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Lifeline Men Lifting Up Men

Four years ago I was a 40-year-old father of two biological sons who were just about raised. My wife had recently started watching something she called “Gotcha Day” videos on the Internet; “It’s just a new thing–it’ll pass,” I said to myself. Well, it didn’t pass and she was crying a lot about what she was watching. As far as I knew, I was about to move in to another phase of my life, but not as an adoptive father. Rather, it was as a dad who knew his sons were becoming men and hoped he could “rest” a little. As it turns out, my wife had been praying for a long time, perhaps years, about adoption. In fact, she knew that we would adopt a little girl from China—it was just a point of when. And, she had been praying for me, for my heart to be prepared. When she shared what was on her heart, it really broke me. All my plans for my 40s had nothing to do with “starting over” and raising another child. But, she let me marinate over it a day or two, and as I did, the Lord did a work on me and showed me that we not only had the love to give to another child, but the capacity to be parents again and raise another child and introduce that child to Jesus Christ.

Fast forward to now. Our adoption process was flawless. It’s embarrassing to say that because I know so many who have a lot of trouble and tremendous heartache and multiple speed bumps both in waiting and while in-country. Our daughter is exactly who the Lord intended for us in His time. None of this could have happened without Lifeline and their prayers, encouragement, and total shepherding throughout our journey. And today—that relationship continues.

As an adoptive father, I have the blessing of getting together with other local adoptive dads just to talk, fellowship, understand, and share regularly at Lifeline Men’s Lunches. Adoptive moms are often better at networking, blogging, conferencing, and reaching out. But, men may need an extra nudge. So, there is Lifeline to provide that bridge between men. We come together to pray for each other, for needs we know about, and for dads who are in process or who are considering adopting. We pray for our wives and children. We pray for Lifeline. We are encouraged. Men lifting up men. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

I hope you’ll try to join us at our next lunch. There is no initiation fee and no dreaded adoption paperwork!!

Written by: Joe Powell, Adoptive Dad