Answered Prayer

About 11 years ago, I packed up everything I owned, sold my house, left Kentucky, and moved back to my parents house in New York.  I was heartbroken and in the midst of a divorce.  My sweet little girl was pretty much the only reason I got up in the morning.  Single parenting had never been my plan.  I was determined to make sure my baby still had a great life regardless of statistics.  Within two years of our move, her father slipped away.  He made a couple in-person visits, then he moved to another state even further away, making in-person visits more costly and difficult.  Soon after that the virtual visits and phone calls stopped as well.  I was not co-parenting apart; I was truly single parenting.

When my daughter was about three, she started noticing our family was different from other families she knew.  Most of her friends had mom and dad living at home, and siblings as well.  Even though her cousins' dad did not live with them, they still saw him on weekends, and they had each other.  She asked me if she could have a brother or sister.  I told her that she would need a dad before she could have a sibling.  She was quick to point out that I could adopt kids without a husband, but accepted my answer that I didn't want any more kids without a husband.  She then switched to asking if I could get her a dad.  I told her to pray about it, because anything like that was up to God.  At the time, I wasn't convinced it would be right for me to remarry, and I definitely wasn't emotionally ready for that.  However, this little girl started praying.  

God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we would like or when we would like.  However, God always answers and in a way that is according to His will and for His glory.  After eight years of praying, my daughter received the answer she had been seeking.  The Lord brought Patrick into our lives.  Initially, he talked to me about his concern for Abi growing up without the male influence of a dad.  He asked if he could hangout with her and be that influence in her life, and he told me he wanted to take me out too.  We were married just one year after meeting, and the second answer to prayer, a little brother, came along 40 weeks later!  For my daughter, the day we got married was the day my husband became her dad.  However, this was not legally true.  Where we live, there is a waiting period after the wedding before a stepparent can adopt.  We started the process to make him legally her father as soon as we could.  It has taken a while, but on Monday, August 9th, we received the news that it was official.  Patrick was legally her father from that day on!  While he has been her father since we were married, there is something special about the day it is legally and officially true.  There is a security in knowing that if anything happens to me, her father can take care of her without fear of any legal complications.  

God's care for the widows and fatherless is throughout Scripture.  When God gave the law to Moses, he included provisions for them and ensured that they would be cared for.  "You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless."  (Exodus 22:22‭-‬24)  The people of Israel were to make special provisions to ensure that their widows and fatherless children were cared for and survived without a man in their family to protect them.  It should be a top priority for the Church as well.  James 1:27 tells us, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”  

On the day we received the news, we had just visited Letchworth State Park in New York.  It was at the very place we visited that a friend experienced an adoption of another kind.  It was there she met Jesus and became a child of God.  Beyond just care for the fatherless, the concept of adoption is at the heart of the gospel.  Christians are those who have been adopted by God.  They have been freed from sin and death they deserve by the grace and mercy of God which they could never earn.  Our adoption cost Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection to satisfy God's wrath and conquer death.  A few years ago, before I had even met Patrick, my daughter told me that Jesus was her Savior.  She had been adopted into the family of God.  While we rejoice today in knowing that our daughter is officially adopted by her father, her future was already secure having been adopted by God!