Rescued... Not exactly.

Ellie's been with us 6.5+ years now, and God is still teaching me lessons I never knew I needed to know. For some reason, the topic of her "rescue" has come up frequently in recent conversations. Going through the adoption process, we heard that all the time, "How sweet that you are going to rescue that precious baby." Or, "She is going to be so thankful that you rescued her from that horrible orphanage." You know, stuff like that. The questions of late have been more along the lines of "What made you decide to rescue a little one anyway?"

First of all, we never decided to rescue her. We were called to bring her home into our family, the missing fifth link. I had trouble wrapping my head around that -- it took me a long time to agree with God to expand our family. But, it wasn't a rescue. It was a blessing. We always saw it that way.

What's the difference, you might ask. Either way, she's here. You brought her out of the orphanage and into your family... yada yada yada.

I disagree. The difference is the key.

Perceiving Ellie's adoption as a rescue suggests some great heroics on our part. It puts the focus on us. We. Are. Not. Heroes. Rescue, the verb, is defined as "to free or deliver from confinement, violence, danger or evil." Granted, growing up in an orphanage is probably not ideal, and to be free from that environment is probably (hopefully) something Ellie will one day appreciate, but we didn't rescue her.

Ellie's rescuer is God. He orchestrated her adoption into our family. He provided the resources and funding. He sustained us all through the crazy preschool/therapy years. He has a remarkable and amazing plan for her life that somehow includes us. We obeyed.

And were blessed.

Abundantly.

To be called her parents. 

To see this smile every day.

To make pig tails.

To dance.

To play.

Blessing, the verb, means to bestow good upon. Most definitely, God has blessed us with our daughter's love. The joy she brings is immeasurable.

We are definitely not rescuers. God rescued us all. And He blesses, abundantly.

Don't you agree?