God hasn’t revealed your names yet, but we believe you know who you are.
That family who can’t stop thinking about Joy. Praying about Joy. Checking back on the blog and Facebook page to catch just one more picture of Joy.
That family who is so captivated by this little girl that your mind can think about almost nothing else these days.
Sweet one, that’s YOU.
Maybe you don’t KNOW yet that’s you. Maybe you just think that this story of the 7-year-old orphan living for a month in the United States is just interesting. Is heart-breaking. Is worth sharing.
But weaving this story into YOUR story — it sounds just crazy.
You’re not in a financial position to adopt.
You’re not in an emotional position to adopt.
And even though these pictures and videos of this precious girl look awful cute, you’re just not sure that you are willing to take the long-term plunge into life with a child with special needs.
Maybe your friends have talked you out of it.
Maybe your family has talked you out of it.
Maybe you have talked YOURSELF out of it — thinking that you would have to be out of your mind to take that left turn, disrupt your comfortable, convenient life and bring a 7-year-old Chinese child with an extra chromosome into your home.
Can I tell you a secret?
That’s exactly where God wants you.
Because when you’re out of YOUR mind, you can be ALL IN HIS.
When you’re out of YOUR mind, you can see with HIS EYES.
When you’re out of YOUR mind, you can think with HIS THOUGHTS.
When you’re out of YOUR mind, you can love with HIS HEART, and the love of Christ can compel you.
To move.
To act.
To do what the world would say is crazy and what God says is crazy NOT to do.
To love the “least of these” like Him. To care for orphans and widows in their need.
When we let go of OUR minds, we get the much BETTER gift of HIS.
And it’s there, in the letting go, in the abandoning of this world’s way of thinking, that you get to discover the REAL treasures of this world … treasures found in the heart and mind and soul of God’s most precious children.
Children the world considers “the least of these.”
Endless hugs.
Bottomless kisses.
A lifetime of lessons that we’ve learned in just 30 days from a 7-year-old girl with emotional wisdom far beyond her years.
And you discover that it’s not crazy TO adopt these precious, perfect children with special needs; it’s crazy NOT to.
Because it’s here, in Joy’s arms, in her snuggles and hugs and holds and endless compassion, that you find the abundant life.
It’s HERE that you find the perspective about what’s really important.
It’s HERE, just soaking in this girl’s presence for one hour, that you learn to love lavishly and give freely and hug with abandon and give everything you have to others … as God refills YOUR love tank one thousand times over.
It’s HERE that you learn to dance like no one is watching.
It’s HERE that you experience the RAW and PURE and BEAUTIFUL HEART OF GOD.
Our family has never seen someone who looks more like Jesus than Joy.
Joy’s forever family, we know the decision is tough. We know the timing may not seem right. We know adoption is never a “convenient” commitment to make in any sense of the word.
But it’s a WORTHY one.
It’s a VALUABLE one.
It’s a life-changing one.
And when you come to the end of your life and look back on your investments and see the sacrifices of missed vacations and longer-than-normal worn cars and houses that weren’t the dream but were affordable after funding adoptions … and then view the daughter of God He allowed you to cherish in the place of material things for an entire life long … I believe with all my heart those sacrifices will seem like rubbish compared to the PRICELESS LIFE you gained with Joy.
Trust me, you don’t want to miss this.
You’re going to miss this.
Don’t miss this.
If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us …
~ 2 Corinthians 5:13-14
#changejoysstory #changetheorphanstory