> Last week, my team went to the orphanage to celebrate the life of an amazing woman, our host’s late mother. Every year on the anniversary of her death, they celebrate her life by hosting a lunch for the orphanage that the church partners with. So around lunchtime on her anniversary, he picked us up to go. We went around town picking up the food for the event, and then headed over to the orphanage. When we got there, some of the children greeted us in their only english phrase, “Hello!”, and some stood shyly in the corner. The child that caught my attention the most, however, was a little girl who smiled the biggest smile I’ve seen and pranced off to finish sweeping. When we sat down for lunch, I found an empty chair next to hers. Through my very, very broken Tamil, I found out that her name is Josephine and that she is 6 years old. We joked, made faces, and had fun without words until the food was served.
> As I was waiting for my turn to get in line, Pastor Mark came and sat next to us. He said, “Let me be frank with you, Shelby. This girl has had a rough life.” As he told me the horrors of this girls life, horrors that most of us haven’t experienced yet even into adulthood, I first found myself feeling so sorry for her and sad for the life she has lived and then in awe that a girl who has been through so much could still be the most joyful person here at the orphanage. The bible says that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must come as a child. Her life is such an example of the truth and life within those words. Here she is, a young girl who previously existed only to beg on the street to feed the addiction of her selfish parents and yet she exudes joy. So many times in our lives, we let our circumstances dictate our attitudes, actions, and opinions. No one would blame this girl if she wasn’t the picture of happiness, she has every right not to be, but she lives free from the bondage that this world has tried to put on her and, instead, lives from a deep well of abundant life, despite her circumstances. We are all called to be people of joy and of hope. Josephine, even at six, gets that. Why? She has been adopted. Yes, she lives parentless within the walls of an orphanage, but she has been adopted into a family, and she knows it. You could tell by they way that she interacted with the others that she knows she is a part of their family. She has been adopted just as we have been adopted into the family of God. “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Ephesians 4:1-7)!” Only when we are adopted into a heavenly family can we live with heavenly perspective. I am thankful for the adoption into God’s family. I am thankful that, like Josephine, we get to choose live a life full of hope and joy in EVERY circumstance because of who God is and what he has done for us. As we enter into this new year, I urge you to take a look at your perspective moving forward. What will you choose?
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