Mercy's Child Dedication on Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday.  It's one day in the a year where many churches come together to bring awareness to children in need around the world.  It's also a great time for pastors to remind their congregation that we are also orphans, that is until we are adopted by God through Jesus.  "he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."  Ephesians 1:5-6  

Today our church family recognized Orphan Sunday by having a Child Dedication Service.  Three families whose lives have been changed by adoption dedicated a child today, our Mercy being one of them.  Three very different testimonies of how the Lord has brought three different children into three different families.  All with challenges, all beautiful, and all changed for the better.

Last year I wrote a post about Orphan Sunday, you can read about here:  To Jesus Everday Is Orphan Sunday.  Not much has changed since this post.  There is still an orphan crisis.  There are still millions of children living in situations that make them fatherless, without a family, in need of love, in need of Jesus.  And the gospel hasn't changed either.  Today, tomorrow and everyday is Orphan Sunday to Jesus.  

Here is what has changed since last year.  Last year on this exact same Sunday we didn't even know the face of our child.  We were still waiting, praying, dreaming of a future day.  Today that dream is reality.  We not only know her face and her name, but we hold her, we kiss her, we love her on a daily basis.  She is a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin and she is ours.  It was a joy filled day to have her in our arms, up on stage, dedicating her the Lord.  It was a joy to share this with our family, friends and church.  It is a day to celebrate because this little girl that the Lord hand picked just for our family, she is His.  We are just the fortunate and blessed ones that get to love on her and care for every day and teach her about her Heavenly Father who loves her more than we do. 

Scott shared a testimony today.  It's as follows:  

"I’m Scott Miller and I was born in Kansas. I don’t remember that time of my life, and it doesn’t define who I am.  It’s really become just a footnote on the pages of my life – because God had another plan for me.  My family moved back to Pennsylvania where I grew up, eventually met my beautiful wife, and started a family here – with Mercy as our latest addition.  God had a plan for her life too, that was not defined by where it started.

Many people have said to us “what a lucky little girl, or how great of you to rescue this little girl…”, but that characterization is so far from the truth.  I wish I could say we were that noble and fearless and strong, but we’re NOT – we’re just a regular family trying to follow the Lord’s will for us.  And His plans for us just happened to overlap His plans for her.  But make no mistake; He had a plan for her.  A great plan to love her and care for all her needs.  And His plan would not have been thwarted if we had given in to our fears and said no to His voice.  No, He would have taken good care of her without us.  She would have been fine.  But we would have missed it!  We would have missed out on the great privilege of being a part of the Master’s plan, and being a part of Mery’s life!  Our family would not have been all that He intended it to be without her.

This journey began with small steps, each one bringing about new fears.  It challenged our hearts, revealing a lack of trust in God.  Yet God met us in each one of those fears and showed us He is trustworthy.  He didn't beat us down for doubting, He didn't condemn us for having little faith, instead He lead us with grace; gently, faithfully, one baby step at a time.  With every decision and obstacle we faced God guided us.  From the decision to pursue adoption from China, leading us to fundraise for financial support, through processing the endless paperwork, to the night we received our referral.  This was the night we saw Mercy’s face in a picture for the very first time.  We thought we would open her file from our agency and know instantly that she was the one.  But surprisingly, more doubt and fear came.  But once again God was faithful.    Jeremy and Julie took time to sit and listen to our fears and pray with us, the Reinfords, Mellingers and Witters prayed for us and in the end God was faithful to assure us this was the very child He chose to bring into our family.  Then came our trip, where God provided more blessings: airline seats became available on a fully booked flight just when we needed them, Annie and Becky signed up to get us to the airport, the Frank’s to get us home again, Jane’s mom, the Godshalls and the Stehrs stepped in to care for our kids and best of all, in the midst of the chaos, an incredible, unexplainable peace filled our hearts and minds.

The day we met Mercy was one of the most amazing days of our lives.  In the most surreal moment all those fears, all those doubts just faded away at the sight of this little girl.  The one we prayed for, dreamt about, held in our hearts for what felt like forever.  There she was right in front of us, we could finally hold her, kiss her, and touch her.  She wasn't too sure about us, but it didn't matter because we had a determination to win her heart. This first meeting was only the beginning of a new chapter in our story: to earn her trust, teach her what love looks like, and work hard to gain her affection in return.  We could now see a new purpose to our Lord’s process in leading us to this point: as He walked patiently with us, building up our trust, assuring us of His love and erasing our fears and doubts one by one – He was preparing us to do the same for her.  Mercy grieved hard in China.  Our gaining a new daughter came at a very great loss to her.  She was giving up the only life she had ever known, the only people she had ever known, to be with complete strangers who didn't even speak a language she understood.  She was terrified.

Trust and security came slowly – in fact the process is still continuing today.  She has been home five months now and at times she still seems unsure if we’re going to leave her and not come back.  So keep praying for us, that God would continue to build her trust and soften her heart, and give her confidence that she is part of our family forever.  Very much the same as it was with our other kids; it didn’t take long before it was hard to imagine life without her.  Even with all the headaches that a two year old can bring, everything’s washed away with the wave of joy that just one little smile can bring.  Our heavenly Father really does delight in giving us good gifts doesn’t He!

Praise Jesus that when we kept coming to Him with the same fears and concerns, He met us with comfort.  And every time we said “But what if?”, He met us with peace.  And when we demonstrated again and again by our every anxious thought that we just didn’t trust Him enough, He met us with grace.  Thanks to each of you who prayed with us and prayed for us through those hard days of doubt and uncertainty.  Thanks to those who cared for our kids and our home when we traveled so far away.  And thanks to everyone who continues to encourage and strengthen us now in these times of change and adjustment.  It means a lot to us that we are not in this alone.

On this day, even as we celebrate the joy of having these three new additions to our church family, we wanted to remember the countless thousands of children around the world who are in need, and the call of the Psalmist “to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed.”  Our Lord and Savior has a plan for each one of them too.  Be attentive to His voice; He may be asking you to be a part of one of those plans.  You heard about Operation Christmas Child last week, and this week there’s another resource in the hub in the form of an advent calendar from Lifesong for Orphans.  It’s another great organization whose mission is “bringing joy and purpose to orphans”, which they do through child sponsorships, providing resources to adoptive families, and many other services.  These calendars provide a scripture verse each day, as well as a fun family activity such as collecting twenty cents for each winter coat you have in your closet to help provide for children in need around the world.

These are just two of so many ways you can act as the hands and feet of Christ in this area.  And maybe, just maybe, He is speaking to some of you right now about adoption.  Let me encourage you to listen carefully to this call.  You may think you’re not prepared for something that big.  Guess what – you’re not.  We’re not either!  But He is bigger still!  If He is truly calling you to this, He will surely equip you for it.  He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”  The Lord doesn’t call everyone to this particular mission, but if you feel His prompting in your heart – please don’t give in to fear.  His plans will be accomplished anyway, but you don’t want to miss your opportunity to be a part of them.  The rewards are too great!

These kids all belong to Him ultimately.  And as we celebrate that these three are now part of our families, and part of your family!, we also commit them back to Him today, and pray that they would grow to find their purpose in Him.  We look forward to a future day when our little girl will not think of herself as “I’m Mercy and I was born in China.” or even “I’m Mercy, daughter of Scott and Jane Miller.” but as “I’m Mercy, daughter of the King of Kings!"


We ended our celebration at a local Chinese Restaurant with family.