I lost my mom when I was 13 and my dad when I was 30. Moments after my dad passed, my half sister said that I was an orphan. Unfortunately I took on that identity for several years after that.
I was in a small group in 2015 and in the book we were reading it said, ‘A child needs a parent’s care, protection, love and direction. That is what God wants to provide for each of us. As simple as it sounds, we are his children.’ It was the first time that I had read something like that and it hit me in the gut! I was HIS. He wanted me as His daughter!
We started the Brave Journey a few weeks later and through that I was trying to find the courage to sign up for a GO Trip. At the end of the Brave Journey I chose to get baptized. Terry Phillips, one of Crossroads’ pastors, would always say at baptisms, ‘Welcome to the family.’ I wanted to be a part of the family of God.
Fast forward a year and I went on my first GO Trip to NOLA. The second night we were there I got a tattoo commemorating my baptism. It says ‘Adopted 5-16-15.’ Four days later at our closing celebration at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, we had to write something to God and place it on the altar, then choose from 30 different stacks of cards. When I went back to my seat, I looked at my card. It read, ‘It’s my pleasure and my choice to adopt you as my child. Ephesians 1:5.’
My Heavenly Dad had responded directly to me to remind me that I was no longer an orphan- I am His daughter. -Angie M.