My FATHER is a biochemist....

I love how adoption has impacted my family. My oldest child was adopted by my husband 5 months after we got married. She was 5 years old at the time. We have now added 4 more children to our mix giving us four beautiful daughters and one baby boy. We think we are done birthing children (we have taken it into our own hands with some help from a urologist however it's totally NOT in our hands) but are hopeful about the possibility of adopting or at the least fostering children in the future.
The above mentioned child, Lily is now 11 years old and she will often say "who do I get that from?" in reference to a personality trait someone might point out or the length of her legs or the color of her eyes or the fact that she N-E-E-D-S a lot of sleep, etc.
The other day we were driving and she said something witty and laughingly asked "so who do I get THAT from?" and I said "your daddy for sure!" and we both laughed...then a few seconds of silence went by and she said "you know, sometimes I REALLY wonder about it" and I said "wonder about what?" and she said "well, it has got to be coincidence that I am artistic like daddy but I wish I really DID get somethings from him" and I had a teachable moment staring me straight in the face.
Before I continue with what I proceeded to tell my wondering daughter, I know that I will be confronted (even if not verbally) with skeptics. What I'm about to say won't make sense theologically or scientifically but when God speaks truth into your heart, it doesn't really matter what man might say or think. This is what I love about about the LIVING Word of God. You won't find a direct response in God's Word to every gray area in the world today but walking with God and staying connected to the vine and allowing Jesus to fill you and manifest life through you, gives you revelation after revelation of His Love and Grace for your lives and even for the sin that snares us that we must confess and live out consequences from.
Wow..it was so awesome. I told Lily to listen closely to what I was about to say. I told her that God destined for Doug to be her daddy. God superseded the human understanding of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA and YES I used that word because she learned about it last year in homeschooling!) and placed specific traits in her when she was formed that were found in the DNA of her earthly father, Douglas Milton Thomas. I told her that it's no coincidence that she is artistic like her daddy, and witty like her daddy...and needs SLEEP like her daddy...and the list goes on. Is this scientifically provable? Um, I think not. What does the Bible say about it? Hmmm...deep thoughts. The Bible is full of adoption stories! Moses was adopted by Pharoah's daughter (Exodus 2), Esther was adopted by her cousin (Esther 2), Samuel might not have officially been adopted by the priest Eli (I Samuel 1)but it's pretty close I would say! Our own Savior was adopted by his earthly father and his mother was his surrogate.
Ephesians 1:4-8 says "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding...
Just as we are given a new name, a new heart beat,and become a new man when we are adopted by our Lord so Lily was given a new name when Doug took her as his own...but I believe it was predestined that Doug would be her daddy therefore our amazing God hard wired Doug's DNA into Lily when she was conceived in my womb regardless of how that conception came to be. THAT is just how loving and redemptive and GRACIOUS the God that I love and serve is. THAT is why I know that my story is a story of grace and forgiveness and I pray it continues on for generations to come in the lives of my children and their children.
I still remember standing in the courtroom when we were finalizing Lily's adoption and the judge explained to us how serious this decision was. An adoption is more final than birthing a child according to the words this judge used. She said you can disown a child you give birth to but you can't do that with a child you adopt (perhaps this is different state to state...I don't really care. I just know how serious the whole process was). Before this moment I had never seen Doug cry and it was a very beautiful moment. He has never shed a tear watching his four other children come into this world but he did shed a tear when his FIRSTBORN took his name permanently.


So, the way I see it, my earthly father is an naval reactors engineer (I'll tell you all about that awesome man one of these times...) but my HEAVENLY father is a biochemist....or a forensic scientist or a genetic counselor or something fancy like that. The point is, HE created my family and did a tremendous job. I'm so glad I let Him figure it all out!