The Boy God Wanted

He was eighteen months old when my husband and I first saw him. This toddler had bowed legs, swollen hands, jaundiced skin, and drainage tubes inserted in his infected ears. Nor was he acting normal. Yet we adopted him.

Having been turned down for adoption by many families already, this child would have been placed in foster care had we not intervened.

He became our second son; we had previously adopted our first son. Not all our family and friends accepted our sons. One church member told me that when we adopt, we should get “the best.” As my second son grew older, his legs straightened out. Medication cured his jaundice, swollen hands, and ear infection.

I found out he was acting strangely only because he was imitating another child. When our son was about five or six years old, he would have a Bible in his hands and give “Bible studies.” This continued until he was an adult. After graduating from high school, he informed me he was going to college.

I tried to discourage him because I didn’t feel he was ready.

He pointed to the sign on his bedroom door that said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13, KJV). He was right.

Both my sons graduated from college, married two great ladies, and produced my three fantastic grandchildren. Did God answer my request to have children? Of course, He did —just not in the way I expected.

I have read devotionals about childless women who prayed about having a baby, and God answered yes to their requests.

What about women, like myself, who pray for children, but God answers no? We feel like failures. We go through the stressful, psychological, and emotional trauma of trying to have children. Is this God’s plan or ours? Years ago, I read that God made some couples childless so that children who are parentless could have a family. I appeal to women who are childless: please consider adoption.

This is a great missionary work.

Ruth Cantrell