ADOPTED DAUGHTERS - I
ADPT - Introduction & Syllabus
I
- Introduction:
Galatians 4:5 holds very special meaning in my life. I am always
overwhelmed when I stop to consider the life I have been blessed with. I was
born on December 29, 1965 along with my beautiful twin sister! For reasons
unknown to me, we were given up to the state of Indiana to be placed for
adoption. We were immediately adopted together into a very loving family. At
that time it was very rare for multiple children to be adopted by the same
family. My parents often joked that they just prayed too hard and truly received
a double portion!! Not only did God give us loving parents, but parents who
loved the Lord and taught us to love Him as well.
In 1986 I married Glen, my high school sweet heart, and we began
our hopes of starting a family. After six years of trying, we were told that we
could not conceive on our own and a decision would have to be made. With much
prayer, we chose to pursue adoption in order to fulfill our dreams of a family.
In 1992 we were given the awesome privilege of adopting our son, Anderson. Just
to keep the excitement alive, in 1994 we gave birth to our daughter Emma. In
both instances we were greatly blessed.
It wasn’t long after we had adopted Anderson that I sat in a
Bible class where the teacher began discussing this passage in Galatians 4. He
asked us what that meant to us. I began thinking about our experience and how it
related to our adoption as children of God. This book is written to share my
experiences and thoughts on the fact that we are God’s Adopted children (in
this case adopted daughters). I will be sharing personal struggles and joys as
we went through the adoption process and compare these to God’s longings and
joys as we become His children.
It is my purpose in this study for you to grow in the word of God.
The more we put into a study of God’s Word - the more we get out of it. It is
my hope that you will spend time at home each week preparing for class and
completing the assignments. If this amount of time is overwhelming, please come
to class and glean from your fellow sisters in Christ. We will have a scripture
reading each day of the week. These scriptures will pertain to the lesson of the
week. This will also keep you in the Word daily. Choose a specific time each day
to complete your scripture reading (first thing in the morning with coffee,
during your lunch break, a few moments stolen in the bathroom, or before
retiring for the evening).
I love words and word study, I recommend that every home should
have a Strong’s Concordance or Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary. Each
week we will study a key word in our text and learn its original meaning.
We will have a section entitled “My Story” to hopefully
illustrate and personalize the Biblical truth taught each lesson.
“God’s Story” will be our lesson of scripture and truth. It
is my hope that you will spend time studying the scriptures given and answering
the questions in this section.
After each lesson, I will issue a challenge to each of you. This is
in hopes of you growing in your faith and helping others to develop the same
faith. It should be our desire to win, all our sisters to Christ.
“The
fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And
he who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30
GOALS:
1). A closer relationship with God the Father.
2). Begin evangelizing those in need of adoption.
3). To encourage those around us.
II - Syllabus Lessons Due Saturday:
ADPT - 1 YEARS OF LONGING ............................................ March10
ADPT - 2 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY ...................................... March 17
ADPT - 3 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Part 2) ....................... March 24
ADPT - 4 MEDIATOR ............................................................ March 31
ADPT - 5 PREPARATIONS ................................................... April 7
ADPT - 6 BORN AGAIN ........................................................ April 14
ADPT - 7 SHARED JOY ....................................................... April 21
ADPT - 8 PAID ....................................................................... April 28