5 Beautiful Adoption Stories That Will Inspire Your Faith

Adoption is close to the heart of God. I know this for a fact because He talks about it.

In Psalms, we’re told that God sets the lonely in families (Psalm 68:5-6) and in another place God is identified as the “helper of the fatherless” (Psalm 10:14). Throughout Scripture, we see that adoption plays a key role in many significant lives (Esther, Moses, Samuel, etc…) and God uses the terminology of adoption to identify our own relationship and connection with Him (Romans 8:14-17).

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One thing is clear though: Adoption is not a fairy tale. It’s rough and messy and heartbreaking.

But it’s also good.

Everyone in the body of Christ is called to live out adoption, though it will look vastly different for different people. “Adoption” is more than just the legal paperwork that changes names and birth certificates. It’s about becoming family and community to those around us.

My parents never gave a non-biological child their name, but they did open their home and hearts to many. I watched them become family to people who had no family nearby and it was beautiful and life-giving.

Some people spend their lives opening their homes to the elderly, to teenagers, to exchange students, to neighbors, to ex-convicts. The list is endless and every part of it reflects the spirit of adoption that God champions in Scripture.

And yes, along with these things, is the traditional adoption of children who are in need of a family to raise them.

Over the past few years since adoption became a huge turning point in my own life, I’ve read some beautiful and inspiring stories that show how God moves mountains (and hearts) to bring children home.

I pray that as you look over these books, the biggest thing that will stand out to you is how every story is a reflection of what God is working toward in each of us. He is the adoptive Father and we are the ones in need—and He works tirelessly to bring us to Him.

May we all learn to accept our positions as sons and daughters of God, and may our lives reflect the spirit of adoption that He works in us.

Battle Cry: A True Story of Hope and Encouragement by Jordyn Glaser

If you’re going to pick one book from this list—make it this one. Jordyn Glaser shares more than just a story of overcoming in these pages; she also shares a true battle cry to inspire and call us into deeper and fuller living for the cause of Christ.

Born with heart issues that required medical repair>, Jordyn learned early in life what it means to trust God and battle through life’s difficulties. Now, she is carrying that legacy on to her children, both her biological babies and her adopted babies.

Written in an engaging and winsome style, this story will capture you–encouraging you and inspiring you to battle on in whatever area God is leading you to.

“Our life stories are battles cries meant to encourage one another and to push back the enemy—but they must be shared to do that.”
–Jordyn Glaser in Battle Cry

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet: Tasting the Goodness of God in All Things by Sara Hagerty

Sara’s story begins with infertility but it deepens rapidly into an epic story about the goodness of the Father that can be found while journeying through what appears on the outside to be only bitter and heartbreaking things.

As God leads Sara into adoption and the story of His love that is found in the most humbling of places, your own heart will be touched and opened to see life with a different lens.

“Too often we try to avoid that scary place where we love so deep, so much, our hearts could break. But without the bitterness, we would never appreciate the sweetness.”
–Sara Hagerty in Every Bitter Thing is Sweet

Counting Grains of Sand: Learning to Delight in a Promise-Making God by Natasha Metzler

This adoption story also begins with infertility and it moves into the hard parts of adoption loss, both through failed adoptions and death and into the beauty of a God who takes broken pieces and weaves them together into family and hope.

Through this story, you will meet the rawness of loss and watch how the Father pairs it up with the glory of redemption and promise.

“I learned that this God, the One I don’t always understand, is willing to pick up all the pieces of a life that implodes and carefully form redemption out of the pain.”
–Natasha Metzler in Counting Grains of Sand

Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption by Katie Davis

If you take a young energetic woman and move her to Uganda and give her a heart to nurture and love the people around her, you might end up with Katie Davis, mother to thirteen adopted daughters.

Oh, yes, I did write the number thirteen.

The story of how God built Katie’s family isn’t so much a sudden huge life-altering change of circumstances, but rather a daily moment by moment surrender to the Father who has a greater dream than anything we could imagine.

And, as with all adoption stories, this one carries its own marks of sorrow and loss and redemption.

(You can catch some of the continued story in Katie’s second book, Daring to Hope.)

“And if one person sees the love of Christ in me, it is worth every minute. In fact, it is worth spending my life for.”
–Katie Davis Majors in Kisses from Katie

In a Sun-Scorched Land: A memoir of adoption, faith, and the moving of Haiti’s mountains by Jennifer Ebenhack

Jennifer and her husband Jarod had no idea that their decision to adopt from Haiti would drastically alter their lives. A simple adoption plan moved their family into an unstable country for eight years, with difficulties piling up faster than it seemed possible to overcome.

Yet, God’s unending faithfulness shines brighter than the beating of the sun and we’re given a glimpse into the deep and powerful ways that He works and moves mountains to put families together.

“I’d thought myself so daring to embark on this journey into international adoption and cross-cultural ministry. I’d begun to trust three decades earlier as a child, and I thought I’d long ago passed the course. But tonight proved otherwise. And with this new test thrust upon me, there’d been no time to review my notes. I had found-row seating to a David-versus-Goliath fight, with my family as the plunder.”
–Jennifer Ebenhack in In a Sun-Scorched Land

Have you read an inspiring adoption memoir lately? I’d love to hear about it!

Blessings,

Natasha