Not abandoned

On one level, it’s true – Yue Mengjie was abandoned. It was an incredibly loving act on the part of whoever left her that took amazing amounts of conviction and courage to give the best chance they could to this little newborn girl.

But, on a higher, more important level, she was never abandoned at all.

Ultimately, this is not the birth parent’s child nor is it our child. Ultimately, this is God’s child. And God has always been with her. When she was on the side of the road, God saw her. When she was admitted into the Yugan Social Welfare Institute, God saw her. As she started to leave her premature world behind her and started to eat and grow, God saw her.

But God did more than just watch. God was an active participant. Before she was born, he knit her together in her mother’s womb. When she was in that box, God was at work – protecting her, creating a mild day in late October, bringing along a man who was willing and able to help.

He was actively working in us as well. Before she was even conceived, God was helping us explore the possibilities of an overseas adoption, helping us get the paperwork together, controlling the timing of the processing of our application, working in our lives to prepare us to receive her.

And God was also active in the Chinese government offices as they selected her, at the right time, out of a very large number of babies, and selected us, out of thousands of waiting families, and matched us together.

God was involved all along. So, while on an earthly level she was abandoned, on a heavenly level she was directed.

Our daughter, Yue Mengjie, will be called Jessica Brooke. For what might have looked like abandonment to some was actually a loving, caring, compassionate God at work, actively watching over her and directing her into our lives.

No, God never abandoned her. And he never will.