Written by Sheridan Northeast
Throughout life, you come across stories that talk about kids who may not have grown up with the best experience. You may also have heard of stories of bringing families together through children who have been adopted.
I am an adopted child. This is my story.
Let’s start at the very beginning of how this happened. I was adopted when I was born because my birth mom couldn’t take care of me due to mental health issues. I found out I was adopted when I was about 5 years old.
Even at that time, I understood what it meant to be adopted. To me, it said that I was apart of two families, my birth family, and my adopted family. The most significant memory I have of my birth mom was when I found out that she wrote me a letter explaining that I was adopted.
I remember that one Sunday, during church, I received my mom’s Bible, where the letter from my birth mom would be at the back of it for me to read. I was surprised at the fact that I understood what adoption is at a very young age. Being adopted has given me a different perspective on life, especially because you could say that this is the ultimate gift a person could ever give to me. When Christmas or my birthday comes around, I personally don’t ask for anything because I have been given a chance to live this life. If I wasn’t adopted, I do not know where I would be.
In my life, being adopted has also brought some personal challenges too. I had the chance to meet my birth mom which was an incredible opportunity. However, I was also very young when I first met her, and I haven’t seen her since. I also have not met my birth father either, but I do know of him and a bit about him as well. Another thing that is a challenge is that I did not know about my heritage until recently. Finally, the biggest difficulty would be not knowing where my birth parents are currently. I think, as a person who has been adopted, that question tends to come up quite a bit because, for some of us we don’t get the opportunity to meet our birth family, or we never hear about them at all. On the positive side, it has helped me to stay grounded and thankful despite the challenges.
Lastly, we are all God’s chosen children, which in a way, means that we are all adopted. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (NIV). We are all adopted into God’s kingdom, to love on others, and to serve him wholeheartedly. I think that is something that everyone should remember: we are all chosen, loved, and cared for by the one who loved us enough to humble Himself and die for us, so that we can live this life for Him and Him alone.
