Re-Creation

When moving up to northern Kentucky, one of the decisions that I anticipated would be the most difficult, finding a new church home, actually was not difficult at all! Sometimes Alex has to work on Sundays, so we wanted to find a church that had a service early enough for him to be able to go to and then head straight to work. There were only two churches that had early services (8:30... yawn) and I was praying that one of them would be the perfect fit. There was a church only 1.5 miles from our apartment so we decided to check out that one first. It was The Bridge Community Church in Wilder, and honestly, we meant to look at other churches but we just never got around to it! The Bridge has been such a blessing in the past 1+ years we have been here, and we are blessed to call this place our church home.

When you've grown up in the church and attended private, Christian schools your entire life, it's easy to let yourself get into the mindset that you've heard it all. One thing that surprised me the most was that every time I heard our new pastor, Bo, speak, it was the gospel in a way I had never heard it before. It was such a fresh and unique perspective and that was new to me! I grew up at the same church my whole life and was involved in a church plant with people from my home church, so everything was so familiar and consistent... not a lot of change. After a few weeks at the Bridge, I really started to take notice of this pattern. Bo didn't just preach one amazing sermon and then the rest were "been there, heard that..." He consistently presented the gospel in a new light that challenged, convicted and guided me in my Christian walk.

Yesterday during church, we were learning about the purpose of the church... why it was created, and for some reason, everything I see and hear I somehow connect to adoption and this crazy process that Alex and I are going through. It's weird. It's different. To others it is not "normal." But our pastor made three points that just stuck with me.

Something even better than creation is re-creation. 

God created this beautiful world with these beautiful people. It's amazing and I notice this every time I see a beautiful sunset, take a nature walk or feel the seasons changing. The beauty of this world is beyond mere words. But when I look at what God has done in my life... how he has taken someone broken, hurting and in pieces that seemed impossible to put back together, and yet restored and redeemed me by only His power... now that is re-creation. That is what our God is best at. 

I think of that TV show, Bad Ink. People come in with these horrible tattoos. These things are permanent... never going away. Ever. Yet these tattoo artists are able to take something so hideous and horrible to look at and turn them into something crazy beautiful. What was there before never goes away, but it is used to create something that resembles nothing of it's former "glory." The old is restored and the new seems to have come out of nowhere. That is what God does in our lives, and that is what he can do through adoption. He can take something so broken and restore it. And he uses those in the church to do that. To go out to the least of these and embrace them in all of their mess and restore them to the people that He designed them to be... His sons and daughters. 

As impressive as creation is, what is more impressive is what He can do with something that is broken.

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God created the church to be the agent of change to which the gospel is spread throughout the Earth.

The Church is who God called to "go to the orphans and widows in their distress." It's not a choice, it's a command. When we obey this command He has given his Church, WE are the agents in which the gospel is spread. It is a visible act. It is an intentional act. It is an obedient act. And I truly believe that one visible, intentional and obedient act sparks the desire for someone else to act in obedience as well. It's a chain reaction, and together, as a Church, we can be this agent of change. 

I really feel that someone reading this blog is considering adoption. It's probably a crazy idea floating in your head, but it's there for a reason. God is calling His church to unite and to ACT. One of the reasons Alex and I are adopting first instead of trying to get pregnant is because I know myself. I know that after having 2-3 kids, life gets CRAZY. I don't need to experience it myself to know that that is what will happen. Life will get crazy and things will get in the way. At that point, adoption will seem like a long lost dream. I don't want that. A year ago we decided that we didn't want to put adoption on the back burner only to look back at our life and see that we never followed through. Adoption isn't Plan B. It wasn't Plan B for God. It was His Plan A. See for yourself...

in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:5-6

Adoption was His plan all along, and our plans should be His plans. Adopt. Foster. Counsel women considering abortion. Help a family that is fostering/adopting. Make His plans your plans too. It is the most visible, intentional and obedient thing you can do. I'm so thankful God adopted me, and I can't wait to welcome one of his sweet daughters into my family. It's been a whole year since we made this decision, and we are getting there slowly but surely. It's emotional. It's costly. It's time-consuming. But I know she is worth it. It is all worth it to advance the Kingdom and display His glorious works for all the world to see. 

If you would like to support Alex and I prayerfully or financially, we welcome that support with open arms! You can leave a prayer in the comment section or donate via our GoFundMe page. Click on the Fundraising tab at the top of our blog for the direct link. 

Are you willing to act? I encourage you to lay your fears aside and jump in. Let Him take control. His will is the most wonderful place to be.