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“the God Who gives life to the dead and
calls things that are not as though they were” Romans 4:17
the God Who GIVES LIFE . . . IN SALVATION
GOD gives life to the dead
This is what God does for us in salvation. He offers true life even when we were still very much dead in sin, and He calls us His children even when we were His enemies. It’s as though He can speak things that are not yet true as though it were indeed true, and then
those things actually come true. Oh, wait, that’s probably part of the definition of being God.
In Jesus,
we ARE family (even though we were once enemies)
we ARE saved (even though we were once very lost on our own)
we ARE loved (simply because He chooses to love us, not because we are loveable)
“Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder.” Isaiah 29:14
the God Who CALLS THINGS . . . IN ADOPTION
GOD calls things that are not as though they were
Adoption is all about God making things new, bringing beauty where there were once ashes, breathing life into brokenness, calling “family” where there were just strangers before.
“The reasons behind adoption are not always beautiful. There can be heartbreak, homelessness, abuse, abandonment, addiction . . . But it does not follow that God’s plan to redeem is not beautiful. He can still bring beauty from ashes. He can still work good where it seems evil has won. He is still in the business of bringing gospel hope to the hopelessly lost” (Kisses from Katie).
The beautiful gift of adoption has some sense of finality, but fostering is a funny space to live in. Even though our three foster children’s birth certificates do not have our last name on it, we choose to live as if they are
really our children.
“Are they your real children?” Most foster and adoptive parents have heard some variation of this question. It’s true: adopted children do not have biological blood ties and foster children do not have the proper paperwork to be able to call them “mine.” But in Jesus we can consider them family, as though they were. And live day-to-day, as though they were. As long as He sees fit to keep our children here, they ARE ours. When God says it’s as if they were family, then they ARE family. It’s as true as if it were true from the beginning.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19
