Be not ashamed!

"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord..." 

~2 Tim 1:8

"For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

~Mark 8:38

Matt here, Allie's husband. I've wanted to weigh-in for some time with a guest post on this blog; thanks to Allie for indulging my desire to do so. A few months ago during my Thursday morning men's life group, we were discussing a passage in Ephesians. That discussion led one of the guys to reference Mark 8:38.  As I read the verse in Mark, I felt like I'd been hit between the eyes with a baseball bat. Over the previous couple of weeks, after we had made our adoption plan "Facebook official," several people had come up to ask me about it. The most common question was, "Why China?"  And it seemed that every time I got this question, or any question relating to "Why?," I would list some objective factors and then mumble or skip the single most important reason as to why we are doing this--because we believe God is calling us to adopt from China.

I could go through the back story about how Allie met someone who had adopted several children from China and worked with an orphanage there.  And how she had written an article about her friend and how the idea of adopting from China slowly took root in our hearts. About how we wanted another child but had not been successful in our battle with the dreaded and all-too-common "unexplained infertility."  But none of that really answers the "Why?" question, at least not from our perspective.

I realized that by not answering my friends' questions directly, I was fumbling a tremendous opportunity to share my faith.  How many times do people come up to you and ask questions about your life and give you a clear opportunity to talk about your beliefs and what's important to you? I know it doesn't happen to me very often, that's for sure.  And by nature, I'm not the best at seeking out, creating or taking advantage of opportunities to share what God has done for me and His love for those around me.  But with this adoption, God has given me an opportunity to be REAL and to share the reasons with anyone who will listen.  To tell them about God's love for us. To tell them how He has adopted us as His children.  To tell them how we believe we are following God's calling and will for our lives. And the best part is that they're asking me about it!  Are we adopting so that we can have this platform? Of course not. But if following God's will gives us opportunities to share about the love of Christ and God's will for our lives, that's one heck of a secondary benefit!

So my goal is not to be ashamed when people ask me questions about this process. Sure I can tell them what we know about adoption from China and how we learned about the process.  I can talk about our interest in a special needs child and our desire to grow our family.  But most importantly, I must be prepared to plainly and honestly say that we are doing this because it is what God is calling us to do.  Don't be worried about negative reactions.  Don't be a people-pleaser who is more concerned with fitting in than standing out for my beliefs.  Don't be worried that people will think less of me for my faith and convictions.  Speak the truth in love.  And more than anything, do not be reluctant, uncomfortable or ashamed to share the testimony of our Lord and what He has done and is doing in our lives.