Passion Part 1: Redeeming Love

Heather Andrews lives life from the heart, the heart of passion for orphans from around the world.

When Heather first entered the Bible study I was leading, I was struck by the intense love she felt for those in the world born to a life of abandonment. She passionately spoke of the need for adoption. She saw it as a ministry to the unloved; an opportunity to save a life. I had no idea that three years after our first meeting with Heather that the lives of four families and of seven children would be forever transformed because of her heart’s cry.

If any of you have ever gone through the adoption process, you know it is a long, pain-filled journey of dashed hopes and realized dreams. Heather and her husband, Seth, waited for months to hear back from the Chinese government. They waited to hear from the adoption agency. They waited for the plane trip, and they waited for the car ride to the orphanage, never certain that they would be able to hold their little one. It was not until Heather actually picked up her lovely baby, the one she had been praying for without even knowing, that she finally realize the joy of having a child of her own.

You see, Heather was not just a spokesperson for a cause she felt strongly about. She was an active participant, a living example of the power of adoption. Within a year of her first visit to our Bible study, Heather and her husband, Seth, had adopted a little girl from China. She was able to live out the passion that God placed deep in her soul.

To see Heather now, is to know that she was created by God to mother her daughter. Through her passion for a child, not even one from her own cultural background, all those around her began to realize the great blessing of adoption. This blessing was not just for the child bereft of parents. No, it was also for the adoptive family that’s love was able to finally flow out into another life.

Heather’s passion for those cast aside, permeated her conversations, her relationships and her every action. Even the minds and hearts of those around her were changed. From Heather's passion there arose others who took up the same cause she so believed in. Three women from the Bible study decided to follow in her steps, each varying their course based on God’s leading in their lives and the lives of their families.

God placed a young Chinese boy, age five, into the heart of one couple, whose home already overflowed with love for their three children, one having special needs. For another family, the desire for a little girl to complete their family circle drew them to Russia, and the adoption of a beautiful baby. And finally, Heather’s passion so took root in the heart of another woman that she decided to step outside of the norms of the world, and adopt not one, but four little girls. These women each followed God’s desire for their families.

All of these stories are tales of obedience, love and a heart carried away with passion for children. These women were the ones God chose to redeem a life, by adopting a child. The passion for adoption that filled Heather was not something of her own creation. It was placed in her by her loving Heavenly Father. You see, His passion is the redemption of the world, and He is the ultimate adoptive parent. He chose us and invited us into His family, through His Son, Jesus. So we now are joint heirs with Jesus, and have the right to call God, Abba Father.

Heather lived out her passion, and by doing so, she stirred passion inside the hearts of three others. Each story rippling out to inspire, and possibly plant the seed of passion into the lives of people that Heather never could have touched.