I grew up loving the movie Annie and The Little Princess. I’m a succor for the underdog. The outcast. The abandoned. I was the outcast. The underdog. The abandoned. Jesus came to my rescue. He scooped me up, carried me half dead with dirty knees and washed me. With more tenderness than a mother with her child, He washed the dirt from my face, my feet, my heart. He washed it with His blood. The blood that cost something on Calvary.
There is an uprising in our churches. It is a good uprising. It is a Holy Spirit uprising, because only He can cause such a stirring. A stirring for the abandoned. The orphan. The child who is left to sit in their feces and bed of lice and fed crumbs in the name of parenting. Not cool.
I heard someone say yesterday that family court judges should be required to foster a child for a year before they ever get the right to sit on that authoritative bench. To hold that gavel that sends the innocent child back into a cruel environment with one prideful bang on their big, bad bench. Not cool.
I must admit, all this talk about adoption, and the orphan, and foster care, has made me a little uncomfortable. Isn’t that horrible? Am I the only one? Probably not. Am I doing something wrong, Lord? If I don’t adopt? If I don’t take in a child from the system? If I simply take care of the children I’ve birthed?
I feel somewhat guilty for not wanting to take on more responsibility at this time. Because, the Lord knows, I can barely take care of my 3 little ones most days.
But I can do something. You and I can pray for a heart change. I’ve prayed for a heart change. Ask the Lord how you can help. Maybe, for now, it is simply to pray for these precious ones the Lord so cares for. Maybe it is to sponsor a child? Or consider foster care at some point.
Whatever it is, on whatever level, don’t let the answer be to turn your head so you don’t have to see the pain… because it’s there, whether you want to see it or not. God calls us to care. He calls you to care. If you are like me, and content with your pretty little family God has blessed you with, remember… there is more we can be doing. Ask Him. Be willing. Don’t turn your head in ignorance. Don’t, with a prideful, unwilling heart, say I’m okay… because that child, is so not okay in that dark, lonely corner of the globe.
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