In less than two weeks, if God wills, we will be holding our daughter. Right now, she is most likely in a crib in Guangzhou – probably sharing the space with another baby. As far as she knows, this is everything that life will ever be: sustenance enough to continue living, but isolation and lack of love that makes death seem inviting.

That’s the same way I was.

Surrounded by people, yet utterly alone in life. No hope. No focus. No prospect of meaning in life.

But, on the other side of the gulf that separated me from hope, someone was intent on reaching into my life and turning me around. He couldn’t erase the wrong that had been done that led me to this place of self-loathing. So, He created an option where none had existed before. He took my isolation upon Himself, and carried my pain on His shoulders – even though He didn’t have to. His intentions toward me couldn’t be stopped, even by death itself. How could I not respond to such an amazing love as that? That’s why my life is subject to the control of Jesus Christ today. If you think He’s a fake, tell Him so – and, with honesty and sincerity, ask Him to show you that He’s not. Then prepare yourself to meet the ultimate authority on everything – including your heart.

Soon, our daughter will know the love that reaches across a great gulf to give hope to the hopeless. My prayer is that she will one day see that it wasn’t our love that saved her from a hopeless life, but God’s love – and that she will also be saved from the hopelessness of life without Christ. We will meet her physical and emotional needs as best we can, but Christ will meet the real need: the need to be forgiven and to worship her creator in freedom.