Hello again, Friends!
In my last blog I wrote about how Russell Moore’s Adopted for Life had begun to teach us and change our hearts. The first thing it taught us was about the beauty of our own adoption as God’s dearly loved children.
The next thing the book began to shed light on for us was God’s heart for the orphan. Psalm 68:5 says that the Lord is “ a father to the fatherless.” Isaiah 1:17 urges us to “defend the cause of the fatherless.” Psalm 146:9 tells us that He “sustains the fatherless.” And many other scriptures remind us of how just how strongly God feels about the orphan. Perhaps the most often quoted is James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
I realized in my reading both Adopted for Life and the Bible that His heart breaks for those without fathers, and I had to ask myself, does mine? Well, I can honestly say that my heart is now completely broken for the orphans of the world, but that is nothing that came by my own doing. Several years ago while Billy and I were working at Crossings (the KY Baptist camp that Dad started), the staff did a sign language interpretive movement (something I ususally HATE) to a Rachel Lampa song, “My Father’s Heart.” Hear are the lyrics of the chorus:
My love is not my own, it all belongs to you
And after all you’ve done, the least that I can do
Is live my life in every part
Only to please my Father’s heart.
I realized that summer that one of the only things keeping me going through a grueling schedule was the love I had for the campers. Why did I love these middle school and high school kids that I had never met before and would never see again this side of heaven? One reason only- God gave me a love for them. A few years later, I taught the sign language to my middle school music class at Oldham County Christian Academy of Louisville and realized I had found the same love for these students- a love that could only come from the Father. This was a love that meant I hurt when they hurt, I rejoiced when they rejoiced, and their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being was really important to me.
This is the same love I feel for the babies, toddlers, children, tweens, and teenagers in our country and around the world that have no family to look after them. Sure, God often puts loving, caring individuals in their lives, (although, not always- perhaps because those called to be these individuals aren’t obedient…), but there is no friend, teacher, orphanage worker, nurse, etc., that can give a child what a family can give. The proof is in the numbers. Approximately 30,000 chilren age-out of the U.S. foster care system each year, and they enter a cold world without the love and support of a forever family. Here is the unfortunate reality for far too many of these kids[1]:
-25% become homeless
-56% are unemployed
-27% of the male children end up incarcerated.
Elsewhere in the world the statistics are the same or worse. Every day young women around the globe are leaving the institutions and foster homes where they are raised and ending up on the streets as young homeless mothers or as prostitutes and slaves.
I realize that these numbers can be overwhelming, and thus, paralyzing, but we cannot just sit and do nothing. The Lord does not call every family to adopt or foster, and every orphan is not adoptable by law, but the Lord does call each believer to play a role in orphan care. It’s not a suggestion, it is a mandate… remember James 1:27?
So where do you start? First, if you read this and really don’t care enough to do anything, begin by praying. Ask God to give you his heart for the orphan.
Second, get online and start doing some research. There are orphan care ministries worldwide that need :
Your Prayers- Pray that the Lord calls Christian families to adopt and foster, and that these families are obedient in response. Pray that our churches are broken by the plight of the orphan and that they are mobilized to care for and minister to the orphans here and elsewhere. Pray that orphans are well cared-for and loved by the institutions, group homes , and foster homes where they live worldwide. This week I urge you to pray specifically for Lisa and Keith Johnson, who are in Ethiopia as I write this. They had the joy of meeting their babies, Isaiah and Lydia yesterday, and they go to court for their initial approval on Monday- Pray that this goes smoothly. They will come home without Lydia and Isaiah sometime next week, and then have to wait eight to ten weeks before they are given a second court date and can return to Ethiopia, this time to bring their babies home. Imagine meeting your children and then having to walk away and leave them in a third-world country for two months or more. This will be extremely hard, and the Johnsons (including their three biological children) will need your prayers.
Your Time- Look for short-term and long-term mission trips through your church or organizations like showhope.org. You can also minister to orphans right here at home. One church in town spends time with the teens living at a Sunrise children’s home and makes breakfast for them once a month. You could also check out casaforchildren.org, an organization that helps people become court appointed advocates for children.
Your Money- There are countless opportunities to sponsor orphaned children with a monthly gift- check out worldhelp.net (Billy and I have sponsored a precious Filipino boy through them for years) compassion.com, showhope.org, worldvision.org. –These are just the ministries I thought of off the top of my head- there are so many more! You can also help other families bring home their children by a financial gift. Adoptions can cost upward of $25,000, and most families are not able to complete the process without the gifts of friends or the assistance of grant programs like LifeSong and Show Hope- which are funded by donations. Also, the Johnson’s are having a fundraiser on Sat. the 21st at Little Flock Baptist Church if you are interested- I’d have to check with her to see if they can handle any more people…
So there you go… a few ways for you to get started in caring for orphans if you’re not already doing so. Sorry if I rambled today, I just think many people want to do something, but have no idea where to begin.
One other thing, though- You can also give your love to an orphan. Consider whether the Lord is calling you to adopt or foster. If you have questions please feel free to contact us- if you can’t tell, we really love to talk about adoption J. If your heart is being drawn to adoption but you are stuck in fears and concerns, well, stay tuned, because we’ll get to that….
Blessings,
Jodi
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