One of the first comments I hear from people considering adoption is, "Adoption is so expensive!" They have a heart to help. They feel that they have love to share with a child. But they wonder how they could possibly come up with tens of thousands of dollars to make it happen.
I understand this mindset. When I first started researching adoption, the first question I would ask was, "How much does it cost?" Then I would go away feeling discouraged because I didn't see how we could possibly do it.
Then I started hearing stories from people whom I knew did not have millions stashed away somewhere. Regular people who, like me, simply wanted to obey God's call to care for orphans (Isaiah 58:6-12; James 1:27). They spoke of a fountain of blessing that God pours out on the heads of those who step into the gap to care for the lowest - those closest to His heart - the widows, orphans, and poor. Those who do not have anyone to speak up for them. They spoke of how God delights to meet their needs, and how those who partner with Him in helping them get to splash in the pool of His provision, laughing and playing in His delight. They spoke of impossible mountains being conquered, expensive surgeries being provided for, and deep emotional wounds being healed. So I began to pay attention as I read my Bible. Was this true? Did God truly say that this would happen? What I found amazed me. Here are some of my favorite verses:
Wow! So ... if I hoard my resources to care only for myself and my family, then I may grow only poorer and poorer, thus reinforcing my belief that I do not have enough to share with others. However, if I give freely, trusting my future to God, then He will bring the increase and satisfy all my needs.
"Here is the sort of fast I want ... sharing your food with the hungry, taking the homeless poor into your house, clothing the naked when you see them, fulfilling your duty to your kinsmen! Then your light will burst forth like the morning ... Then you will call, and Adonai will answer; you will cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' ... If you will ... generously offer food to the hungry and meet the needs of the person in trouble; then your light will rise in the darkness, and your gloom become like noon. Adonai will always guide you; he will satisfy your needs in the desert, he will renew the strength of your limbs; so that you will be like a watered garden, like spring whose water never fails" (Isaiah 58:6-12, emphasis mine).
"Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. Instead store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also. ... So don't be anxious, asking, 'What will we eat?,' 'What will we drink?' or 'How will we be clothed?' ... But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:19, 20, 31, 33, emphasis mine).
"Here's the point: he who plants sparingly also harvests sparingly. ... Moreover, God has the power to provide you with every gracious gift in abundance, so that always in every way you will have all you need yourselves, and be able to provide abundantly for every good cause. ... He provides both seed for the planter and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of our righteousness. You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous in everything" (2 Corinthians 9:6-8, 10, 11, emphasis mine).
So if you are one of those who would like to adopt but haven't been sure whether you could afford it, I ask you to consider this challenge: can you really afford not to? Take these verses before God. Ask Him to explain them to you. Think about them. And watch while your faith rises to the point that you are willing to step out, take a risk on God's faithfulness to keep His promises, and see what He will do!
