A few Sundays ago, Pastor Battle used Romans 8 as a focus on his sermon on suffering. During his message he mentioned the notion of believers being adopted by God if we choose to live by His Spirit (Romans 8:14,15). So, this got me thinking about the adoption process in the natural sense. I haven't known anyone personally to go through the adoption process, however, I did have a colleague at CHS who was going through the process. Unfortunately, after three years of going through the steps of adopting a foreign born child... and by steps I mean, contacting an adoption agency, researching the country's policies, paying $14K, and visiting a few orphanages during our holiday breaks she received some devastating news.... the adoption agency had gone under due to the economic conditions. So, after three years of time, emotional investment and energy she had nothing to show for it... but an empty void.
Having her story in my memory bank, that notion of being God's adopted child hit home with a different feel. As I've thought more and more on this topic I decided to take it one step further by goggling the adoption process. To begin the adoption process, domestic or international, a person must first research the adoption agency that they choose to work with, before going through the steps of home visits, form completion, fingerprinting and background checks. Prior to even meeting a child, the potential parents must go through a number of steps to be deemed fit to even adopt a child. My summary of the process only took up less than a minute's worth of time to type and read, however, to those individuals going through the process much more time is invested.
The biggest part of the whole adoption thing that stood out to me, is the "pairing" of parent to child. If you saw the movie Orphan you know that the parents and child don't always get along. And in order to provide the proper things for all parties involved, there is a form of a "return policy". If the relationships between the two parties don't seem to gel well in the early stages the process ends there... this statement definitely applies more to adopting older children, I doubt an infant will give you too much of an issue.
Now, the part that has had me perplexed is the idea that I am adopted by God, but there is no "return policy". He knew I sucked before He allowed His Son to shed His blood. He knew that I would mess up beyond compare, He knew that I would make the choices that I've made, He knew that I would say that comment, make that facial expression, hurt that person, put my own physical/emotional/social/whatever feelings before glorifying Him... yet, He still adopted me! He said, 
"Daughter, I want you to have My last name. I want you to take full advantage of My legacy. I want you to rest in My arms for protection, for security, for comfort and for guidance. I want you to know that I love you more than any person that you'll encounter. Daughter, come to Me and I'll give you the desires of your heart, I'll give you rest, and I'll be the completeness that you desire." I'm adopted! My biological parents are great, they are supportive, they love me, they've dealt with my mess, they've laughed at me and cried with me, but they couldn't save me. My adopted Father is my true source.
i actually work in adoptions and this thought never occurred to me. when you adopt as a foster parent, the state actually pays you to adopt children with a lot of emotional and physical trauma and baggage. A lot of times, children are marketed without revealing the extra challenges that they have. we even deny parents that we know can't provide the proper structure or environment these special children need. But God knows all of our challenges and He has the capacity to handle them all. And, He doesn't get paid for it. Isn't that crazy, no benefit, no filling a void in His life. He just loves, because, well, He is love. How blessed are we to have such a wonderful Poppa :-)
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