Maybe it’s because Easter just happened. Or maybe it’s because our adoption has taken another crazy turn. Or could it be from reading my Bible in a new light this year. I’m not sure exactly what it is but I can’t seem to shake this concept of redemption. It’s such a beautiful word and concept. Yet, how often do I miss the small glimpses of redemption that mirror the bigger one to come?

Our family is no stranger to sorrow or the depravity of the world that is our temporary home. Warner’s death was the first time in my life that God seemed to thin the veil between the world and the heavenlies for me. Instead of my usual knee jerk reaction of blaming God or wondering where He was, I was able to recognize Warner’s death for what it was…a symptom of a cursed world. There wasn’t a cosmic genius swirling a crystal ball in Heaven deciding that He didn’t feel like saving me from this pain. The reality was that pain exists and will continue to until the glorious day when Jesus returns. God didn’t create death nor was it a part of His original plan. So, why would I blame the very One that never wanted this to happen in the first place?

Jesus was a man of sorrows (Is. 53:3) and spent time mourning (John 11:35; Mark 7:34). We believe and felt God’s sadness with us over Warner’s death. Since Warner went to be with the Lord over four years ago now, we’ve been able to see small redemptions to point us toward the bigger redemption that is to come one glorious day. Our God is one that cannot cause evil because He is holy. But, He is so great that out of evil’s ashes, He causes beauty to rise. He takes the ugly and redeems it into something beautiful.

We knew when we decided to adopt that we were intentionally walking into a battlefield. Anything that reflects God’s redemption is the exact opposite of what the enemy desires. Jesus is for life and life abundant. The enemy’s aim is to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10). We have seen each of these attributes reflected in Luna’s story. And, we run through that filter, we can see who is responsible for what.

Luna had absolutely no choice to end up where she is right now. She sits in an orphanage every day with the same four walls and in borrowed clothes. Her limited toys are not her own and her three meals are the same. The enemy has tried to kill and destroy her life. He is now working to steal more time from her life because he knows we’re coming. We, her family, are coming with a small reflection of God’s big redemption. We are coming to pursue her heart and to do all we can to make sure she has an abundant life within our family.

The fact that Luna is in an orphanage at all shows the depravity of the world. The fact that she has no Mama to rock her at night already cancels out any of what God’s perfect plan would have been, had the fall of man never occurred. But, unfortunately, the world is broken and children all around the world go to bed at night not knowing if they’re loved.

So, we pray for God to send His warring angels to protect our Luna and the rest of our family in this season. We pray for God to chain the judge on our case to not be able to rest until he accomplishes God’s command of signing our written court orders. We can’t expect a judge, who doesn’t know the Lord, to have any sense of urgency for orphans or a sensitivity of his own to the will of God. Instead, we expect the enemy to use what he can to steal more time from Luna. So, we pray down the battle. That God would go before, behind and hem our family in. That just like with the Israelites, He would go before and win the victory.

The victory of any completed adoption to a God honoring family is an absolute miracle. And, it’s a small reflection of God’s great redemption to come. Did God cause the evil in need of redemption? No. But, in His great goodness, does He pick up the pieces and make something glorious? Yes. And, so, we pray to the God of great redemption to redeem the story of our adoption to His glory. And, we ask that you pray with us as we walk