my life in a nutshell
- Carolyn Deady
- Jul 26, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 10, 2019
Fun fact about me--I was adopted. I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 28th, 2000. However, five years before I was born, my parents adopted my older sister. My mom prayed and prayed for her and myself, and God provided. Strangely enough, my sister looks similar to my father and I almost identical to my mother, even though we don't have the same genes. My sister was young when she prayed for a baby sister, but I believe she understood the power of prayer--whether she knew it or not. My mom tells me that my sister always felt bad for her. Three out of four family members had brown eyes---my sister, my dad, and the dog. But my mom, she has hazel eyes. So, my sister would pray to God above that the next baby would look like her so that she wouldn't be lonely. Low and behold---I showed up.
My parents never hid the fact that my sister and I were adopted, whether that be from us or from others, and that's something I've always greatly appreciated and respected. In many cases, adoption is root cause of ongoing issues in behavior or mental illness for adoptees. It was never like that for me. Adoption was always something that I stood proud of. In elementary school, I would use it as a fun fact for those stereotypical first day of school papers you'd have to fill out with your classmates. As I got older, I came to the realization that while it was never a large issue for me, adoption can often times be the root cause of my insecurity.
I grew up in the Christian faith. I went to church upwards of three times a week (Sunday service, Wednesday family group sessions & Friday night teen devotionals), but I didn't hate church or faith at all--in fact, I enjoyed it. I had friends through God, I understood that Jesus died for my sin, and that was the end of it. However, because I grew up in a faith-centered home, I would find myself having the attitude that I was guaranteed a spot in Heaven. When I started high school, I finally started to realize that the world and a lot of the people in it can be brutal. I started to study the Bible and dive deeper into who God is because all of my friends had gotten baptized and become disciples. I felt that it was something I was expected to do, not necessarily what I wanted to do.
As I learned more about Jesus Christ and who he is, why he came, why he chose to die for me---yes, little old me, I became more intrigued. I stopped studying the Bible for a few months after my grandmother passed in April of 2018. Life had gotten crazy at that point, I was packed with grief and trying to stay strong and feeling like a rock for my family. In August of that same summer, I went to my church's summer camp for the first time in 3 years. I went when I was in middle school, but I never had fun because the camp activities were always centered around sports---something I don't enjoy. However, it was my senior year, I wanted to give it a shot. What could go wrong, right?
That year, the camp's theme was 'Stand'. It was all about standing up for God--no matter what circumstances. Let's just say that it hit me like a ton of bricks. I came home on a spiritual high, fired up for God's love and power. I finished my studies and became a disciple of Christ in January 27, 2019. Here's the thing--God literally gave up everything for us. he gave up his one and only son so that we could simply consider having a relationship with him. If that isn't amazing, I'm not exactly sure what is. He orchestrates our entire lives and leaves us with a book full of secrets to this crazy, bizarre life that we live on Earth. God works miracles, whether they're visible to the eye or not. As an adopted child, I like to think that my life is a practically perfect example of the work that God does. So with that, I'll leave you with one simple phrase that I've loved for a long time.
God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good.
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