The Girl from Guangzhou

In 2012, a couple from Portland, Oregon, traveled to Guangzhou, China, to finalize the adoption of a three-year-old girl named Mei. She had spent her entire life in a state-run orphanage, sleeping in a room with eleven other toddlers, owning nothing but a thin cotton dress. When they placed her in the car seat for the first time, she gripped the seatbelt with both hands, wide-eyed, unsure whether this was real.

For weeks after arriving in Portland, Mei would hide crackers under her pillow. She hoarded small things — rubber bands, bottle caps — as if everything might be taken away. Her new parents never scolded her. They simply kept filling the pantry, kept whispering the same phrase at bedtime: "You're ours now. You're home."

It took months before Mei stopped hiding food. It took longer before she could say "Mommy" without hesitation. But slowly, her identity caught up with her reality. She had been declared a daughter long before she felt like one.

That is the breathtaking claim of 1 John 3:1-3. The Father has already lavished His love on us. We are already called children of God — and that is what we are. We may still hoard our anxieties, still grip the seatbelt, still wonder if it is real. But our identity is settled. And one day, when we see Him face to face, who we are will finally match what we were always meant to become.