19. Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when God will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen.
20. Everything that God made was changed to become useless. This was not by its own wish. It happened because God wanted it. But there was this hope:
21. that everything God made would be set free from ruin. There was hope that everything God made would have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
22. We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain, like a woman ready to give birth.
23. Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children. I mean we are waiting for our bodies to be made free.