Unconditional Love

Well we are in the midst of our adoption process now and things are heating up with all of that. We've found a child who has stolen all 4 of our hearts and we are in love with this 7 year old boy. Things are up in the air with his placement decisions so a lot will depend on the results of all of that as to whether or not we would have a chance to adopt him. We got to meet him this week and he was even more wonderful than we had imagined. All of this process has had me thinking about a lot of things. One of those things is the way God loves and accepts us no matter what. When you apply for adoption through DSS, they give you a 'check list' that is 3 pages long of disorders/behavior problems/issues that these kids may have or may be at risk for, and you check off the behaviors/issues/disorders you would be willing to accept in a prospective child. If you check that you would be willing to accept a certain behavior, you then get to check off whether you would accept it in a mild/treatable form, moderate form or severe. Now- I feel like this is tremendously important for adoptions, because not all of us can handle some of these behavior issues. We had to check 'no' on a lot of them because we have 2 young daughters in our home who must be taken into consideration also, and some of the behaviors listed had to do with violent/sexual behavior and such. The reality is that we cannot consider some children because they display some of these things. This made me think about God's love for us. He would check 'yes' on all of these issues in relation to us. He accepts and loves us no matter how terrible we might be, no matter how awful we may act, no matter what kind of behavior we are exhibiting. He loves us and accepts us. Period. To know that kind of love and acceptance is just amazing. He takes us as we are and makes us whole and makes us feel valuable and loved. There is no checklist with God- there is only unconditional love. Yes, we disappoint Him sometimes, but He never stops loving us. Yes, He lets us go away from Him when we choose to do so, and He even allows us to reject Him if we choose to, but He will always be there, waiting for us to return to Him if we want- taking us in with open arms and mercy and grace. How thankful I am for that kind of love! Looking at this check list, I realize that I have displayed several of these negative behaviors at some point during my 37 years of life- and yet He loves me anyway. He knows all of my darkness and washed it away with His love and sacrifice for me. I'm a grateful lady this morning. It made my heart ache to have to check 'no' on several of the areas of this checklist, but I am human and I have to be realistic about what we can handle and what risks we can take- and I am so glad God is God and that He can handle anything. Unconditional love- what an incredible gift.