A Spirit of Adoption & Joshua

I wrote this email last night to my prayer team for Rwanda. The word is still really on my heart today though, so I wanted to publically share my thoughts and prayers:

“As hard as I might try, I cannot go to bed tonight without praising God!

I woke up today with a word on my heart. I don’t know why, but these words always come to me when I’m getting ready in the mornings. I may be in the shower or drying my hair, and a thought will hit me. The word was adoption. What an appropriate word for Mother’s Day. What an appropriate word it would be for Father’s Day. Hey, what an appropriate word for every day!

 The Bible says, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father” ~ Romans 8:15.

Father, I just want to pause and thank You right now that You are my Abba Father. Father, I want to thank You for adopting me. Lord You knew my every need and my every weakness, and You chose to adopt me anyway. Lord, I thank You and praise You today for your unfathomable, unfailing love!  

Wow, I’m kind of on fire right now. It has been a good day with the Lord. God has really been dealing with my heart today about salvation. My heart is weighing heavily for the people of Rwanda. It is my utmost desire to see people saved. It is my desire to see the glorious sights of heaven one day with people of every nation, race, color, and language. It’s going to be unimaginably beautiful, yet I still try to imagine it! Please pray. Pray for the spirit to move. I am nothing, but please pray that God can use me to bring Honor and Glory to Him.

Oh, Father, I pray that you would lead, guide, and direct me through the Holy Spirit. Lord, You lead me to Rwanda. Now I ask that You lead me to the specific homes, places, and people You need me to go and speak to. Lord, I pray that Your words and not my own would be spoken and heard. Lord, I cannot do this without You. I don’t have the strength or the power. Lord, only You have the power to save. Lord, I pray that I would see the wonders of Your mighty saving power in the land of Gisenyi, Rwanda. Lord, I ask that you would heal this nation that has been so hurt and devastated by poverty and war. Lord, send them Your spirit of peace, reconciliation, and restoration.

Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” I don’t know about you, but that verse really excites me! We are the children of God! Have you really thought about that lately? Ponder on it for a few moments, and let it bless you. You are a child of the King! Your Father created it all! Verse 17 goes on to say that we are “joint-heirs with Christ”. Pretty crazy, right? I certainly don’t deserve to be a joint-heir with Christ, but am so very thankful that God allows me to be!

Adoption… I suppose here in the U.S. there are many forms of this. Some people do legal adoptions whereby they adopt children, change names, etc. Other times people may just sort of take in others as their own. Either way, it is a beautiful blessing. When God adopts you though, He gives You full rights and privileges. When you accept the spirit of adoption He has to offer, He makes you His child and makes sure I always stays that way. No hurt feelings or any amount of distance between you will ever change the fact that you are His child. Nothing and no one can ever pluck us out of His mighty hand. I praise Him today that He adopted me!  I also praise Him today for sending people my way in this life who have sort of adopted me too. There have been times in my life that I honestly didn’t know where I would have been had it not been for that spirit of adoption that He placed in the hearts of people along my path.

I can’t help but think that there are people now that I have adopted too. While I definitely hope to actually do that one day, I find myself “adopting” others (younger and older) in different roles in my life. What a blessing for God to give us such a spirit to share with one another. I just can’t imagine a more beautiful thing right now. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend and a blessed Mother’s Day with your families.”

Bridget

P.S. I just have to make this addition. If there was ever a child that I would’ve adopted if I was in the place where I could, it would have been Joshua. On my mission trip to Honduras, Joshua, whom was a year and a half, had been abandoned on the streets. I don’t have my journal with me to go back and check. If I remember correctly, Joshua’s mother was raped and became pregnant at the age of thirteen. No one wanted her once she became pregnant. No one especially wanted Joshua though.

I had the amazing blessing of caring for him the one night he was at the mission. I fed him and clothed him. We laughed and played. I held him and loved him. I slept next to him that entire night with my arms around him. I still remember waking up with those big brown eyes staring at me… To this day, His photo is still the background on my cell phone, laptop, and his photo sits on my dresser. This little guy captured my heart. What can I say without crying? The spirit of adoption is just one of the many amazing gifts God has given us.

This is Joshua:

And these are his precious feet:



Thank you, Lord, for Joshua and all of the other beautiful children around the world. Lord, I pray that one day you would make a way for me to be able to adopt a child, or of it be Your will, children like Joshua, that are in need of food, clothing, and shelter. These children need so much. They need to be shown that someone cares. They need the love of mankind, but more than anything, they need the love of a savior! They need a love of a father. They need the love of THE FATHER! Lord, I praise you today for all You have done and for all You're going to do! Amen!