Every Child is a Wanted Child

          Every child is a wanted child.   Every child is a wanted child.

          God, our Abba – our Daddy – wants every child to live and be adopted into the family of faith through Jesus Christ.

           When my wife and I were considering adoption, we read a book called Expecting Adam.   In it, a woman named Martha Beck was told the child within her womb had Down Syndrome.

 

          Nearly all the medical professionals involved advised her to get an abortion. No information was given about the joys or challenges of raising a child with Down Syndrome or about the possibility of adoption. Instead, they saw this child as an unnecessary burden in the life of his mother.

          Beck writes of the book -

 

          ”This is the story of two driven Harvard academics who found out in midpregnancy that their unborn son would be retarded.  To their own surprise and the horrified dismay of the university community, the couple ignored the abundant means, motive, and opportunity to obtain a theapeutic abortion.  They decided to allow their baby to be born.  What they did not realize is that they themselves were the ones who would be ‘born’ infants in a new world where magic is common, where Harvard professors are the slow learners, and retarded babies are the master teachers.”

          Beck and her husband were strongly advised to abort their child.  By doctors.  Medical professionals.  Professors.  Family and friends.  By the grace of God, they ignored this advice and chose to give him life.

           By contrast, another woman was also told her pre-born child had Down Syndrome.  Immediately, the doctor assured her that there was great joy to be found in raising a child with this condition.  He gave her a book that gave an honest look at what would likely be the development of her child, the challenges she would face, as well as the rewards she would receive.

          He also gave her the contact information of an agency that places children with Down Syndrome into families eager to receive them. As this woman discussed it with her husband and prayed about it, she chose to pursue adoption and contacted the agency.  They helped her find the family she believed would be best for her child.

          Some time later, my wife and I got a call.  Our family was chosen.  Several months later, we flew out and brought our baby girl home. Thanks be to God, she will grow up knowing that she is a wanted child.  She was blessed to have a birth mother willing to give her life.  Now, we are blessed to see this life grow and blossom into the absolutely beautiful child of God she was created to be.

 

          Our child is a wanted child.  Not just by us – but by the doctor who helped her mother to make the best choice, by volunteer adoption placement workers who wanted her to have a good home, and especially by her birth parents who wanted to give her life, the abundant life God offers us.

          Every child is a wanted child. Even those who are aborted, abused, abandoned. Every child is a wanted child.