Four Families

by Macy Johnson

“God sets the lonely in families, He leads out the prisoners with singing.” 

(Psalm 68:6a NIV)

Everyone is blessed with at least two families: one on the mother’s side and one on the father’s. I was blessed with four.

At 6 months old, my birth mother gave me up for adoption. I launched an intentional search for my identity in 1983, while pregnant with my firstborn. In 2010, a doctor recommended I have my DNA analyzed on “23andme” just to see what medical issues might arise. That suggestion re-triggered the desire to discover my birth parents.

After seven years of unsuccessful searches, a Children’s Home Society caseworker suggested I hire an attorney to file a petition to unseal my birth records. Unfortunately, the Florida judge denied my request. I took a deep breath and resolved, since the last, human effort failed, to let the search rest in God’s hands. Just as King Solomon affirmed in Ecclesiastes 3:6, there is “a time to search and a time to give up.”

On April 7, 2018, four months after the court’s unfavorable ruling, I received a “23andme” message from a half-sister, whose DNA was matched to mine. My birth-mother’s daughter found me! I then submitted my DNA to Ancestry and was matched to my birth-father’s daughter!

My longing to discover who I am, where I came from, was finally fulfilled! God in His amazing grace pushed away all human efforts to hide the truth, revealing it His way in His perfect time.

As I pray for all my family relationships, old and new, I can now sing, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see!”

I thank God for all my family members today! I hope you will, too!

I will thank God for all my family members today! I hope you will, too!