James 1 - How it spoke to me.

Most Christians are familiar with the passage of James 1:27- "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

To put it plainly, this verse not only spoke to me as doing a good deed for a child who is in need, but it goes much deeper than that- that pure religion is how it was before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. God visited this orphan (me) in my own affliction (sin and a life doomed for hell) and raised me up by His grace. It is through Him that I now have that hope of a true deliverance from suffering. He poured his grace and love out on me, how can I not do that for someone else who may never have the opportunity to hear about Christ. I hope that the child who comes into our family will someday see Christ in all His glory.

I want my adoption in Him to be reflected to a child that someday will grow up to have their own family and can share the good truth with them.

The day I read this passage, I compared it with a conversation I had had with a friend that week about adoption. This friend had told me that their family had considered to adopt, but now just wasn't a good time for them, so maybe in the future. James 1:22 says, (I will actually quote it out of my daughters children's Bible- I like the way it states it plainly) "Don't just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says. verse 25 goes on to say, "But suppose you take a good look at the perfect law that gives freedom. You keep looking at it. You don't forget what you have heard, but you do what the law says. Then you will be bless in what you do."

WOW! How in the world can I overlook such an opportunity! I just keep thinking how if I were to say no to God about adopting now, then what kind of blessing would not only my family in its entirety be missing out on, but myself. So, how could I say no!?!

(Another great passage to look into is Romans 8.)

How Our decision to adopt came about~

I will remember the moment like it just happened. I was sitting on our sofa and Dan was lying on the floor with his highlighter in hand reading the e-book by Dan Cruver (founder of Together for Adoption) called, "Our Adoption in Christ- What it means for us and orphans." Dan Cruver works at a church in Greenville, and Dan met him through a friend. Dan had been following Dan Cruver's twitter and blog for a while now.
Once he finished reading the last page of the e-book, he pretty adamantly shut the book and looked up with me and said, "Ok, I am ready to adopt!" I was taken by surprise a little, but was also thinking deep down to myself, "Ok, just give him a few days and he'll get over it (hopefully)!"
Up until this point, we both had felt our family was complete for now and were pretty content with that.

I did read the e-book about 2 weeks later, and my eyes were just opened by how Biblical it was to adopt, and by the current statistics of how many children are in need of a loving home.

I don't want anyone to think that I just read the e-book and that was it. I actually had a heart for adoption and loved the idea and thought it was great. But only under two conditions would I have ever adopted outside of this situation- 1. Later in life- when my kids were older and it would be more convenient for me. 2. If Dan would agree or I guess I should say, if he were open to it as well. I guess simply put- I would do it when it was convenient for ME!

Up to this point, I had never really had a serious conversation about adoption with Dan, because I just figured that if it would ever work out, it would be later.

Funny how God works . . . here we are waiting on baby #4! Literally. It could be any day, week or month! I am smiling about that though- real big!


Two verses that were convicting to me as I went through this process-
James 1:27- Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:22- Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:25b- being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.


In my next post, I will dig deeper into what these verses mean to me and how they spoke to me.