"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)



Thursday, July 31, 2008

LOVE

Hi everyone! We still continue to wait and pray for Kylie Hope. With the Olympics beginning next Friday, we are unsure right now if the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) will be working on referrals. The next referrals are for part of the month of February '06. As a reminder, our date is 7-14-06. We do know that families from our adoption agency will be traveling to China during the Olympics, which is a praise because originally we were informed that families would have to wait until the Olympics were over before traveling. I do believe God was behind that. :-)

Brad, Karsten, and I pray and think about Kylie so much. Even though she is not with us yet, she is already a part of our family just like Kyler is and will always be a part of our family. As much as I love my children, I can't even fathom how much more God loves them. After all, they are His and He has given us Karsten and eventually Kylie to raise for a while. I know that they are in God's hands and protection. I am blessed that He has given Brad and me the privilege of being their parents and being able to point them to Christ and to live for Him.

Getting back to 'love', I was curious about how many times that word appeared in the Bible. Depending upon the translation, the average was about 550 times. Wow! Enough said right there. Jesus says a lot about love. Here are just a few:

*God loves us (John 3:16)
*God is to be our first love (Matthew 6:24; 10:37)
*We are to love God (Matthew 22:37)
*We show that we love God when we obey Him (John 14:21; 15:10)
*Those who reject Jesus don't have God's love (John 5:41-44)
*Jesus proved His love for us by dying on the cross so that we could live forever with Him (John 3:14,15; 15:13,14)
*God loves those who hate Him and we are to love those who hate us (Matthew 5:43-47; Luke 6:35)
*We are commanded to love one another (John 13:34,35)
*Jesus extends His love to each person (Mark 10:21, John 10:11-15)

Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us, so we are to love others as Jesus loves us. Just as we want to give our children good things, imagine how much more our Father wants to give us, His children. Whether or not Kylie has been born yet, I know she is being loved by God. Each of us were valuable and loved by God before we were ever created in our mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5). We were on His mind when He was on the cross. If Kylie is already on this earth, again I know she's loved by God and we pray that someone in an orphanage or foster home is loving her. Thank you all for your continued prayers for Kylie and us. Thank you church family for already caring so much about Kylie. It's so encouraging to us each week when asked about our adoption. Keep praying! We love each and everyone of you.

Love & blessings~
Jennifer
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Romans 8:15-17
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption. And by him we cry 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."