Justin and Beth Day got married in the summer of 2011, in a season they both recognize as “later in life” compared to other newlyweds. But the end of their singleness didn’t mark the end of their hardships.
In 2012, the Days decided to start a family. However, after many attempts, the couple discovered Beth was infertile. Devastated by the news, Beth put her hope in the doctors to help her fight this battle.
“Justin did a great job supporting me,” she says, “but he also showed me that I was putting my hope in someone other than God. I wasn’t trusting that God could perform a miracle for us. I was putting all my hope in doctors and medical treatments,” Beth tearfully recalls.
Beth compares the medical process of infertility treatments to that of running a marathon. After going through that exhaustion, the two of them weren’t sure if they had it in them to withstand the days of waiting that come with the adoption process. They questioned God’s character and wondered if He was present during this heartbreaking time.
After hearing a sermon series on adoption at The Austin Stone Community Church, Justin and Beth decided to explore the path of adoption in February 2014. The Days partnered with Gladney Center for Adoption, an organization based in Fort Worth, Texas. During the Center’s orientation, the Days connected with another couple and began to walk alongside them during the process.
Justin recognizes that the adoption process awakened a boldness within both himself and Beth to proclaim the gospel, something neither of them were comfortable doing in the past.
“It has been a real opportunity for us to see God’s hand in this process and has allowed us to have a lot of conversations about God with them,” he says.
Justin and Beth were approved to proceed with the adoption process in June 2014. For 10 months, God reminded the Days that He was present even when they felt He was silent. Emails, texts, and words of encouragement from their Missional Community group reassured them when they felt too weak to keep waiting.
In April 2015, the Days received a phone call that answered their prayers. They were picked to be Ruby’s parents. The Days invested their time and hearts into creating a relationship with the birth mom and her parents. The relationships were challenging at times, but the gospel was proclaimed once again in the midst of difficulty.
After Ruby was born, she was placed in transitional care for 30 days until she could go home to Austin, Texas. Once again, Justin and Beth found themselves in the familiar place of waiting.
“It was not a great time for us, because at that time the birth mom had not signed away her rights to us. So we could visit once a week, but we didn’t know if Ruby was ours or not,” Beth recalls.
They describe it as the hardest 30 days of their lives, but during that time, God blessed them with the ability to see His love for them.
“We were pursuing Ruby not knowing whether or not we’d be her parents, and I feel like God pursues us even knowing that we are going to deny Him,” Beth says.
Ruby came home with Justin and Beth on May 22, 2015. Her homecoming has left the Days in awe of the goodness of God.
When Justin reflects on the painful days of waiting, he fights back tears of happiness because through the process of pursuing his daughter, he shared the gospel more times than he had in his whole life before then. Now, even when they tell strangers what led them to adopt Ruby, the Days share about their own adoption through Jesus Christ.
Justin compares their story of adopting Ruby to that of when Jesus was in a boat with His disciples during a storm. The Days and their Missional Community were like the disciples, witnessing a miracle from within the storm. When others around them could only see waves of suffering engulfing them, they saw Jesus calming their fears and restoring their faith.
“He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples.” (Luke 8:24-25)
