Friday 9 October 2009

Redemption

I have been reflecting a great deal on redemption these days. Our adoption of Tommy has come about only because all three of us experienced great loss. If Tommy still had his parents, and we still had Leah, we would not be a family.

We live in an imperfect world. A world where genes get mangled and babies die, and where parents deal with harsh circumstances that lead them to give up their children. There is so much pain and suffering in those losses. We still miss Leah and we always will. Tommy will always wonder about his biological parents and miss them. But, through no fault of Tommy's or ours, our biological families could not exist. This is where the redemption begins.

God took our tattered hearts and lives and began to mend them together. He rescued Tommy and placed him in an orphanage in Ibanda, in the arms of a loving Sister. He caused our lawyer to place a phone call at the moment that she was holding him, and when Isaac said, "Sister, will you give me a baby?" She responded, "You can have the one in my arms." Our Tommy.

God took the sorrow and pain of deep losses and has offered us all hope and restoration. We can't have Leah, but we can have a beautiful child. Tommy can't have his birth parents, but he does have a mum and dad. The suffering is still there, the hurt is still there. It will always be there. But the redemption is there as well.

Our family may be patched together from pain, but it is beautiful nonetheless, because our God is one who restores and redeems.

3 comments:

Jon Ballast said...

Amen and Amen. Well said, Amy. Thanks for sharing.

Spirit of Adoption said...

Amen, sister....amen....

Drew and Kim Cox said...

beautiful, simply beautiful!