husband and I were in Russia, adopting our youngest son, getting ready to climb into a car to take him home. Seared into my memory is a picture – a picture of many other sweet children standing in the cold parking lot with snow piled around them with absolutely nothing to do.
They had to stand outside for 20 minutes every day so they wouldn’t develop rickets.
As we pulled away from the orphanage building that day over 10 years ago I thought – somehow, by God’s grace, I have to do more. I had absolutely no idea what that might look like and felt completely inadequate. Thus began a personal journey of figuring out how God wanted me to “do more” – following His command in James 1:27 to “look after orphans in their distress”. On this journey one of the biggest unexpected avenues has been involvement with children in foster care. They are the orphans of our society and the need is tremendous for individuals to come around both them and the foster parents. Very recently I was at an event with a high school student in foster care. A sweet, smart kid who had been through a lot. What impressed me the most was that, although his foster parents didn’t go to church, he decided he wanted to go to church, and was going to church on his own every week. I shared with him Psalm 23. Completely on his own accord, he looked it up right then and there. As I was sitting there, fighting back tears thinking of his perseverance, endurance, and determination, I flashed back to how this all began. For anyone who feels the tug of God but is not sure where to begin I would like to encourage you – just take the next step. A great next step would be attending the Every Child One Day Symposium. There will be lots of opportunities to learn from experts and explore what caring for orphans might look like for you. I know for me, following God’s prompting to “do more”, has been one of the biggest blessings of my life.
~Suzy Roth, Hands Of Hope Adoption & Orphan Care Ministry
No comments:
Post a Comment