaac, Hope, and Phoebe.

Father to the fatherless,

defender of widows—

this is God,

whose dwelling
is holy.

{Psalm 68:5}

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