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What if….
In honor of Lainey Rae who turns 2 today, I’m going to be talking to those of you who may have God tugging at your heart right now. Happy birthday Lainey. I’m heartbroken that I can not spend today with you, but you will no longer be alone on your birthdays. Daddy and I are coming sweet girl! 🙂
I watched the Rascal Flatts holiday special the other evening and cried through every story that was told. I watched as children said all they want is a family. I watched a 17 year old who said he cried because he thought his chance at a family was gone, that he had never had a birthday party. How does that happen? He had been in other foster homes, 8 of them, I think he said. Birthdays are special; it’s the day of rejoicing over your birth. Birthdays should be times of remembrance. Other families should have known that. That just broke my heart because it’s such a simple thing to fix. I wish everything in life was that easy to fix.
As Dan and I have talked to more people and read more about orphanages and adoptions, we have heard more and more stories. Stories that will break your heart. Stories that will change your life forever. Some stories I wish I’d never heard. Pictures I wish I’d never seen. My heart can barely stand the thought of what too many children must endure. Children in pain. Children starving for much more than just food. Children alone and hurting wanting nothing more than to be loved by a family.
I hear people talk about adoption, but many have their “buts and what ifs”.
I would so love to, but
It cost so much money – what if I can’t raise enough?
What if it disrupts our family?
What if it is just too much?
What if I can’t love them like my biological children?
Well, I will counter with these “what if’s”…
What if you could save one child from starving to death?
What if you could change the world for one child?
What if you could be the whole world for one child?
What if you are the only thing between a child and a life of prostitution or living on the street?
What if you could be the face of God for one child?
What if when you stand before your king He shows you what you could have done?
Heaven is perfect and beautiful but that doesn’t mean we won’t know what we could have done better. Whose lives we hurt and whose lives we made better. I can’t imagine standing in front of God and having Him show me a life that I could have saved, if only I wasn’t afraid. I know there is so much I have done wrong but when I finally trusted Him so much became crystal clear. A life about me isn’t a life at all. A life about HIM is what it is about. I still fail. I still sin. I am still so imperfect; but I am not afraid to follow His lead. Okay, maybe I am fearful sometimes, but I am above all else obedient to His call.
I recently read Corrie Ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place. Children in orphanages aren’t much different than those in concentration camps. “How?” you might ask? Well, children who are considered “less than” are brought there. These children are starving, abandoned, and alone through no fault of their own. That’s not to say there aren’t caring people in some orphanages, but there are also places where children are just left to die. Places where children weigh 14 pounds at the age of 12. The holocaust was horrible because of Hitler’s evil, but it was much more horrible because of all the people who stood by and watched it happen; people who turned a blind eye because they didn’t want to become involved. Christians turning a blind eye is worse even than the evil that man can do because they know better. It is in black and white in God’s book. 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. Widows are hurting. Orphans are starving. People are thirsty for both water and God’s word. Children are alone and waiting for a family.
Again I ask…
What if you were no longer fearful?
What if your dreams were bigger than you thought?
What if you could change the world….one child at a time?
What if God is just waiting to bless your life?
What if somewhere out there is your child? The child God choose for you. What if she is cold and alone and fearful? What if your son cries alone at night because he is alone, afraid, hungry? This child is yours as surely as if he/she grew in your womb (or your wives). This isn’t an unknown face across the miles. This is YOUR child and you have chosen to turn a blind eye.
What if…..
