“
JOHN AND BETHANY HAVE GROWN UP WITH THE
KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY ARE SPECIAL CHILDREN ...
“
chosen by us
to be our children,
AND CHOSEN BY GOD TO BE PART OF AN ADOPTION
STORY WHICH SHOWS GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS.
ON NOVEMBER 8, 1966, MY FATHER DIED OF A MASSIVE HEART
surprise. We called an adoption attorney, who “just happened”
Loris to Columbia to visit. I accompanied her to the doctor’s
ATTACK. HE WAS 41. I WAS 9. After my mother told me and my
to be in his office on Sunday evening. The next morning, we
office for an ultrasound, which would reveal the baby’s gender.
younger brother and sister that my father was dead, I prayed
went to the hospital where we thanked the birth parents for
That picture is still on my refrigerator. When Melody went in for
and asked God to help me cope with this unexpected loss.
their great gift to us. We selected the name John, because it
her C-section, Kathy was invited into the operating room. We
Although I did not hear an audible voice, I heard God say, “I will
means God’s gracious gift, what this child was to us. By the time
named our daughter Bethany Grace because the word grace
be your Father from now on. I will always be with you.” In the
we arrived home, our church members had filled the house
means God’s gracious gift.
midst of one of the most painful and frightening times in my
with baby items. When the judge finalized our adoption, I gave
life, I experienced what the Bible calls “the peace that passes
him a copy of a sermon I had preached, including a long list of
all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7)
improbable events which had unfolded so that everybody was
Although I was reared in a single-parent home, I never
in the right place at the right time.
thought of myself as fatherless. I grew up hearing people re-
After a few years, we hoped we could adopt a second child.
cite fond memories of my father. When I was 15, I listened to
A birthmother from West Virginia selected us but later changed
an evangelist speak at the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellow-
her mind. Although we were discouraged, we did not give up.
ship. That night, I felt the same love and peace that had sur-
Another of our United Methodist colleagues, the Rev. Mary
rounded me the night my father died. From that day forward,
Green Kearse, told us about an adoption attorney in Columbia
I had an even closer relationship with my Heavenly Father.
who specialized in open adoptions. We completed the neces-
After graduating from college, I moved to southern New
sary paperwork and prepared a portfolio containing pictures of
Jersey and worked as a part-time youth pastor. After answering
our family. We waited. Since we were in our forties, perhaps
the call to ministry, I enrolled at Asbury Theological Seminary.
some birthparents thought we were too old. If it was in God’s
It was there that I met the love of my life, Kathy Thompson.
will, it would happen in His time.
Kathy and I married in 1985, the year I earned my Master of
In February 2004, we were informed a birthmother had
Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary and was or-
selected us. When we met her, she told us her story. Melody was
dained by the South Carolina Conference of the United Meth-
42 years old, unmarried, unemployed, and homeless. She knew
odist Church. In 1989, Kathy suffered a miscarriage. For the
she was not able to take care of a baby, so she decided to have
next eight years, we went through infertility treatments; but, in
an abortion. Melody’s boyfriend drove her to Charlotte for the
December 1997, we stopped treatments and began to accept
procedure, but they ran into a problem – she was further along
that we would never have children.
in her pregnancy than she thought she was. They could not
We invited Melody to see Bethany, but she told us she would
like to wait until she was in a better place in her life. That day
never came. Melody died in a car accident in January 2007. In
the fall of 2014, Melody’s brother and his family from Montana
were visiting the Wilmington area for a few days. What a blessing it was for us to share photographs and stories with one another.
John and Bethany have grown up with the knowledge that
they are special children, chosen by their birth parents to be
raised by a childless couple eager to be parents, chosen by us
to be our children, and chosen by God to be part of an adoption
story which shows God answers prayers. Our love for our children is in no way diminished by the fact that they were adopted.
Adoption is an excellent way of dealing with unexpected pregnancies. Although the debate over adoption is often framed as
a conflict between pro-choice and pro-life advocates, I would
like to suggest that those who place their children for adoption
are being pro-life in the sense that they are bringing a newborn into the world. They are also being pro-choice because
they are making a decision to place their child with another
In March of 1998, when we were serving in Chester, South
raise the additional $50 needed, no matter how many people
family. Adoption is an important theme in the New Testament.
Carolina, the Rev. Ken Phelps called to tell us about a couple he
they called. A few weeks later, Melody’s boyfriend asked her to
A FAlthough Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, he loved
had met while serving as a chaplain at a hospital in the upstate.
leave his home. For a while, she slept on the couch at her moth-
him as his own (Matthew 1:18-25). When we become Christians,
When he discovered they wanted to place their newborn son for
er’s one-bedroom apartment. With no phone, she wrote letters
God adopts us and welcomes us into the family of God as His
adoption but were unsure how to proceed, he told them about
to some adoption agencies in the Columbia area. And, after
sons and daughters (Galatians 4:1-7, Ephesians 1:3-14). In a
our desire to be parents. After some discussion, they decided
looking at a variety of portfolios at the attorney’s office, Melody
spiritual sense, all Christians are adopted. Some people are for-
they wanted us to raise their son.
selected us to raise her unborn child.
tunate enough to be adopted twice, both in spiritual sense and
When Ken called to tell us the news, I nearly fell over with
During the pregnancy, Kathy and I made weekly trips from
in a legal sense. To me, adoption is a win-win situation.
Rev. William F. Heustess was born in Kershaw, South Carolina, and resides in Conway with his
wife Kathy and their two children, John Phillip and Bethany Grace. He is the pastor of Shiloh
United Methodist Church in Marion, South Carolina. The Rev. Kathy T. Heustess is the Director
of the Coastal Samaritan Counseling Center in Myrtle Beach.
SHEMAGAZINE.COM
NOVEMBER 2015
109