It took me a while to understand.

Mom and dad were always emotional on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and our birthdays. My sister and I thought it was a normal parent thing. We never questioned it.

Until we watched Facing the Giants (LOL!) at a church function (LOL!) and dad cried so badly that he felt the need to explain himself. [Important info: In the movie, a couple struggles with infertility for five years.]

“Five years? Try ten years. Your mom and I tried to get pregnant for ten years.” The tears kept coming.

This led to conversations. Which led to my dad telling us that they saw some of the top specialist of the day. And the specialists had no answers. There was no explanation for their infertility. There was no solution. Adoption was the only way they could be parents.

Dad says that he has never seen mom more determined about anything in her life. She refused to give up trying.

They wanted us. They fought for us. They could not imagine life without us. They loved us before we were.

The ending here is rather obvious. My sister nor I are adopted. We are theirs. Well into the adoption process, they found out they were pregnant. God provided. Not one, but two. More than they had asked.

(Fast-forward.)

Since the Facing the Giants drama, it took several more years for me to understand the love of my real Dad. The one that my biological dad  can only faintly mirror.

The Bible speaks of a Dad that chose me before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He loved me before I was a thought in my parents’ minds. Then, over 2,000 years ago, He sent His Son to make a way for me to be his daughter. And finally, when the time was right, He gave my parents an 8-pound miracle.

Even more so than my parents, God wanted me. He fought for me. He could not imagine life without me so He went to the cross to get me. He loved me before me.

Whether or not you have a good earthly dad, rest in knowing that you have a bigger, better Dad who chose you, loves you and holds you for eternity.

Now I get emotional too. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes when I remember how long and hard my parents fought for us. For them, our lives came with a cost–ten years of waiting. But for Jesus, my  life came with a much greater cost. It required death to make me His daughter.

By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us… (1 John 3:16)

God is really good, y’all. Savor that goodness today.