A father's letter to his adopted child

Below is a letter that I felt compelled to share in order to express what adoption means to me as an adoptive father. I have written letters to both of my children. They are much more specific and very private, the exact contents of which I want to keep as a special bond between me and my children.

My dear child,

I'm your father. We certainly don't look alike, but I am your father. I was your father the day you were born, and, even though we didn't meet until you were a little bigger, I have always been your father. I can't explain it, but I felt that I knew you long before we ever met. We lived thousands of miles apart, in different cultures with different languages, but I knew you. I longed for you. I dreamt of you. I told people about you and called you my child. Your mom and I were praying for you before you were even born.

You've probably noticed by now that most children look like their parents and that you don't look like me or your mommy. It's OK. God made our family in a special way, called adoption. God made you in the belly of your birth mother, a brave woman who loved you very much. You look like her. She must be a beautiful woman. For reasons you probably can't understand right now, she was not able to care for you the way mommies want to. Because she loved you so much, she gave you to us to be loved and cared for. I'm certain that your birth mother thinks of you often and hopes that you are happy and healthy.

When you talk to God, pray for her and say thanks for her. Maybe you can meet her someday and thank her for being so courageous. That will be your choice, and we will support whatever decision you make. We are thankful for her, too.

God is writing your life story, and it is an amazing story. God, who made the vast universe and the uncountable stars, knew you before you were ever born. He made you in your birth mother's belly, and then He placed you, for a short time, in the loving arms of your foster parents. Just before you were born, God placed an emptiness in my and your mother's hearts for a child, and it was a hole that only you could fill. You see, your life has worked out exactly the way it was meant to. You are no accident.

My highest prayer for you is that you would come to know this God who is writing your story. He loves you more than you can imagine. But, you have a problem. You and I and everyone one else have sinned, and our sin separates us from God, because He is perfect. God has never sinned. As long as we have sin, we can't be God's children. Just like I longed to be your father, God longs to be your Father, too. In order to take away your sin, he sent his very own son, whose name is Jesus, to take our sin away. He did this by living a perfect, sinless life and then dying on a cross as a sacrifice for us. Jesus died, but, a few days later, he raised from the dead and came back to life, defeating death once and forever. While he was on the cross, Jesus took away our sins and gave us his perfection as a gift. In order to get this gift, all we have to do is trust in Jesus.

I want you to know this Jesus and understand that, if you trust in him, you will be considered perfect. When we trust Jesus, we become the adopted children of God. That's the great part. All of God's kids are adopted, just like you, and that was God's plan all along.

I love you and your mommy more than my own life.

Love,

Dad

[God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons 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 were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will...  (Ephesians 1:5, 11, NIV)

 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13, NIV)