Jackie Darby is a wife, mother, and author with a robust life and passion for the Lord. But she was once an abandoned baby left alone to die in a garbage dump in Seoul, South Korea.
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“Rats were eating on my … little body,” Darby, who has a new book titled “Whose Am I? The Truth About Your Worth and Identity in Christ,” told CBN News. “But the Lord God sent a missionary nurse who found me, and rescued me, and took me to a local orphanage that was also run by missionaries.”
That miracle rescue led her to be adopted by missionaries in America who already had five biological children of their own, but who felt called by God to bring her into their home.
“After they read an article about post-war babies in the local newspaper, that’s how the Lord touched their hearts for adoption,” she said.
Over the years, Darby said it was often perplexing and difficult recalling how she was discarded.
“It was very overwhelming thinking that that’s how my life began,” she said. “And I often wondered why — why was I thrown in the garbage?”
Watch Darby tell her story:
Darby recently teamed up with fellow author Aixa de López to pen “Whose Am I?,” a book that grapples with the issue and “shares true life experiences about adoption, redemption, and finding our true identity in Christ, while providing opportunities to ask questions and engage in conversations that are often difficult for families to address.”
De López told CBN News she and Darby connected at a local church. When de López was eventually called to foster care and adoption, she began relying on Darby to help her navigate the situation.
“[Darby] and her daughter would come over, take the kids to McDonald’s, and then do some crafts at her place,” de López said. “And then my kids started to relax around her, and especially my younger little [Darly] who’s pictured in the book started to have these deeper conversations with Jackie.”
That relationship between Darby and Darly grew. Darby shared her difficult origin story and Darby, who was adopted by de López and her husband, felt free to ask questions.
“We don’t know much about [Darly’s] origin story, just as Jackie doesn’t know almost anything about hers,” de López said. “And so they’ve connected in that very sore point. But it’s been a healing balm for my daughter to be able to see … this adult bearing fruit for the Lord, having her own family.”
Eventually, Darby and de López decided to write a children’s book that would help address some of those same difficulties, challenges, and curiosities. Darby is hoping the book has a profound impact.
“Our prayer — our heart’s desire — is that all children, whether adopted, fostered, or kids who just want to understand adoption, because they go to school with adopted children, or kids in Sunday school, our heart’s desire is this book would be used as a tool to open up very honest and sometimes complicated conversations for parents or adults to be able to talk to their kids about the word adoption, about the beauty of adoption,” she said. “Not just adoption here on this Earth, but about their spiritual adoption.”
Find out more about “Whose Am I? The Truth About Your Worth and Identity in Christ.”
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