People are finding God during National Adoption Awareness Month. Take a closer look to find out how.
Did you know that Massachusetts was the first state to proclaim National Adoption Week, in 1976. The idea spread as additional states began to declare a special week to focus on adoption, until National Adoption Month was instituted in 1990. Each November the president proclaims National Adoption Awareness Month to draw attention to the increasing number of children in our child-welfare system waiting to be adopted into stable, loving families.
Throughout the country, individuals, families, communities, businesses, and organizations celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month to focus on adoption as a way to build families. Special programs and campaigns highlight the needs of children waiting for permanent homes. The adoption.com website includes a “National Adoption Awareness Calendar” suggesting a month’s worth of related ideas and activities intended to be fun for the entire family. The celebration now includes National Adoption Day, on which many local adoption ceremonies are performed simultaneously.
According to the Bible, the moment we enter into a relationship with Jesus, God adopts us as his beloved child. The Holy Spirit within us serves as our adoption certificate, proving that we have become a part of God’s family—as loving and permanent a family as we can get. Although God is our heavenly Father, the process is not yet complete. Romans 8:23 looks ahead to the day “when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.”
According to data collected by the North American Council on Adoption, during 2010 more than 107,000 children were waiting to be adopted while more than 52,000 left the system to become part of a family. Regardless of our standing here on earth, God longs to adopt each one of us into his family. Take a closer look and while you’re at it, consider finding God during National Adoption Awareness Month.
Note: This article is based on a devotional in Dianne’s book The One Year On This Day (Tyndale House, 2005).
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