This afternoon (of 4/9/15) we had the privilege of concluding the legal obligations in our mission of adopting our son. That's exciting. :)
This afternoon our advocate (Shannon Gregor) brought our case before the Judge. She was pleading with (petitioning) him, in light of evidence shared of the already completed work, to make John Luke Sembatya Tushabe the son of a new family (ours).
The Judge looked at the completed work and listened to the petition in order to make a rightful judgment in accordance with the law. His prerogative was to make sure the completed work was a sufficient fulfillment of the law. If it had not been, then parental status would not have been granted to us and sonship would not have been granted to our boy. Yes, we had been referring to ourselves as "Mom" and "Dad" and to him as our "son", but the reality is that we were not yet legally father, mother, and son. Instead the Judge needed to make sure the law had been fulfilled before the justification of us as father, mother, and son could be given.
Based on the completed work, which came through many trials, much testing, and much suffering for all who had a hand in completing the work the Judge's judgment was favorable for the creation of our new family. It is good to know that all of the trials, testing, and suffering were not in vain and may have actually perfected the work to make it truly complete. Then, in the moment that the justification came, John Luke Sembatya Tushabe received sonship and a new name. He is no longer John Luke Sembatya Tushabe, but rather Uriah Erling Tushabe Svaleson; and he has become an heir of all that our family is and has...he is our son.
Now he can freely grow in the truth that he is our son. He is free to truly become that which he is. He is free to be our son...Uriah Erling Tushabe Svaleson. That is his familial identity. That is now who he is.
Even though we had operated like a family (it is possible we could even have been called a family), the reality is that our familial relationship had not yet been decreed as being a family, but rather just legal guardians of this particular boy. Though it may have seemed like today's court presiding was just making this "official" or getting a piece of paper stating that which already was true, it was much more than that. Fatherhood, motherhood, and sonship needed to be justified legally or we could never be a family; our son-like boy would never be our son and never be an heir and never truly be free (or in the least feel free) as our son would be. Our fatherhood, motherhood, and sonship would never be true without this legal justification. This was a very important presiding...absolutely necessary.
All of the work that was completed on his behalf was presented by our advocate to the Judge. The Judge found it to be a fulfillment of the law and issued a justifying decree that John Luke Sembatya Tushabe has become Uriah Erling Tushabe Svaleson, the son and heir of Josh and Marissa Svaleson. He now has all of the rights of a son, including the right of sonship itself.
Praise the Lord. :)
This mission of adopting a son is a parable. I pray that you see it. (Here is just a little bit of help...)
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; AND SO WE ARE. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we ARE GOD'S CHILDREN NOW, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." 1 John 3:1-3 (emphasis added)
"I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:1-7
"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 2:1-3
"..."It is finished"..." John 19:30
Praise the Lord. :)
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