By Any Other Name

Romans 8:15 -- "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him 'Abba, Father.' "

Sometimes, for no reason at all - my brain will be smacked with faint, grainy images of BEFORE. They almost always put a knot in my stomach. Some of the images can be clear, with full sound in stereo - while others I have to struggle to remember. Whatever picture bombards me - it is NEVER a place that I want to revisit, a moment in my own history that I want to relive. NEVER.

As I wash the suds from the last dish and place it in the dishwasher [yes, I still wash my dishes before washing my dishes....] I am thankful because - I DON'T have to go back to BEFORE. Not ever. Shortly after my second birthday my REAL parents adopted me. They took me out of BEFORE and I never have to go back there. They gave me a new name - I call them Mom and Dad. I am, and will always be a Saunders/Babb [and now, Dalton]. I have not been given a family that makes me a slave of BEFORE. I don't have to be fearful any longer because I have been received as a new family member. I have a new HOME.

Adoption is a beautiful thing. In so many, many ways. I can say with full confidence that I am where I should be - not only because I strive daily to follow the will of God - but also because there is NO WAY on this earth I could have possibly been put here by accident. I was rescued - not once - but TWICE! I was intentionally taken from one family and placed into the right one. On purpose. AND I was saved by grace when Jesus died on the cross for me - giving me HIS family, too. I now call HIM Father.

I look at the words in this verse; now I call Him Abba, Father, and I wonder why I worry about things at all. Yes, things around me seem to be more volatile, nations becoming more ancy, politics becoming more -- well -- political. Crime seems to be rising and common sense flew out the window -- and don't even get me started on common courtesy. But, I have not received a spirit that makes me a fearful slave. Or a slave to fear. I have been given God's Spirit! It says so! Right there in Romans! I/We have been called God's children. GOD'S children. I have no doubt that NOTHING will stand against Him and win! NOTHING! ...so....what am I worried about? Now that I think about it...all my worries seem kind of silly.