Can Christians Adopt?

We adopt because we have been adopted by our heavenly Father. Tune in as Apostle Priji converses with Johncy on the topic of Adoption and the inspiration that led her to adopt a baby.

Transcript:

Apostle Priji: Greetings in Jesus name! Welcome to Marriage Talk. I hope this will bless you and speak to your spirit. I have a dear friend of mine, Johncy and her husband Aby who live in Navi Mumbai. Give us a glimpse into your family.

Johncy: I am Johncy and I am married to Abraham, we call him Aby. We have a daughter Ahuvah who is 5 years old and a son Betzalel who is 1 years old. We have been married for 7 years now. We have lived in Mumbai all our life.

Apostle Priji: We want to understand specifically the decision that you took to adopt a child? Why did you decide to adopt? What inspired your decision to adopt?

Johncy: We both had a heart to adopt. It became a passion that we have to adopt. The reason is simple that children should be in homes, they should not be in orphanages. The main thing now is that Jesus adopted, He adopted us and that is why as His children we do what He does. Adoption is a beautiful thing. You understand God’s love when you adopt. That is what the Father did!

Apostle Priji: A lot of people, when they pursue adoption they do it out of a need. Probably they don’t have a child or a partner. But, in your case you already had a child of your own and yet you decided to adopt. So, it was not a need or a requirement.
You might have heard negative voices throughout this journey of adoption; How did you reason with it in your head?

Johncy: It is God who helped us throughout this whole journey. Questions will still be coming; right from the start when we were sitting outside the adoption agency to meet the person, there was a family outside and they saw Ahuvah and they asked, “you are adopting? She is your biological kid; then why do you need to adopt?” Many people ask us that. We want people to know that whether it is by adoption or biological means, you are bringing them into home. God does not see any difference between us and the Israelites. He gives us the same right. God gave us the heart for adoption. He has been working in both of us.

Apostle Priji:I just realize how much our spiritual relationship with God inspires our parenting ability; how you see and view God’s relationship with God and God’s relationship with you, has a great impact in our parenting ability with our children. Sometimes when we don’t have a frame of reference we just end up imitating what our parents did to us, and sometimes they might not be the best model to imitate.
I see the importance that you have placed of a spiritual relationship with your children over physical relationship; we are spirits being and we understand things spiritually.
How did you process this emotionally? How did you equip yourself in this process of waiting?

Johncy: It is a very tiring process. First time we applied we thought we will get the baby very soon. But, the process was to check if the parents are capable of taking care of the kid and whether the kid will be safe. It took almost a year for our home study to get approved. It was a difficult process.

Apostle Priji: This shows that irrespective of so many hardships, since you were really passionate about it, you stayed no matter the hardship. You did everything possible to make sure it comes through. It takes a lot of effort.

Johncy: We were going in 100%. We prayed. God helped us and gave us favour. But the waiting time was the hardest. The process got slow also due to pandemic. It is difficult when you are waiting for your child to come through adoption.
People will not treat you the same way they would treat you when you would be having a biological child.
Our church, family of God stood with us. Prayed for us.

Apostle Priji: I see how prayer was a vital part of your journey. What were the other resources that you relied on?

Johncy: We had to read a lot on adoption, the adoption agency themselves told us that; the agency also counseled and would question us. We read a lot on adoption online. God has been teaching us through various modes.

Apostle Priji: How did you tell your daughter about this adoption?

Johncy: Ahuvah was little less than 1 year when we started this process of adoption. We would talk to her the way we would talk if it were a biological child. For her it’s been a three and a half year of waiting to see the child come. She would pray for the new baby.

Apostle Priji: What would be your advice to other young couples who are planning for adoption?

Johncy: The question that should be asked is ‘why not adopt?’ If people really love God, then I’m sure that there will be no children left in orphanages. I feel that adoption should be a part of your life and all christians should go for it. Adoption is close to God’s heart. When we thought about adoption, we had called you and you said if God has given you the conviction then go for it.
You will never be fully ready but God will help you through it.
God has given us the love to love our son. You understand the love of God.

Apostle Priji:Thank you so much Johncy. We appreciate your heart and your journey.

Johncy: I hope that other christians are also inspired.

Apostle Priji: We don’t always have to adopt because we have a need. But God will give you the grace and will speak to each and everyone.
We will see you all again on Marriage talk. Until then, stay faithful.