Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
Can you comment on the impact on you, of your parents’ pleasure over you when they adopted you?
When I was adopted at the young age of 6, it was difficult for me to see my parents’ pleasure in adopting me. I knew somewhere in the back of my head that these two people cared for me and took me into their home, but everything was so new it took me a long time to get adjusted. After the trauma I went through of losing my birth mother, I found it especially hard to connect and accept my adopted parents’ love and care. So, as a child I did not see the pleasure they had when they adopted me.
The verse above is a good reminder for us that Jesus loves each one of us and, rather than focusing on our difficulties, we should always look up to Him and cherish the relationship we have with Him.
How has their love to adopt you influenced you to love your siblings (the adopted and the biological). How do others outside your family know that you all belong to the same family?
I always heard from my parents that they loved each one of us the same. They never loved any one of us more than the others, and they made that clear through our growing years, which was very important. Although each one of us children in the family came to be together in different ways with different backgrounds, we were in the end brought together by God into a new family. It did not matter where the child was from (biological or adopted), we grew up knowing that our parents loved us unconditionally. Another important way my parents did this, was to never say “adopted daughter,” “adopted son,” or “biological daughter” to others in the family or on the outside. We were their children now, daughters and son. I came to realize that this was my new family, and my parents loved me for who I was. I think this helped me to see that there was also no difference in us siblings and I grew to love both my siblings as well.
Jesus has adopted us into His family and He also makes no distinctions, we are all equal in His family.
What grace have your parents showered upon you in adopting you? In what way have your parents accepted you when you were adopted?
My parents have shown me so much grace over the years. As a result of my trauma and separation from my birth family I started to act out after being adopted. I became very angry, rebellious, and started to lie and cheat to get my way. I refused to listen to my parents, and they were at wits’ end many times as to how to care for me. However, they chose to persist and daily care and love me, showing me much grace over the years. Each new hurdle I threw at them, they handled with grace as best they could. They did not go looking for a perfect baby, instead when they heard my story, they adopted me with no questions. They had no clue how I would turn out nor a say in what they wanted in a child. They took me in, trusting God would intervene and that He would lead them in caring for me. Though I gave enough reason for my parents to give up on me and quit looking after me, they realized they were doing this for God and in doing so, continued to give me grace every time I made life difficult for them.
We are all sinners and Jesus has given each of us so much grace. He died on the cross for our sins and we now have the opportunity to respond to the free gift of salvation through Him.
How have you been blessed in, by, and through the adoption of you by your parents?
I look at the life I have now, and I cannot even imagine it! Being adopted has truly changed my life for the better. But more importantly, I came to know Christ. My parents chose me out of the millions of orphans in India to be adopted, to come join their family, and to be a son! I lost everything as a young boy in India before I was adopted; my birth mother died, my birth father was an alcoholic, and the rest of my family were willing to take care of my older birth sisters, but no one seemed to care for me. So, I have been blessed beyond belief; God has had His hand over my life since I was born, and the difficult things I went through as a child and in my teenage years were necessary for me to see how much I need Him in my life.
How is God the Father praised and glorified by you accepting your parents as their child?
When I honor and respect my parents as their child, God is glorified. Though it took me a long time, once God saved me, I was able to look at my parents and my adoption with new eyes. They are the ones who raised me, loved me, and took care of me all those years, so I have gratitude to them and to God. God has done the same thing for us, in “choosing us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons.”
Just think how much God will be glorified when we – His creation – choose to accept what He has already done for us. Not only do we get to be a part of His family, but we are elevated to the status of sons and daughters of the Kings of Kings.
Sandeep Thomas