Adoption Awareness Month

I have little time to write this morning, but I know Heather is writing about this on her blog, and I want to open the door of conversation here...
Since the election, there have been questions that have haunted me.
For many believers, the one issue that is raised and even voted solely upon is being Pro-Life. On election years, the issue of abortion comes up in churches and in our conversation. We are vocal about this issue, and rightly so! There are heated debates. There are lines drawn. There is passion. And I'm glad!
But what are we doing in our day-to-day lives, between elections and outside of the voting booth, to further this cause? Where does our vote and our life collide and we live out our conviction to save babies and minister to women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies?
There is so much we can do as believers! My Mom is one of those people working in the trenches for this cause. She works for a crisis pregnancy center and adoption agency called New Life. She does ultrasounds everyday on women who come in for the free testing, and are completely abortion-minded, and God does something amazing when my Mom has the chance to show them their tiny baby on that screen, and they walk out in tears, valuing life. Her stories are continually miraculous and moving! That's the real work. She also sacrifices much in her life to see babies placed in Christ-centered families' homes. What a way to further His Kingdom!
I happen to catch a show I never watch last week that was dealing with the issue of abortion. They posed the question for a young woman to either abort her baby, or live on welfare in poverty and be a parent long before she's ready. They debated this in a court setting and not one word was mentioned about adoption as another viable option. WHY? Are we talking about this enough? Are we thinking about this enough? As believers, do we even stop to ask ourselves if this is a possibility for us?
And there are so many ways to support agencies who do this work. There are people who need money to adopt. God is always faithful to provide, and I continue to see this firsthand when people are obedient to the call, but He may want to use you to do so.
New Life is a non-profit agency, and there are some seasons where they can't pay their own employees because they just don't have the funds. This should never happen!
I haven't heard Christians during this election, no matter who they voted for, argue that abortion is okay. I have seen disghust and sorrow over this issue on both sides.
But do we live this, or do we just say it?
As a side note, adoption is not something we have done out of obligation or just as charity work. WE are the ones who are blessed to have these kids! We are the recipients of the blessing! There were holes in our family that could only be filled with Justus and Treston. That was God's perfect plan for our family, and we just followed His lead.
We know God values life. We know his heart is for the fatherless and the orphan. We know that He uses adoption to describe us as believers, born sinners, and adopted into His family by His grace alone.
I pray God would soften our hearts, as a nation of believers, and not only ask ourselves this question about life, but also about poverty, education, and the other pressing issues that we spoke up about and voted on in this election. I firmly believe the hearts of the people in our nation must change concerning these things even before the hearts of our governmental leaders. It has been a convicting time for us to evaluate what we are voting versus what we are living.
That was heavy, pointed and brief, but someone has to get breakfast ready, right? There's so much for me to write about adoption. It's truly been the most sanctifying and beautiful thing we've encountered as a family. But I can only write about it in pieces. It's just too big. I hope you can string together the pieces on this blog and get a picture of what it means to us.