November 7th is Orphan Sunday.
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Adoption. Over the past 6 years, and even before that, we have felt God's stirring in our hearts.
After Abby was born and struggling in the NICU, the Lord opened our eyes to a part of life and humanity that we hadn't personally experienced before. The pain of watching our child fight through infections, surgeries and disease was deep. We couldn't imagine what that experience would have been like without Christ and without each other. All around us babies struggled. Some had both mom and dad present. Many had very young, single moms holding them. A few were there all alone.
God's call for his people to care for the poor, the sick, the widow... and the orphan is very clear.
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."
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God has shown His mercy and loving kindness to our family through all of Abby's many hard days and nights. Through her relentless seizures, her moans of discomfort and her frustration with communication. This doesn't mean that we have things figured out or that we always have great attitudes about this life. The truth is that Patrick and I still ache every day. There are still many questions that we have for the Lord. Tears still flow as we pray over Abby about her life and her difficulties. There are more days than I care to admit that we feel weary and defeated.
In the midst of this relentless heart ache, God has been revealing himself to me in ways He might not have otherwise. This is our story. This is the path He has laid before our family. Maybe my selfish, prideful heart needed to experience pain to truly see God's love. (mom, I never did read the book you gave me in college: Pain - The gift no one wants) Everyone has a story.
So, what does this mean for us? I have no idea, except that we want to follow His prompting, obey His word and move. We've had the honor of watching dear friends walk the journey to adoption; through foster care and then international, special needs adoption.
When? How? I don't know.
The Lord has shown me some things these past few days (as my husband and J went on a last minute trip to the Cape for a shuttle launch) that have forced me to face my fear of this subject. Thus the writing of this post. God has been faithful to prove to me that when I am unable, weak, tired, out of ideas He is always ABLE.
We are really just beginning the parenting journey with a 7, 4 and 1 yr old. I can't say how things will end up with our family, but I pray that the Lord will be pleased to use our family in some way to defend the cause of the fatherless (Deut. 10:18) and set the lonely in families (Psalm 68:5-6).
If you are interested to learn more about Foster Care, Adoption, and Orphan Care check out these sites:
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