I had mentioned in my last post about a trip that my husband and I were blessed to take to the Holy Land just over two years ago. It was an amazing time and really one of those “once in a lifetime” experiences. We went in a group of 40 people and my husband and I were by far the youngest couple on the tour (by at least 15 years). We both enjoy spending time with older generations so that part of the trip was really enjoyable for us, even though a bit hard at times too.
We had one of those “adoptive parent” moments on the trip where one individual wanted to share with us his concern about generational sin. Believe me, I never in my wildest dreams could have anticipated this question coming to me as an adoptive parent – and to my knowledge this is not covered in any adoption training manual! I am not sharing this because I felt his comment/question wasn’t valid, I am sharing this because this one came to us from out of the blue! J We were standing in a store near the Dead Sea looking at sea salts and soaps when this fellow tour mate pulled Chris and I aside and asked us if we had ever prayed to remove the generational sin of our adopted daughter’s forefathers. We were completely caught off guard. Honestly, I actually got kind of angry and had to hold my tongue. My momma bear tendencies come out quickly and fierce and I often have to take a breath and decide what the correct response is in situations. This person did not know us prior to the trip, really didn’t know us that well even being on the trip, and he never once commented or asked if we had prayed to remove the generational sin of our biological children. And that is the piece that made me so angry. Clearly, if he felt we had the forethought to pray to remove our bio kids’ generational garbage, wouldn’t he then assume that we would have done that with our adopted child too? So, then it makes me assume that he thinks only our daughter’s generational garbage needs to be prayed for … hence the momma bear threat! Chris and I tried to be kind, both were bewildered and kind of took in his suggestion and quickly moved away to process this question. In hindsight, I wish I would have gone back to him during the trip and had a conversation about this with him, but truly didn’t feel we knew him well enough to engage in that conversation.
The problem I had with all of this is the continual mindset by some that our children through adoption are somehow “less than” or that they come from “a more sinful situation” when in reality, that often is not the case at all. And really, we all come from sin, and we all have generational garbage that certainly needs to be prayed for. However, my bio children have just as much (if not more) to be concerned about if they end up bound by their forefather’s sins … because on both sides of their family those sins are aplenty! I am not sure why God has me sharing this … I guess I hope others can have a better response prepared should that question come their way. This situation reminded me for the need to be praying for all of our children and for that I am grateful!
20 “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” ~ Ezekiel 18:20 ~ NIV
