Acceptance and Adoption

"But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children." Galatians 4:4-5

Dear Jen,
Hi, how are you doing? I’m doing pretty good, but I’ve been thinking about some things lately. Maybe you could help. Well of course you know I’m adopted, but I’ve been really thinking about it lately. I mean, I know adoption is a good thing, but I’ve been wondering lately why my parents didn’t want me.
Why couldn’t they of just kept me? Why didn’t they want to raise me? Didn’t they love me? I know you can’t answer those questions, but they’ve been running through my mind for the last couple of weeks-I mean, really running through my mind. I could just cry, you know? I mean, I know I have a wonderful family now, but I still really wonder about my birth parents and why they didn’t want me.
Sometimes I just feel so unaccepted and unloved, which is crazy since my family (my adopted family) accept and love me like one of their own. I feel like one of their own. I mean, they’re all I know. I’ve never met my birth father and mother, but just thinking about them and who they are and what they’re doing right now without me gives me a headache and makes me feel sick.
I just wonder why they never wanted me. I mean, I know the parents I have now are the ones that really love me, but they just don’t seem like my real parents. I just feel like a big mess right now, but writing all this out really feels good, because I’ve been holding it in for a while. Maybe you could give me some advice? Or just some encouraging words? I really need it. Thanks a lot for your friendship. I miss you!
Sarah

I looked up from the letter I had just received from my best friend. Sarah moved away at the beginning of the month, and I’ve really been missing her. The move has been hard on both of us, and we’ve been trying to keep in touch, but she’s never written me a letter like this. She’s never even really talked about her birth parents before this.
I knew I needed to write her back and let her know that I’m praying for her, that God’s always there to talk to, that He’s always there for her when she goes through tough times like this. But she knew all that already. I needed to write her back with some encouraging words, some Scripture, and maybe even some advice on what she should do.
I mean, I’m really not good at giving advice, but I could just imagine what she was going through right now. If my parents, the father and mother I knew, weren’t my birth parents and I knew that somewhere out there in this big world my birth father and mother were doing something without me, probably without even thinking a single thought of me, I would feel sick.
I would be mad at my father and mother, for leaving me like that, for not wanting to raise me… For not wanting to love me or accept me.
So I got my Bible out right away. I had no idea what I was going to find about being adopted, since I figured most people back then were raised by their biological father and mother. And there was no way I was going to be able to relate to it, anyway.
I wasn’t adopted. I continued my search through the Bible anyway, being careful to look at all the titles and margins that were printed throughout It. It would take forever to find something on adoption.
I was just getting ready to give up, to just give Sarah my best encouragement, when I thought of something. I quickly flipped to Galatians chapter 4, the same chapter I had read for my devotions the other night. Verses 4 and 5 said, “But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children.”
Of course.
We were all adopted because Jesus died and rose again for our sins! I was adopted, too, since I had accepted Christ as my Savior. I was His child. Sarah was His child since she had accepted Christ as her Savior. I couldn’t wait to get started on the letter I was going to send her back.

Dear Sarah,
You wouldn’t believe what I just realized! I was adopted, too. No, I wasn’t put up for adoption by my birth father and mother or adopted by another family, but I was adopted! Read these verses from Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5: “But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children.” Since you and I both accepted Christ as our Savior, we’re both adopted by Him! We’re both His children.
We’re both part of a wonderful big family with all the other children of God. Isn’t that just amazing? Now, it might not help you in accepting that you were put up for adoption by your own birth father and mother and then adopted by two other parents, but you’ve already been adopted. I’ve been adopted.
So, really, to put it in simpler terms, we’re sisters in Christ, Sarah, and it doesn’t matter that you were adopted. Some parents (like your birth father and mother) just aren’t fit to be parents. Real parents. But Jesus Christ fills your life with His love and adopts you as His very own! And you don’t know all the circumstances or reasons that your parents put you up for adoption when you were a baby.
Maybe they did love you, but they couldn’t raise you. Or maybe, like I said before, they weren’t fit to be parents. I’m sure it wasn’t that they didn’t accept you. I’m praying for you, though, Sarah. I hope you realize that you’re part of an amazing family, all thanks to Jesus. That even though you were put up for adoption by your biological parents, you were accepted by your family you have now. And through God’s grace and love you were accepted by Jesus into the real family-the Family of God.
Jen