This means war

[I began writing this over two months ago at the beginning of May. There are many drafts of this sort waiting to be finished to a degree that they're worth sharing. This one still falls short of what I had envisioned, but I'm hoping captures enough to fall into the "worth sharing" category, and, with the passage of time, it is now relevant in a timely fashion that it wasn't when I began writing it, as you shall see...]

I read an article a few weeks ago about the "little word" that will fell Satan (think Martin Luther and his Mighty Fortress). The argument, and strongly so, in the article is that the single most effective tool we have at our disposal against the attacks of our enemy is to call him out for what he is: a liar. Think back to the first interaction with Eve: Did God really say that you should not eat of any tree in the garden?...You will not surely die. What a different world we would be in if the response at that point had simply been, "Liar!!"

Adoption is war. Not prospective parents against beauracracy, or limited funds against looming deadlines, not parents against children, but at the front lines it is a war of Truth against the lies of the enemy. Children who are orphans, and I think particularly those who are orphaned through abandonment are bombarded every day, with very little buffer, with deep, debilitating lies of the enemy.

You are unlovable.

You are garbage.

Nobody really wants you.

You are just a burden.

You are worthless.

You are nothing.

If you were dead, who would even care? No one.

No one. 

Nothing. Trash. Unlovable.

If you add a disability into the mix, the spread of possibilities for the lies just broadens.

Adoption breaks into the trap of those lies with something totally different, and without even needing to say it explicitly, it shouts out, "Lies!"

We love you.

You are precious.

We want you.

We are willing to sacrifice for you - our time, our money, (our sanity???!).

Your life matters to us.

We care.

We love you. 

A few weeks ago our son Owen was able to join a group of people from our church on a week long trip to an orphanage in Jamaica that a past member of our church started about 20 years ago. I just read our pastor's reflections on the trip on one of his blog posts, and it was significant to me that what he found to be the most important thing they did on their trip was the ways they were able to reinforce the truth of God's love to these kids. This home, founded by a believer, and established on principles that make the communication of God's love a central part of their philosophy of caring for these kids, has made a huge positive impact on the lives of the children that have grown up and are growing up in that home.

We (Matt, Bobbi, and myself) are less than 48 hours away from our own international trip back into a different culture. We've been planning for two years to get Bobbi back to see some of the people that she knew while she was growing up, and this is it. We are excited (very excited!) but also know that we're entering a battle zone where we're going to be coming face to face with the lies. As I've done in the past, I'm asking those of you who know God to join with us in covering our trip with prayer, that our hearts and minds would be saturated with Truth as we spend our upcoming days in places that we've been before, but this time with a new identity, particularly for Bobbi: beloved. daughter.

Thank you!!