The bible says 47 times to take care of orphans and widows! How many other commands mentioned in the Bible only once do we put so much more emphasis on? I hear stories like this one from Focus and I realize I already know my calling. It's not youth ministry or children's ministry, or even women's ministry. It is to invest in the lives of those around me and find ways to serve God by loving his children. Adopting foster children is one way, and now my heart is aching to do it (yet again). But God has made it clear to me that I will not be in a place to foster before I have a husband to parent his precious children with me. Sigh. So I pray for ways that I can support my family now and other foster and adoptive families.
This testimony of one woman serving God through fostering and adoption stirred my heart even more than the first story. See, adoption has been on my heart for as long as I can remember. Well before my younger siblings were born, I would pray for God to give us a baby. I might have been 8 at the time, and I always thought that baby would come through adoption. Maybe it was because around this time I had 2 adopted cousins. Even after my 3 brothers were born while I was a teenager, I still felt like we should have adopted, but I was not the parent.
Finally after I went to Africa the first time, I helped to mostly convince my parents that they needed to take in an orphan, and they began looking into adopting from China. I had already done a lot of research for them into adopting from China when I was 18, after we read an article about the awful conditions in Chinese orphanages. At the time, my parents only had 6 kids, and my sister and I were always helping with the babies. But they had another baby, and when he was about three, Adopting from China looked appealing, adoptions there were becoming more restricted. So my parents thought about another country, and finally were encouraged to become foster parents and adopt that way. And I'm so glad they did!
Someday, I'll know the joys and sorrows of being an adoptive parent too. Mia is a brilliant child, with the communication skills most teenagers lack, but is also one of the most hyper-active 2 year old's I know. Working with her to teach her to live in her body and world has been one the most difficult, most rewarding experiences I have ever had with a child. I can't imagine it any other way! She has taught my little brothers to have tea parties, and play with dolls, or at least tolerate them. All 4 on my younger brothers have learned to be compassionate when it is not convent, and when my parents talked to my brothers about taking another foster child, all three were shocked that my parents would even consider not taking more children, and some suggested adopting 2 or 3 more! Yes, I would love another little sister, for Mia and for the entire family. I would be great as a big sister, to fall in love all over again.
I know a few big families, the kind that makes our family of 8 children look average or even small. We are talking 12-18 kids here. Some have adopted and some have not. I see these families, problems and all, and I think what a blessing it is to have so many sisters and brothers. I have always felt short changed to have grown up with only one sister, and one who was really bad at letting me take care of her non the less. The need to nurture was ingrained in me and came out the day she was born! Starting in infancy, she wanted to be independent and the fact that I am only 19 months older than her did not help. I am of the notion that another child in a healthy family is always a good thing. It will be interesting to see what God will do. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment