My Rights as an Adopted Daughter of the King

Nate and I are reading a book called "Reclaiming Adoption" written by Dan Cruver, John Piper, Scotty Smith, Richard D. Phillips and Jason Kovacs.  It's probably the single most eye opening book I have ever read.  I always knew, since I was five, that I belong to Jesus, but when your whole entire life is immersed in church and all that goes with it, you tend to (or at least I tend to) get so used to it loses it's wonder.

We started out on this adoption journey because we wanted more children and decided that adoption was a wonderful choice.  Not only would we grow our family and become mommy and daddy to another child, but we would also be joining God as He cares for the orphan.  In this process of adopting another child, God has shown us in such profound ways, the beauty of our adoption by Him through His Son, Jesus.  There is so much to share but I am going to focus on only a few things today. 

In "Reclaiming Adoption" the author writes,

"The Christian life is a lifelong journey of coming alive to the multifaceted freedoms we've been given as the beloved children of God."

How exciting is this statement?  I love the "coming alive" part, because that is exactly what is happening in my heart.  I am so overjoyed that I get to be a precious daughter of the King!  There is a renewing in my heart over what it means to be adopted by God.  

We have legal rights as adopted children of God. "Biblical adoption secures us in a state of objective blessings.  As with our justification, so with our adoption, God generously gives us a stunning status that has absolutely nothing to do with our effort, deserving, or feelings."   

Such love He has for us!  We don't have to do anything to be loved by Him.  Wow.

Finally, Romans 8:15-17 says,

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

"The cry "Abba, Father" reveals a deep awareness of His intimate love for you, an assurance that in every season of life, you enjoy the freedom to say, "Oh God, your mercy had better be a match for my heart, because right now I am a mess."

"Even when we violate our peace with God through selfishness, we have freedom to cry out to Him, to crawl into His lap, to be made whole.  This is why we must continually preach the gospel to our hearts and to one another.  Only in the assurance of God's love for us as Abba, will we surrender all the chaos, weariness, brokenness, and longings of our hearts to him."

Such beautiful and freeing truth!  Oh how He loves us, so freely, so graciously, so mercifully and so perfectly.  

Today, I choose to crawl into His lap and let Him soothe my aching heart as I continue to wait for my son.  I would not change one thing on this journey He has chosen for us.  I am honored that He would care so much for me to really change my heart for His glory.