Today we completed our first round of homestudy paperwork and we're ready to send it off (along with our first massive payment - gulp.) tomorrow morning. Bring on packet #2!
Today also marks the first day that my emotions and paper pregnancy "hormones" got the best of me and I truly started to feel like somebody's mommy...
It was 9:17 am. I was thisclose to being late for church. I was cruising along past the cornfields with a death grip on my coffee cup and my eye on the clock, when a completely overplayed song (one that I've never actually enjoyed) came on the radio. I have heard this song a million times (confession: I'm addicted to cheesy Christian radio), but this time it seemed to speak directly to my heart. When the background music dropped out and the artist got to the final refrain, it was almost as if God-the-DJ turned up the mic in my ears and said "Hey! This one goes out to you!"
The song, "I Am New" by Jason Gray, is about being made new in Christ. It speaks to the fact that God doesn't see us the way that we see ourselves, or even the way that others see us. When we are identified with Christ, we are chosen, holy, and dearly loved -- regardless of our past. The following lyrics sent me into full-on ugly-faced cry mode and, before I knew it, I was sniffling and snotting all the way past the Byron Center chicken and into the church parking lot.
"I am new...
Forgiven, beloved
Hidden in Christ
Made in the image of the Giver of Life
Righteous and Holy
Reborn and Remade
Accepted and Worthy,
This is our new name."
There is something so beautiful and biblical about the act of being remade and renamed; it is what Christ does for us, and it is what we feel privileged to do for our son in Ghana. Through adoption, we have the opportunity to give a new name as part of a new story to one of God's beloved children. We have the opportunity to claim these words for baby E and promise him daily that he is chosen, accepted, worthy, and made new. Wow. Now, who wouldn't ugly-faced cry over that?!
*The snot-inducing refrain begins at 2:55, but the whole song is worth listening to/reading if you're a first-timer!*
Today also marks the first day that my emotions and paper pregnancy "hormones" got the best of me and I truly started to feel like somebody's mommy...
It was 9:17 am. I was thisclose to being late for church. I was cruising along past the cornfields with a death grip on my coffee cup and my eye on the clock, when a completely overplayed song (one that I've never actually enjoyed) came on the radio. I have heard this song a million times (confession: I'm addicted to cheesy Christian radio), but this time it seemed to speak directly to my heart. When the background music dropped out and the artist got to the final refrain, it was almost as if God-the-DJ turned up the mic in my ears and said "Hey! This one goes out to you!"
The song, "I Am New" by Jason Gray, is about being made new in Christ. It speaks to the fact that God doesn't see us the way that we see ourselves, or even the way that others see us. When we are identified with Christ, we are chosen, holy, and dearly loved -- regardless of our past. The following lyrics sent me into full-on ugly-faced cry mode and, before I knew it, I was sniffling and snotting all the way past the Byron Center chicken and into the church parking lot.
"I am new...
Forgiven, beloved
Hidden in Christ
Made in the image of the Giver of Life
Righteous and Holy
Reborn and Remade
Accepted and Worthy,
This is our new name."
There is something so beautiful and biblical about the act of being remade and renamed; it is what Christ does for us, and it is what we feel privileged to do for our son in Ghana. Through adoption, we have the opportunity to give a new name as part of a new story to one of God's beloved children. We have the opportunity to claim these words for baby E and promise him daily that he is chosen, accepted, worthy, and made new. Wow. Now, who wouldn't ugly-faced cry over that?!
*The snot-inducing refrain begins at 2:55, but the whole song is worth listening to/reading if you're a first-timer!*