how adoption has changed my life!

Hi there! Most of you have visited this blog to read about sewing tips and projects, but sewing is only part a part of me. Yes it is a hobby and a passion of mine, but sewing is only sewing. It will never fulfill or ultimately change the world. I enjoy sewing but let me share with you my true passion.

I grew up in church. I was the oldest, do-gooder child, who sought to please my parents and everyone watching. I still do this most days. Now church taught me a lot of the basics of my faith and I am a strong believer in worshiping my Jesus, but it definitely also create a lot of moralistic people. We can become a lot of so called “christians”, who look and act much like the rest of the world, except we have a long list of rules to follow.

My faith has changed and grown in so many ways over the years and I am grateful for God’s patience with me. I do not have some radical testimony that is completely amazing, but slowly through Jesus, God has shaped and is molding me much like a potter and his clay. Or maybe even like a seamstress and her fabric! Now this change has been through many ways and mostly through my husband. Eight years ago I married the man of my dreams! Or I thought I had (just kidding hunny). Marriage has been tough. He has tolerated me and my selfishness and I have endured his faults too. Through it God has taught me more and more about true LOVE. A love much deeper than emotions or feeling, a love that is an action.

Over the first 5 years of marriage, we had 2 babies. Our 2 boys are precious. The first born was a surprise. A complete shocker. Our second took a while and we were so thrilled when he finally arrived. We knew we wanted a third baby, but for some reason again God didn’t allow us to become pregnant quickly. I began to pray and think about it. And over a year, God impressed upon my heart that he wanted us to adopt. Now I knew that this had been a desire of my husband for a long time and when I mentioned it, surprisingly, he said he was thinking about the same thing! So we began the paperwork and a long year later, our daughter was born.

Now her adoption story is a long one and if you are interested in hearing just how amazing our God is, then email me jamaketcham at gmail dot com! But today I want to tell you how adoption has changed my life, not hers. Yes it is amazing that her life was spared, as opposed to ended. Yes is amazing that she will grow up LOVED by a daddy and a mommy. Yes it is amazing the selflessness her birth mother showed in that delivery room when she was placed into my arms. It is all amazing.

But in those moments of watching my daughter’s adopting story unfold, I began to think of my own adoption. No, I was raised by my biological parents, but I am talking about my eternal adoption into my heavenly Father’s family. You see, when I became a child of God he not only forgave me of my sins, but He desires me to call him “Abba, Father” or in today’s words “Daddy.” He tells me that I am an heir of God, or fellow heir of Christ.

Not until I held my daughter in my arms, did I really understand what this meant.
I inherited a beautiful 3 carat antique ring from my grandmother. It is amazing and one of the most precious gifts. When she gave it to me, she told me that I was to pass it down to my eldest daughter. Now my eldest daughter is here! Only through adoption would she have been an heir to receive this ring. It is such a special picture of what God has done for me.

You see, I am a selfish selfish sinner, saved only by God’s grace. He came in and rescued me from a life of hopelessness. He adopted me into His eternal family, and I am an heir to His eternal treasures of eternal life. I have been adopted and am LOVED by my heavenly father!

Before the adoption of my daughter, I really didn’t get it. I didn’t get how much Jesus LOVES me. And that his love for me is not conditional on what I do for him. He just loves me because I am a child of God. Just as my daughter didn’t earn our love, I could never earn his love. And I can rest. I also know that you can rest too. I know that God loves you just the same. He desires for you to accept the sacrifice He has made through Jesus and rest in your own adoption.

You see, adoption is special to me in many ways. Yes, through adoption, my daughter was placed into my arms. But my eyes have been opened to a much bigger picture and my life has been changed forever!

Thanks for reading,
Jama