Victorious Faith

I'm an Overcomer!

Dawsen Kyler –

Where to begin with such a story of a perfect miracle. . . .  There is much to tell that is only Dawsen's to tell when he is ready someday, but one thing we want to share is the story behind his name.

Gianna sported a proud grin while holding Dawsen the other day and said "This is our baby."  I replied that indeed, he is. Then she said, "Actually, he's God's baby."  The now familiar lump in my throat was suddenly there again.  "Yes, you're right, Gianna. He is God's baby." Wisdom beyond her 4 1/2 years.  In her unique style, she lightened the conversation with "I think God is looking for him," as Dawsen began to squirm and whine in her arms.  Ha ha!  I guess that could be taken in a couple of different ways, but I prefer to think that the Holy Spirit was speaking through her sweet innocence, confirming in my heart that He does have plans for Dawsen.  He's already in hot pursuit of his heart as He has been for the rest of ours.  Dawsen's first mama also believes that God has special plans for him and looks forward to seeing how they unfold.  She helped us choose his middle name, a name that we and the girls voted for and love.

If you've been following our adoption story since our announcement last year, you might remember that we chose the theme “Overcomer” for this school year, before we knew what riches the year would hold. Because God has made it clear many times that this journey is His gig, and He will be the one to overcome the adoption obstacles, it seemed appropriate to look for a first name meaning overcomer, or similar.  We came across many possibilities, most of them uninteresting or reminiscent of somebody's grumpy old uncle. After narrowing the names down to a few, we kept coming back to one meaning "Son of the Beloved" or "Victorious."  Not exactly overcomer, but close.

Since settling on Dawsen as our future son’s first name, my heart has pondered why we were drawn to that name. We’re not believers in accidents or chance, but in a Father who has vested interest in every single one of His children.  Each one of our first 5 kids has a name with meaning, chosen for them by God Himself, though we didn’t necessarily see it at the time.  I cannot know the full “why” of anything in the here and now, but I do find it interesting that the passage of Scripture I chose to go along with our Overcomer theme is I John 5:1-5 –

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. ² By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴ For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

In the words of hymn writer John Yates, “Faith is the victory!” As Scott wrote here a few months ago, this adoption journey is actually a faith journey – faith in an immensely good and loving God, no matter our circumstances; faith in the only true Overcomer:  Jesus – friend of sinners, God in flesh, victor over sin and death, healer of our very souls. Only He could take our brokenness and make beauty such as our adoption miracle. He fought and won the battle for our son’s life before we ever knew of him, and the love of Jesus set us on this adventure before Dawsen’s first mama knew of him.

This adoption journey has further solidified for us that EVERY life is a beautiful gift with purpose. When we choose faith in a loving and good Father, regardless of what flavour of pain He chooses for us, that faith gives us victory in discovering our purpose, one leg of the life journey at a time.

Faith is both a choice and a gift. Dawsen’s first mama chose to have faith that God has plans for him, and in doing so, she became victorious over her impossible circumstances and gave us a priceless gift of faith. His short life has increased our faith incredibly. He is a little bit of the “why” in a much larger story than we know – one that began several millennia ago, but for us we’ll say it began with our first miracle, Gabriella, and has continued now for over 11 years. That is a story for another blog post.

We are now 6 miracles deep and are overwhelmed at God’s wisdom and kindness in ALL of them. This latest sweet miracle, our Victorious Son of the Beloved, leaves us even more in awe of Grace Himself – Jesus – and grateful beyond words for the gift of VICTORIOUS FAITH!