Ever since my wife, Darian, and I adopted our girls in January 2019, things have been pretty tough for us. They’re Native American girls from the Choctaw reservation where we serve as pastors of Choctaw Christian Church. We’ve been trying to steer them away from their old behaviors and habits and raise them in instruction of the Lord.
Our oldest was seven at the time, and our youngest was five; so, they clearly remembered their old lives and the old ways of doing things. Their former “home” was one of neglect and abuse. They had ways of doing things that ranged from ungodly to downright inappropriate, and the girls struggled getting used to the way we did things in our household.
Emotions were strong and sensitive, and feelings of anger and fear were expressed in very extreme ways (I had a brick thrown at me once). If they got angry they would shout, break things, and hit each other or even other adults. They’d go from 0 to 100 in a second! It was tough correcting them about anything because they would become so angry. They also got extremely fearful whenever my wife and I went out on dates, so they would throw fits to try to force us to stay with them. It broke our hearts to see them triggered when we left, but we also needed the time to connect together! It has been a lot of hard work teaching them that we love them, and Jesus loves them even more.
In June 2021, Adventures sent a group from Texas to meet folks from our community and help out around our church. My girls connected really well with one of the young ladies, Natalie, from Adventures’ group. At that point, my girls were doing better emotionally and listening to my wife and I, but I wasn’t quite sure how receptive they were to making a decision about Christ. I just knew that they hadn’t yet.
Since my girls looked up to Natalie as a role model, when she told me and the girls the story of her baptism, my older daughter said, “Dad I want to be baptized, too!” This was seemingly out of nowhere for me! I couldn’t believe it! It was the culmination of two and a half years of the hardest work I’ve ever put into sharing the gospel with somebody. It was such hard work for my wife and I, and I couldn’t help but cry when I told Natalie and the rest of her team what it meant for us.
Since the team left, my wife and I have talked to the girls about the meaning of baptism, and they both have made their decisions for Christ, and are both going to be baptized this year! Thank you Adventures! And thank you, Natalie, for sharing your faith with my girls!
