Have you considered that it may be YOU that God is calling? If not YOU, then who? WHO is going to answer the prayers of the hundreds of thousands of children waiting in foster care for someone to adopt them? Who is going to adopt the millions of orphans around the world waiting for a family to say "you belong"?
This actually is a good question to ask yourself!
It wasn't the question we were asking when we adopted our children from Liberia in 2007. Back then, we viewed adoption as a good thing to do, a way to have more children, and we knew it was commanded in scripture to care for orphans and so it seemed like a good idea.
And it was!
And we were so blessed!
but then, watching the Lord take our three new precious children from hurting, fearful, unattached, raging, and traumatized orphans to healthy, content, spunky, attached, redeemed children who were a part of our family. . .
well, it changed something in us.
We realized that God, who can raise the dead to life, ALSO can bring life to children who desperately need it. He can take what is broken and make it new, make it whole and He had given us the PRIVILEGE of being a part of that work in our kiddos' lives! How incredible was that?
Honestly, when the opportunity arose to adopt a sibling group of (GASP) SIX older children out of the inner city foster system, well, there were none of those similar feelings from our first adoption -
they weren't a picture of a cute sibling group on a website,
we had no sweet ideas of what it would be like,
we weren't looking to necessarily increase our family because we wanted more children. . .
BUT, we did want something else.
We wanted to walk in obedience to Christ and to share in the work that He wanted to do in these children's lives if someone would just give them a chance.
But WHO? Who would it be? Would it be us?
We knew this was the question God was asking us.
It would be HARD - oh, we knew it would be hard!
We had firsthand knowledge and experience at adopting hurt older children with attachment issues - KFHP's (Kids From Hard Places).
We would have been delusional to believe that it would be anything but hard,
and we knew there were risks - BIG risks in adopting 2,3,6,8, 10 and12 year olds from the foster system. . . many of our friends told us so.
But in the end, we knew that we had to listen NOT to those voices (ours and others) that said "this is crazy so you shouldn't. . . "
no.
We had to listen to the ONE voice saying "Yes! This is crazy! AND, this is love. Crazy Love! And if not you, then who?"
We knew. There was no one else.
God had called us.
He had called us!
US!
And suddenly, rather than a burden, we saw that this crazy call was a blessing!
How amazing and how humbling that he would once again allow us the opportunity to be involved in His amazing heart work of redemption for these specific children whom he loved!
There are days when we wish it wasn't so hard.
There are days when we are tired beyond what we think we can stand.
But there is not EVER a day when we regret saying "Yes."
"Yes, we will answer God's call to care for the least of these, knowing that He is GOOD and SOVEREIGN and works powerfully to redeem all that has been lost and stolen and makes all things new - even older children from very hard places."
