Our pastor has a weekly column in the religion section of our local newspaper.  It's really good...if you don't get the Burlington paper, you can e-mail him and get a copy of his article each week.  His sermons are also excellent and can be downloaded off of the church website at www.antiochchurch.cc .  On to the point of this post...

The topic of his article this past Saturday is one that is very close to our hearts...I think you will see why...Praise the Lord...He is an amazing God!!

Twice born and twice adopted     Brittany was born to an 18-year-old mother in Siberia, Russia, in 1994. She never knew her mother and really doesn’t know the story of how she ended up in an orphanage, but there she stayed until she was 3 years old. Her memories of Siberia are sparse, but she does say, "It’s very cold there." I personally cannot imagine life in the frozen tundra without the warmth of hearth and home.     God intervened in Brittany’s life in 1997 when an American family from Florida adopted her. She lived in the Sunshine State for the next 10 years, on occasion visiting with her adopted Mom’s niece who lives in Burlington and is a wife and mother of six. Brittany struggled at times with loneliness. Her adopted Mom and Dad were very busy and she spent many hours alone in her room, just thinking. She also made some poor choices, like many of us, and did some things as a young teen that she now regrets.     That was part of the reason that God interrupted Brittany’s Florida life last year and orchestrated a plan for her to come and live for a while with her cousin. Her life changed dramatically. For one thing, Brittany was no longer able to sit in silence and drown herself in her thoughts. Her cousin’s six children had other plans. "They don’t let me hide in my room," she said.     This city girl suddenly found herself on a southern Alamance farm, milking a cow, helping birth a calf, mending the fences, and generally just loving her new life. She also found herself being drawn into a family and a home that is built on faith and instructed by the Word of God. She attended church faithfully with her cousin’s family and can often be seen with one of the children by her side or the baby on her hip. And though Brittany immersed herself in her new culture, she still remained on the outside in her heart, knowing that her stay here was only temporary.     Less than two weeks ago, she was hidden away inside herself, thinking about her life but not really wanting to talk about her thoughts. Brittany wrote later, "Michelle saw me in deep thought and kept asking me ‘Are you OK?’ I gave the same reply (as usual) of ‘I’m fine.’ I guess she saw on my face that I wasn’t." Brittany said she refused to talk, but she knew Michelle (and her husband, David) weren’t going to leave until they got an answer that was worth letting her go. "They never forced me to stay but God (did)." Michelle and David’s persistence with Brittany led to a conversation late into the night. Brittany was confused about her life and why she had been brought here to Burlington for a two month visit that had turned into a year. Michelle wisely answered that God has a plan for Brittany and was calling her to himself. They talked about her past and her sins and her need for a Savior. Then at 1:19 a.m., this little orphan girl who had been adopted once found herself being adopted again. She gave her heart to the Lord Jesus. Michelle read Luke 15:7 to her then, where Jesus said, "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."     This twice born and twice adopted teen is excited about going back home as a new person with a new reason for living. In my opinion, it doesn’t get any better than that.

J. Mark Fox is pastor of Antioch Community Church on Power Line Road in Elon. His books, "Planting a Family-Integrated Church," "Family-Integrated Church," and "Real Life Moments: a Dad’s Devotional," are available at Amazon.com. E-mail Mark at markfox@antiochchurch.cc