The first week of June is the most special week for me of the whole year! It’s my and Larry’s anniversary and our only beloved son Zack’s birthday. We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary on June 2nd, and today, June 6th, is Zack’s birthday. As I reflect, I can’t believe that we will be married a half-century next year. Wow!! Where have the years gone? What a love, what a life, and what a journey.
Getting married as a young teenage couple, the odds were against us in every natural way -but spiritually! We had the one thing that we needed, and that was Christ. Larry and I both accepted Jesus Christ as our savior in March before we married in June 1972. We were so in love with each other -and in love with Jesus, our new best friend. Without our faith and commitment to Him, I often wonder would we have made it during those early years. I am so thankful to say that our love grew more as each year passed as a couple and as a child of God. God blessed us in so many ways despite our inexperience and or overzealous desires.
One desire grew in our marriage very quickly, and it was the desire to become parents. We wanted to have a child on which to lavish the love that God had so freely given us. Months went by, and then years as we longed for a baby. I so understood the women of the Bible who were barren! The disappointment, and grief, was so great for many years. We didn’t understand why God had not answered our prayers, but we continued to walk in faith, hoping for a miracle.
After seven years of waiting, Larry read a motivational book that inspired him to inquire about adoption, so we began to pray and seek God if this would be the miracle we had hoped for. We both felt it was the path God had given us, and we applied for adoption through the state. We were so naive as to think we would get a baby quickly. Months went into years, and after seven more years of marriage, a total of fourteen years, we finally got the call that we were to receive a baby boy. The joy that filled our hearts is indescribable!! We had six days to prepare a nursery. Larry nor I slept those six days; our adrenaline kicked in from pure excitement. We were to pick him up in Montgomery, Alabama, around 9:00 am. We arrived 2 hours early, with time to spare. We toured the capital while waiting for our appointment to meet our baby boy.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by a social worker and were put in a room alone. When she returned, she had the most beautiful brown-eyed little boy I had ever seen. The wonder of the greatest natural gift, being placed in my arms, is more than I can describe to anyone. The love was immediate, and expectations were off the chart. Tears were flowing with gratitude for a child given to us, with nothing of ourselves to do with his birth upon receiving him, other than accepting this marvelous gift from God.
“He was not bone of my bone, nor flesh of my flesh, but miraculously he was my own; never forget for a single minute you didn’t grow under my heart, but in it.”
Our desire was to love him, know him, have a relationship with him, watch him grow, and prosper. All the years of waiting and wondering were over, and our precious Zack became the apple of his Father’s eye and the beat of my heart! He brought the most love to our home we had ever known. He was a ball of energy, a smile that would brighten any day, a heart full of laughter, and had deep compassion for others. He taught us so much, and we desired to teach him about Jesus and how God had chosen him for us. We always wanted him to know above all else he was loved unconditionally by God, and he was desired and prayed for before he was born in his Mothers womb.
As a parent, responsibilities kick in so many ways; protection, provision, discipline, and the list go on and on, but the joy given is more and beyond our abilities to grasp. Being Zackery Caleb Mann’s Mother is the greatest blessing of my life. (Not to hurt Larry’s feelings, but he looks just like me.) He has my family’s resemblance; my chubby cheeks, lips, and my smile (I am told).
I am so grateful for adoption. I am so thankful to the mother and father who selflessly gave him up; because they wanted him to be loved, to prosper, and were not able for whatever means to accomplish that. I have wanted many times to personally meet and thank them for their sacrifice of Zack that was given to us. (I am still praying one day for this opportunity.)
When we adopted Zack, he became our son. He was legally ours; it was binding and sealed; it was a covenant never to be broken or returned. He is part of our family; he is heir to all that we have. Being the beneficiary of the gift of my son has brought the plan of God’s adoption story to us, His children, more vivid to me through the years.
“For God so loved the world, that the He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
We learn in the Bible that God sought after a people to be his children; to be a holy people unto the Lord thy God.
“The Lord chose them to be a special people unto himself, above all people, to be a peculiar people unto himself, for them to be above all the nations that are upon the earth.” Deuteronomy 14:2
He made a promise to Abraham the Father of faith “that through his seed it would multiply like the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore.” God chose Israel to be His witness and his servants, that He had chosen, so that they may know and believe in him. God gave the law through Moses; to teach them to love God and obey his commandments, but they continually chose to do their will instead of God’s until He allowed them to be taken captive by their enemies. God spoke through prophets to warn them of their actions and to proclaim the coming of their Messiah, the redeemer and deliverer. They rejected the prophets, sought their own way, and then there was silence. For 400 years, there was no prophetic word.
Thankfully this is not the end of the story. In Malachi chapter 3, God said,
“Behold, I will send my messenger to prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Remember the promise of God, that He would multiply the seed of Abraham. How will that be done to a nation that has rejected God’s law? God’s covenant is everlasting, and it will not return void. When Israel, God’s chosen children, continued to sin and failed to repent, God had a plan in motion to save them!
What man could not do, God did for them. He sent his only begotten son to sacrifice his life for them. ” He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as did receive him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God.” By Israel’s rejection of God’s most precious gift, we that are Gentiles are now adopted into the family of God. The invitation is now “whosoever will let them come and drink of the water of life freely.”
“We have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father.” Romans 8:15
“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Ephesians 1:5
“To redeem them under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Galatians 4:5
“The Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.” Ephesians 3:6
God’s love for us was so great that it extended beyond His only begotten son. All those who have wrestled with the fact that you gave a child up through adoption for a greater purpose can now understand the heart of God! His love is all-encompassing and all-inclusive. He desired for everyone to become His child! “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”
God knows the feelings of our infirmities because He knows the pain of giving his only son to the world, having him leave His heavenly home, separated from the physical relationship, turning his back while he pleads the question. ” Why has thou forsaken me” as he gives his life for us. There’s an old song that says, “Oh What A Savior He gave His life’s blood for even me” this becomes more special every day to me, and I am so unworthy of such love, but praise God from whom all blessings flow!
God desires a great big family. He wants to nourish, protect, provide for you, and the call is to all little children of the world; “red, yellow, black, and white they are precious in His sight” He wants you to live with him forever! His adoption is binding, sealed, and forever! He has a beautiful home designed especially for you. You will feast at His table and be joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, His Son, forever. You will rule with Christ on His throne for all eternity. You will never be thirsty again because you will drink from the river of life!
My prayer today is that you realize how special being adopted into the family of God is. I pray you will realize that you are chosen by God, predestined to become his child, through his sacrifice of Jesus death on the cross. If you have not accepted God’s gift of eternal life, I pray that today would be the day you decide to believe in him, for the saving of your soul, and become a child of the king.
In loving memory of my beloved only son,
Zackery Caleb Mann
June 6, 1986- May 11, 2019
Happy heavenly birthday, Zack.
We love you forever, and we will see you soon.
Mom
Diane Mann
Lean Into Jesus Ministries
