I have been SO excited to share what I have learned, I hope I can do the speakers justice! It's taking a while to process it all. My brain was feeling like MUSH and I am slowly recovering! I wanted to start with John Piper first, he was the last speaker of the event and the message he shared really is a great place to start!
Things started of with a Q&A w/ John Piper. One of the questions asked was "How as women we can get our husbands on board with adoption?" There was a lot of chuckles in the audience. His response was that "First men need to understand the Fatherhood of God" that "fatherhood is built into the very nature of the universe." and the universe is the story of the Father's love for his Son. Men need to get on board with fatherhood before they get on board with adoption." He counted the cost.... God poured Himself out for us! Now talk about a GOOD dad! We too need to count the cost (Luke 14:25-33) and learn from the greatest Father out there!
Another question asked "Do you see a tension/conflict in the cause between the passion for the cause of the fatherless and discipleship? His response : Yes. There are tensions everywhere!( This was said in a load kinda scolding way, however a very needed :) ) The most commonly used verse used by orphan care advocates is James 1:27 . But many of us stop with "to visit orphans and widows in their affliction" and don't continue with "keep oneself unstained by the world" OUCH! That is true....many times we lean more twords one or the other. We need both, His word says so. To be unstained from the world is not to carry a holier than though attitude, it's not about others! It is about Him and for Him! Apart from Christ our righteousness is filthy rags.
John Piper went on to say how we (Christians) get into each others faces with our tensions that we are passionate about when really we need to hold ourselves together! I have to add an AMEN here! Nathan and I talk about how we did not know becoming parents would be so controversial, home birth vs. hospital birth, breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, cloth diapers vs. disposables etc. etc etc. Then all of a sudden these things becomes an issue of faith??? God help us! Pastor John goes on to say that from the moment we put our faith in Christ everything we do we do BY FAITH! That He is on our side 100% because of CHRIST! He is on my side, not "my virtue" . What comforting words to hear! Amen???
He goes on to teach about Hebrews 11:29-38 (The "By faith..." passages) That Paul said I die everyday! Not looking for a perfect life here, our perfect life is to come! what gets me is this:
By faith ...Some will escape, by faith....some will die. By faith some will be experience miracles and some will experience great suffering. However HE will sustain our faith!
God is better than what life can give and what death can take! He is always with us, and for us! We need to keep our eyes on Him! He is our happy ending adoption story!
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