Days of our Lives Alum Jen Lilley Celebrates World Adoption Day

At the end of last month, former Days of our Lives star Jen Lilley adopted her second foster child, bringing her family count to three kids, and the actress couldn’t be happier. As World Adoption Day was Monday, she marked the occasion with a very moving post that encapsulated her feelings.

Jen Lilley Marks World Adoption Day

The star who brought Theresa Donovan to life on DAYS took to her Instagram account to explain what this day means to her and her family. Below, find out in her own words what Lilley wants you to know.

“Today is #WorldAdoptionDay, and it floods my heart and mind with so many thoughts of joy and hope and love,” she began. “I am so adamant about changing the stigma adoptees often feel. Being adopted is being chosen, loved beyond measure, being grafted into a heritage forever.

“I have the distinct honor of having two sons so far through adoption. And let me say, as a woman who carried and bore my daughter Julie, I do not find any distinction among my children. My love for them is without measure, bias, or distinction. I never fully understood the concept of being adopted into God’s family when I became a Christian. Part of me always thought, I wish I was Jewish, the chosen, metaphorically “biological”, children of God instead of being the adopted Gentile.

“I yearned for God to love me with the same love. And while the Bible says He does, I couldn’t grasp that as a truth…until I adopted children myself. Friends, if you’ve ever felt like you weren’t “enough” for God or you were somehow the one who just “barely” made the cut, can I just tell you that YOU are so adamantly, fully, and wonderfully loved by the Creator of the universe. That God the Father welcomes you with open arms despite any and all shortcomings, flaws, or failures.

“And, despite what you may have been told or interpreted, God’s kingdom is NOT one that requires you to be perfect, because it recognizes that no one outside of Jesus can be or ever will be perfect. You are not a spiritual orphan. You have a Father and He is love, and He loves you as much as He loves Jesus. Sitting here reflecting on what adoption means to me, I’m constantly undone and awestruck at that truth. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand God’s love. It’s a Love too wide and long and deep and everlasting to fully grasp.

“Today, in honor of World #Adoption Day, I surrender to His absolute, unashamed, unrelenting Love, and I invite you to do the same. It’s been a wild year, and what a relief it is to have a loving Heavenly Father to cast my anxiety on so He can take it and give me peace. #Love 📷 by @bradley206 & @togetherwerise.”Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.