I was 25 when we realized we might have a problem getting pregnant. We had already been married for five years and had not really tried to prevent pregnancy for several of those years. So with this realization, an eight-year journey of infertility began.

In about our seventh year of what seemed like endless fertility tests, medications, and procedures, and then month after month of receiving the disappointing news of no pregnancy, we began to talk more seriously about adoption. Robert and I had always been open to adoption, but as you may know, that process takes a long time and costs a lot of money.

Since we were not getting any younger, and we were so very tired of the emotional ups and downs that infertility brings with it, we began the long, tedious process of adopting a baby, trusting that God would provide.

And provide He did! God miraculously gave us a child—a precious four-month, nine-day-old baby boy. God really showed Himself to be mighty, and one day I may share more about that, but today I would like to tell you how God used that little baby boy to increase my love for Him and my understanding of His love for me.

I’ll never forget being so filled with joy. And then to think how God had worked out every tiny detail so that John would become ours—I was completely overwhelmed with awe and wonder.

John’s adoption into our family not only brought us tremendous joy, but it also made me begin to look at my salvation with an even greater appreciation. Just as God had perfectly worked things so John could be adopted into a safe, secure, loving family, I began to more fully understand how God had also worked things together for me to be adopted into a safe, secure, loving family. Not adopted into my earthly family, but a spiritual family, safe and secure here on earth and ultimately in Heaven one day.

As I would cuddle our precious baby and rock him to sleep, I would often reflect on the pain and heartache God must have felt to give His one and only Son to pay the penalty for my sin when His Son was a truly perfect Son—a Son who never did anything wrong and did not deserve to die an agonizing death on a cross.

How could God love me so much that He would do such a thing?

I remember thinking—I could never give up my precious son for anyone because I love him so much. But then God reminded me through the eyes of being a new mother that what He had done for me was from a loving Father’s heart. He had given up His son for me.

He’s also done that for you, my friend. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to this earth as a tiny baby very much like our little guy, John. But Jesus lived a perfect life and died a gruesome death for you and for me—to pay for the sins that you and I have committed against the Holy and Perfect Creator God.

I am the one who deserves death and eternal separation from God, yet He has given me everlasting life and peace with Him by trusting in His only Son, Jesus. Nothing I could have done on my own would have ever qualified me for such a gift—it’s a free gift and it’s only through God’s loving grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).

One of my prayers is that if you have never trusted in Jesus alone, that you will turn from trusting in yourself and trust in Him. God loves you and has worked every little detail to adopt you into His loving eternal family, safe and secure. Would you trust in Him today?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

For more about trusting in Jesus, please prayerfully read my page Real Hope.

Quoted scripture is from the ESV unless otherwise noted.