Perfect, precious illustration from Africa

Sensing a perfect illustration of my sermon of a few weeks ago, touching on the privilege of our adoption by God, I asked Nichele Harp to write down what it felt like to have an Ethiopian judge declare that their little girl officially belonged to she and Nate.  Sure enough:

"At first when we visited Katelyn, I had a nagging sense that because the adoption was not "finalized," she might not actually become our daughter. Just before we had our appointment with the judge, all of us parents were talking together about why we chose Ethiopia. One dad said that he and his wife prayed that God would reveal to them where their children were (and eventually they decided it was Ethiopia). Suddenly I remembered discussing that very idea with Nate months ago, but over time I had forgotten it a little. I remembered then that Katelyn is our daughter, not because Holt assigned her to us, or because we paid a lot of money and decided to adopt someone, but because God always intended for her to be our firstborn baby. So when the judge made it official, I did not have to convince myself that I thought she was the cutest baby in the room or that she liked us because she was already my daugher. It's very comforting to know God orchestrated that. Katelyn was as happy as could be at that care center with the loving nannies and had no sense of any need for us, so I was happy to be reminded that the adoption was real (the judge), and that God arranged the adoption for her good and our good, rather than us forcing something on her.

As the author of Adopted for Life puts it, adoption isn't "legal fiction;" it's real because of Jesus! :)

Nichele"

Thanks, Nichele, for that perfect, precious illustration of God's sovereignty in our adoption.

-Pastor Dale