Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” He is telling them that they are not to be dominated by anything in this world from food and drink to sexual immorality, but to remember that they were bought with a price and they are not their own. I was thinking about that this morning while thinking about how to update you all on our adoption.
We signed a contract that we cannot get pregnant during this time as our agency believes that every child deserves their own bonding time with their parents (we agree), whether adopted or biological. We are going over two years with this contract. Our bodies are not our own, we were bought with a price. We are desiring to honor the Lord in this sacrifice. We still do not know when we will be gifted these children and my body is not getting younger so I realize that biological children may not happen again, yet I trust the Lord’s hand. I may not know the plans He has for all of us, but He does. I believe Lord, help my unbelief.
The other side of meditating on this verse is that our children are bought with a price. Not simply financial, but years of pray, paperwork, fingerprints, background checks, insurance checks, follow up meetings, flights, and a life time commitment. Our family has struggled with each of these plus the added “benefit” of arguments from stress and how to prepare for our children. Yet we do this because this price for our children is a small picture of what Christ has done for us. He gave up His home of heaven to humble Himself as a man…and then died so we might live. We are not our own. We were bought with a price. Lord I believe, help my unbelief.
The past month or so the Ethiopian government has decided to update the referral letter process. Unfortunately, It seems they chose a time when they have a lot of holiday breaks. This has kept all those waiting for children (from a referral to a court date) from getting their children. All the families in our agency are in a holding pattern. Some have heard rumors that Ethiopia has closed their doors for adoption for good, but we have been reassured that this is not the case. They still want international adoptions, they are simply updating the process.
What does that mean for us? We wait. Again, still. We hear murmurs of movement from some friends but our agency has not informed us of anything. We continue to pray for our children’s care, their attachment to us, that Annabelle will be their best friend and we pray that the Lord will give us strength in our weakness and doubt. Will you pray that for us too? Our bodies (and lives) are not our own, we were bought with a price and we desire to glorify God with our bodies (and lives). Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.