We are coming quickly to the close of our adoption- I say "the close" because it will either close resulting in the adoption of our new son or it will close without that happening; but one way or another it will close.
This process has been a grind in many ways. Unfamiliar paperwork, a home study- interviewing everyone who lives here and some who do not, more paperwork, dollars seeming going to everyone who just might have some connection to the adoption and still more paperwork. I am not complaining in the least- just trying to give a picture of what adoption looks likes.
In all our effort, we may end up unable to make this happen. Currently we are at the mercy of an agency on the east coast who has our paperwork and then it will go to another agency to be reviewed and sent to China where it will be in the hands of the Chinese government. This really is completely out of our hands and I am perfectly fine with that, because God can stop the process or keep it going.
Our inability is shown at almost every turn to make this happen and yet there is a part of the process that we are involved with- if we had not started to move forward, even in our weakness, this would not have taken place. We were the initiators.
While we are scrambling to do our part, however successful that may turn out to be, our new son still may not even know this is happening. This is so much how our conversion is, except God never fails at bringing sinners to Himself when He starts the process. As I sit here and read 2 Cor. 9:15 "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" I am amazed how similar this is to our adoption.
A gift need only be received by the recipient- there is no boasting by the recipient in the talent necessary to receive a gift. The gift and the giver are the only things to be glorified. Our new son will not be able to boast in being adopted because of some fantastic part he played in the process- he was alive and available to be adopted and the rest was completely out of his control.
When he arrives here the same will be true- there will be nothing to "keep him adopted" that is in his control- he is just the recipient. The same is true of our salvation- we are not able to boast in our conversion or in our sanctification. It is Christ and the Holy Spirit who are doing the work to keep us adopted and continually being sanctified, not us.
At the end of my life our new son will get whatever inheritance remains from our life under the sun and this too has nothing to do with him except that he would need to receive it in order that it might be his. There is no boasting in receiving an inheritance any more than the previous things- you receive an inheritance.
The inheritance left for our new son can look markedly different depending on what the economy does between now and when I put on my other tent, but God's inheritance to us is incorruptible, undefiled and does not fade away- even in a down economy- it is preserved in Heaven for us.
Perfect security from start to finish and for all of eternity- that is an gift worth talking about- even if there are no words to describe it. That is a gift and a Giver worth being excited about. Why worry about what happens in this life when God did not spare His own Son- how will He not also give us all things? the price He paid for our adoption is much higher than we are paying for our new son and yet He- for some reason- was willing and able to redeem us to Himself.
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