Our Own Adoption Story

Galatians 4 says:
(3b) ...we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 
We have been brought into God's family, and we have not only the power and presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, but we have brothers and sisters in Christ who have that same spirit.   Our story is one of family, of a new identity - in Christ, and of the wonder of adoption - realizing that we were once apart from God, but He has now made it possible to know Him and fellowship with Him through Christ.
From Ephesians chapter 1, we recognize that God has a plan for us and we are His children because of what Jesus has done for us: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 
It pleased God to call us His own - we now belong to Christ, if we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, and, as the Bible says, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   Even though we don't deserve His love and our sins separate us from the Lord, He reached out to us in love, to the point of death, so that we might be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, the family of God.  Romans 8 reminds us that we have been adopted into the family of God and we are now children of the Most High: 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God...  Jen Bricker, who was born without legs, did not allow the physical impedence to keep her from participating in gymnastics - today she is a professional acrobat and aerialist. She grew up, in a sense, idolizing a famous Romanian gymnast Dominique Moceanu.   Jen even acknowledged that she looked like Dominique.   Turns out that Jen and Dominique are sisters. 
Bricker was born when Moceanu was six years old.  Jen’s parents gave her up for adoption immediately, and she was taken in by an Illinois family.   When she was 16, Jen's adoptive parents revealed the identity of her biological parents and her famous older sister.   Jen reached out, and the girls have had the chance to get to know one another.

This is a story about identity, family, and adoption.   Jen, even though she had physical handicaps, did not allow them to hold her back, and she relates that her adoptive parents made her feel, as she says, "everything but handicapped".  

You know, God does not reject us - we were not worthy to be brought into his family, separated by sin, and born apart from Him, but the spiritual separation of sin was not enough to keep us apart from God's love.   He sent His son, so that Jesus might be the firstborn of many brethren - and we are part of an enormous family of believers who now share the common bond of knowing Christ.   As we seek for our true identity, Jesus transforms us into His very image and in His Word, shows us who we are in Him - redeemed, greatly loved, endued with a plan and purpose, and called righteous and holy in His sight.