I am a 52 year old adoptee. I was born on February 1, 1951 in a Lynchburg, VA hospital. My first two years of life must have been traumatic as my birth mother gave me up when it became apparent that she could not take care of me. She was unmarried at the time and the birth father was a married man. I was taken to an orphanage in Roanoke, VA and adopted by a young couple who then lived in Big Stone Gap, VA. They raised me in the Methodist tradition and I was saved in this church and answered the call to preach in the
United Methodist Church.
I could have easily been aborted had I been born in a different era of time but God had a purpose for my birth and blessed me with a family who raised me in the church that sewed the seeds of my future conversion and call to the ministry.
In early September of 2001 via of the internet I made contact with my birth family. I had known my birth name and went searching for them on a geneological search page. In the process I discovered that my birth mom had passed away just a little over a year before. A few weeks later I had a call from a half sister by birth I had
never met and she said, "Mama loved you very much but could not afford to take care of you. She gave you up and prayed
for you every day of her life. With all the problems she had her favorite gospel hymn was ’Count Your Blessings,’ and she sang that every day of her life until she was so weak she could no
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