Do you ever look back and can see how God is working and are amazed? Have you ever had a moment when you have an “ah-ha” moment and the only thing you can do is praise God?
That happened to me today. That happened to me when I was writing this post.
I sat down to write about a few of the books that include adoption. I was going to share first about my novel Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie, Montana and the adoption theme. Its theme is very clear:
(1894) A young woman, Julia, was an orphan and she works in an orphanage in New York. Her life changes when she is asked to take children on the orphan train across the West to take them to their new homes. Her trip goes well until the last stop when she discovers she’s not only there to drop off the orphans, but she has a letter from a stranger stating that she’s going to be his mail order bride!
The theme of adoption is very clear in this book. It’s also very prominent in a few of the others I’ve written: Love Finds You in Glacier Bay, Alaska and The Promise Box.
In both of these novels the main character is adopted and she must deal with feelings of loss and unworthiness before she can open her heart up to romantic love.
Then, as I tried to consider if any of my other novels have adoption themes, I realized nearly all of them do! Some are novels I wrote YEARS before John and I ever planned to adopt. Realizing that (just this moment!) caused me to see God’s been working on my heart for a while, even though I didn’t realize it.
Some of my other novels that include an element of adoption:
From Dust and Ashes
Night Song
Arms of Deliverance
A Christmas Gift for Rose
All Things Hidden (and the other two books in the Home to Heather Creek Series)
Beside Still Waters (and the other two books in the Big Sky Series)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
When you think about it, that’s a lot of novels for one author to write about an adoption theme. But it only makes sense, when you look at my home . . . there’s a lot of adopting taking place!
The first Goyer adoption happened with John adopted Cory. I was a single mom when we met in 1989, and John has been there since Cory was a baby. John adopted him when he was young. We had two biological children after that. And for many years I thought we were done adding children to our home.
As our older kids entered their teen years, John and I felt led to adopt, and we adopted Alyssa in 2010 as an infant. In January 2013, we welcomed two children from the foster care system into our home, and their adoption was finalized July of that year. And most recently we’ve opened our home to four more children (all girls!) from the foster care system. This is a pre-adoptive placement, and their adoption should be final sometime in 2016.
I honestly believe my heart for adoption began when I started praying, “Lord, show me your heart” and “Lord, give me your heart.” As I prayed He did. Here are a few things God has to say about orphans:
- Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. —James 1:27
- A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. —Psalm 68:5
- Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. —Psalm 82:3
There has been a huge transformation in our family over the years—an addition of seven children! But it all started when I started asking God to show me His heart. And when He did . . . well, those themes started showing up in my fiction. It’s so amazing how God works and that in important moments He gives us a glimpse of that!
How about you? How has adoption impacted your life? I’d love to hear!
Also, won’t you pray for our family? Pray for this new placement. Pray our family will adjust to adding four more children to our home. Also, pray for my writing. Pray God will provide the time to write . . . and the energy to write. I appreciate your prayers!
Latest posts by Tricia Goyer (see all)
- Adoption in Fiction . . . and in Life - June 17, 2015
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I admire your advocacy for adoption! Both of my daughters were adopted by my husband and me as newborns, seven years apart. We’re excited for the opportunity to adopt again and add to our little family 🙂
May God bless you and your family, Tricia, for listening to God’s voice. My niece works in social services and ahe tells me how GREAT the need is for families for these precious children.
Yes Tricia, I will be praying for your new blended family. My husband and I adopted three children. Our first and youngest was Alberto. He was five when we adopted him from Colombia, South America. We went to Bogota to get him. Later we adopted two teens who were half sisters. They were part Indian. Beverly is retarded and had seizures. Colette was a beautiful red head. After my husband died, I also took care of adults with special needs as a foster care provider. Adopting has lots of challenges but also many rewards.