Thank You, Lifesong!

I'm a Christian.  That means that I was once orphaned, but now, through faith alone in Jesus' atoning sacrifice for my sins that separated me from God, God has adopted me into His eternal family.  Now, He'll never leave or forsake me.   And what's more, even though I'll never be able to offer him any good on my own apart from Him, He has delighted to have made me His child.  And even more, He is always working for my good!  The bounties of blessings that entail the Christian life are overwhelming, especially when I did nothing to deserve such a fulfilling life in Christ.  I should have paid the price for my sins, but God paid that price instead. And what an expensive price it cost God to make me His child!  God says all over the Bible that the cost of Him adopting His children was incomparably higher than anything any person could pay and was the only sufficient sacrifice to atone for sin, yet He considered such cost as a worthy one in order to bring people into saving faith through Christ (John 3:16). 

Similarly, the reward of bringing a formerly parentless child into our family tremendously outweighs any finances required in that process.  Many people have asked Paul and me about the expenses related to international adoption.  The answer is yes, the means to bring our child home is extremely costly, requiring thousands of dollars.  As a way to provide for adopting families, God has established grant organizations to enable Christian families to bring children home in a faster, less financially-constraining way! 

 So over the past few months, we've applied to some of these grants and funds, and we are so excited that Lifesong for Orphans has offered us a $3,000 matching grant.  In other words, if we raise $3,000 over the next 7 weeks, then Lifesong will match that $3000, allowing us to receive a total of $6,000 towards our adoption (that's over 1/3 of the total estimated expenses!).  We are excited to see how God will provide to match this grant, and it's no surprise to us that our church family has already asked to host a bake sale on Father's Day with hopes of coming alongside Lifesong.

Here is Lifesong's mission for those whose curiosity has been sparked by this life-changing organization.  And as I was perusing the website, I happened to find this video of our good friends, the Philpots, sharing how God has used Lifesong in their lives. 

We are encouraged at how God keeps providing for us in this adoption process.  Each step of this journey has been a means of our sanctification, and we trust that we will bring our child home in His perfect timing.