The Journey to Mia Grace
As most of you know we finally brought home our Mia Grace (our second granddaughter) last year. My daughter Glenda, her husband Brad, four year old Macy, and I departed from the United States on May 2, 2007. While the air travel was long and grueling, the journey to Mia Grace did not start in this Mid-South City, Fayetteville, or even from Chicago. The journey to Mia started almost seventeen years ago for the our family.
Our journey to Mia began in August of 1990 when a tiny 15 year old walked the aisle of Warner Spur Assembly of God in Camden, Arkansas to give her heart to Jesus Christ. It was a warm summer night. It was the perfect kind of night for the start of the football season. The 5th Quarter had been advertised with fun, games, food, and a service. The church
was full of hungry teenagers who had just come from the scrimmage football game of the Harmony Grove High School.
It was that night that the minister preached a simple message and many students responded to turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. One of them was Glenda. She knelt at the altar with tears streaming down her face. There was a sincerity and humility before God that touched our hearts.
To make a long story short, that night was the beginning of a beautiful connection to Glenda. God placed in our hearts the “spirit of adoption”. The longing to make this child that was not biologically ours, a part of our family. Glenda needed a place to live and the rest is history. She became our child, our daughter, a descendant and an heir of Rusty and Dorinda.
She was our little girl, our “chickadee” as we nicknamed her. It was the spirit of adoption that made it so. It was not so much by court papers or legal documents, but a connection in our hearts.
As Glenda matured into the beautiful woman of God she is now, God began placing in her heart the “spirit of adoption”. She wanted her own biological children, but she also wanted a child that was not from her womb. We have our sweet, precious Macy, Brad and Glenda’s biological child; and now we have Mia in our arms, as well as in our hearts.
The whole “Journey to Mia” reminds me of the spiritual teaching about our salvation mentioned in Romans 8:15 – “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship (adoption in KJV). And by Him we cry, Abba, Father.” I love the commentary on this passage from John MacArthur below. His study gives insight into what Paul was thinking when he used the word adoption.
When the Bible says we have become the adopted sons of God, it doesn't mean God picked us up off the street just to care for us. It does mean He has chosen us to bear His name and inherit His estate. We don't become children of God through a process of natural birth; we become His children because He sovereignly chose us. That's the essence of the biblical concept of adoption.
The Spirit of Adoption
In Roman society, there were four consequences to being adopted.
1. The adopted person lost all ties to his old family
An adopted person gained all the rights of the natural children in his new family. That's a beautiful picture of what happens at salvation.
2. The adopted person became an heir of his new father
The existence of natural-born children did not affect the adopted child's rights. He was a co-heir--and sometimes the sole heir--if that's what the father wanted. The adopted child was considered as real a child as any natural-born children.
3. The adopted person's past was forgotten
When a person was adopted, all his legal debts were cancelled. He was given a new name, as if he had just been born. The same thing happened when you came to Christ: you were adopted into God's family, all your past debts were cancelled, and you became a co-heir of all the Son possesses.
All those things happened when we were adopted into God's family. We are legally and eternally the sons of God.
Although the word adoption is beautiful and rich in meaning, it is insufficient to explain all that happens to us when we become Christians. We are not only adopted, but also regenerated (2 Cor. 5:17). Both adoption and regeneration explain how God brings us to Himself. As adopted people, we are named "sons of God" and given title to an inheritance. Regeneration gives us the nature of sons and makes us fit for our inheritance.
We are under no condemnation because we have been adopted into God's family. All our former debts have been cancelled. Since He has made us His children and established our right to be in His presence, no one can condemn us because there is no higher court than God's court.
Taken from the Bible Bulletin Board; [Tony Capoccia;ible Bulletin BoardBox 119Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.comEmail: tony@biblebb.comOnline since 1986 ]
The last paragraph says it all! We are His children, His descendants, and His heirs, whom He loves and adores! Wow!
As most of you know we finally brought home our Mia Grace (our second granddaughter) last year. My daughter Glenda, her husband Brad, four year old Macy, and I departed from the United States on May 2, 2007. While the air travel was long and grueling, the journey to Mia Grace did not start in this Mid-South City, Fayetteville, or even from Chicago. The journey to Mia started almost seventeen years ago for the our family.
Our journey to Mia began in August of 1990 when a tiny 15 year old walked the aisle of Warner Spur Assembly of God in Camden, Arkansas to give her heart to Jesus Christ. It was a warm summer night. It was the perfect kind of night for the start of the football season. The 5th Quarter had been advertised with fun, games, food, and a service. The church
was full of hungry teenagers who had just come from the scrimmage football game of the Harmony Grove High School.It was that night that the minister preached a simple message and many students responded to turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. One of them was Glenda. She knelt at the altar with tears streaming down her face. There was a sincerity and humility before God that touched our hearts.
To make a long story short, that night was the beginning of a beautiful connection to Glenda. God placed in our hearts the “spirit of adoption”. The longing to make this child that was not biologically ours, a part of our family. Glenda needed a place to live and the rest is history. She became our child, our daughter, a descendant and an heir of Rusty and Dorinda.
She was our little girl, our “chickadee” as we nicknamed her. It was the spirit of adoption that made it so. It was not so much by court papers or legal documents, but a connection in our hearts.
As Glenda matured into the beautiful woman of God she is now, God began placing in her heart the “spirit of adoption”. She wanted her own biological children, but she also wanted a child that was not from her womb. We have our sweet, precious Macy, Brad and Glenda’s biological child; and now we have Mia in our arms, as well as in our hearts.
The whole “Journey to Mia” reminds me of the spiritual teaching about our salvation mentioned in Romans 8:15 – “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship (adoption in KJV). And by Him we cry, Abba, Father.” I love the commentary on this passage from John MacArthur below. His study gives insight into what Paul was thinking when he used the word adoption.When the Bible says we have become the adopted sons of God, it doesn't mean God picked us up off the street just to care for us. It does mean He has chosen us to bear His name and inherit His estate. We don't become children of God through a process of natural birth; we become His children because He sovereignly chose us. That's the essence of the biblical concept of adoption.
The Spirit of Adoption
In Roman society, there were four consequences to being adopted.
1. The adopted person lost all ties to his old family
An adopted person gained all the rights of the natural children in his new family. That's a beautiful picture of what happens at salvation.
2. The adopted person became an heir of his new father
The existence of natural-born children did not affect the adopted child's rights. He was a co-heir--and sometimes the sole heir--if that's what the father wanted. The adopted child was considered as real a child as any natural-born children.
3. The adopted person's past was forgotten
When a person was adopted, all his legal debts were cancelled. He was given a new name, as if he had just been born. The same thing happened when you came to Christ: you were adopted into God's family, all your past debts were cancelled, and you became a co-heir of all the Son possesses.
All those things happened when we were adopted into God's family. We are legally and eternally the sons of God.
Although the word adoption is beautiful and rich in meaning, it is insufficient to explain all that happens to us when we become Christians. We are not only adopted, but also regenerated (2 Cor. 5:17). Both adoption and regeneration explain how God brings us to Himself. As adopted people, we are named "sons of God" and given title to an inheritance. Regeneration gives us the nature of sons and makes us fit for our inheritance.
We are under no condemnation because we have been adopted into God's family. All our former debts have been cancelled. Since He has made us His children and established our right to be in His presence, no one can condemn us because there is no higher court than God's court.
Taken from the Bible Bulletin Board; [Tony Capoccia;ible Bulletin BoardBox 119Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.comEmail: tony@biblebb.comOnline since 1986 ]
The last paragraph says it all! We are His children, His descendants, and His heirs, whom He loves and adores! Wow!
I love you all and I pray you contemplate the richness of our relationship to the heavenly Father. It is His “spirit of adoption” for you makes you an heir and a descendant of all His eternal blessings! It is His desire for us that has made us His children. We were chosen! What a wonderful thought for today! He chose YOU as His very own child to love and hold, my sister!
In the days to come, I hope to share some of my journal entries from while I was in China.
dorinda
dorinda
Out of my Treasure Chest:
- Assemblies of God Adoption Agency
Concepts of Truth - Handles adoptions out of Wynne.
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