Patty R. Newton
Jul 10, 2017 · 4 min read

Adoption by Patty R. Newton

I recently got a new puppy. I don’t know all the details of this puppy’s life before I acquired him, but I do know that he somehow ended up in animal control. A lady with a kind heart, who saw that this pup would make a great pet, went to bat for him and contacted a woman in my city who runs a no-kill shelter. This woman managed to get him released from animal control and put into our shelter, and he was put up for adoption. He was advertised on Facebook and when I saw his picture, I immediately said “I want him.”

When I picked him up from the animal shelter, he was wet and shivering and very timid. He did not look like the ideal pet, but there was just something about him that made me want him. My dad went with me to pick him up and he sat in my dad’s lap on the way home, shivering and very afraid.

When I got him home things changed. He came into my house and made himself right at home. He took a nap and slept so hard that he snored. His whole countenance changed. He was happy and frisky — not the shivering little pup that I saw at the shelter and in the car. It did not take him long to take over. I bathed and fed him and watched his cute little ways begin to show. He would play fetch and bring the ball right back to me. He would jump into my lap and lay his head on my shoulder and would actually hug me. He still does that to this day. All of these cute little traits came out AFTER I brought him home, not before. He was loved and he could feel it.

Watching this sweet little pup prompted me to think about my relationship with God. He CHOSE me, before there was ever anything loveable about me to choose. He adopted me. He made me His own. As I have become more and more comfortable in my relationship with Him, I have learned that there is not one thing I can do to change the fact God adopted me and will not send me back to the place He found me.

So back to my puppy — he’s just that — a puppy — who likes to chew and tear things up and get into trouble. Yet, I love him and I correct and train him. Why, because he’s mine. And because I love him. I chose him before he was cute.

I have friends who have adopted children. I’ve always thought that the whole adoption process was pretty fascinating. It’s easy to pick a puppy. But those who pick children have my utmost respect. What if you get a bad one that you want to send back? It’s not a try before you buy process. What if they resent the fact that their birth parents put them up for adoption? What if they can’t see past that and see that their new parents gave them a second chance to be loved and accepted?

But isn’t’ that just like our God? There are so many verses about adoption in the scripture. Just a couple, Eph 1:5 says that he predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. Romans 8:15 says that we did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out “Abba, Father”.

I thought about the change I saw in my puppy. It was almost as if he knew when I got him home that He was in HIS home, that he belonged, that he could relax and enjoy being my puppy. How much more can we, who have been taken from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, rest in the fact that our Father in heaven chose us. He chose us knowing that we would do childish things, just like I knew that a puppy likes to chew. He chose us, seeing the end plan that he has for us — to cleanse us, teach us, mature us, and cause us to be more like Himself. He chose us knowing that nothing could pluck us out of the palm of His hand, that we would forever be secure in his care. He loves us much more than the woman who saw that my puppy was worth rescuing from animal control. He loves us as sons and daughters.

I pray we meditate on what it means to be adopted, and that God would give us revelation of what it means to be CHOSEN; and that just like my new puppy, we rest in that fact and begin to feel secure in His care, knowing that he will never leave or forsake us.

    Patty R. Newton

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