Conversations

Today I had a conversation with an amazing lady from church. After raising her two children, she has been opening her home to foster children, teenage girls to be specific. Her job by day is to be a teacher for teenage boys who are in an alternative school. She is always so great to talk to because this woman is daily walking the walk of loving others.

Due to her experiences, I have found myself sitting at her feet lately trying to get some wisdom and understanding from her.

At this point, it is not our plan to foster children, but instead adopt. But seeing her and talking with her, I can imagine Nathan and I fostering in the future. This is her ministry. She is touching the hearts of girls who have been deeply disappointed by the world, sceptics to a loving God and rejected by families.

A couple of years ago I wrote on another blog how I truly believe that Christian homes all over the world should be opening their doors to orphaned and neglected children. Today our conversations stemmed from seeing how the current Child Placement and Permanency systems are failing...in fact perpetuating themselves. When you begin to discuss how to make improvements to a failing system the debates could be endless. But the reality from a Christian worldview is that the only solution to the system is for there to be no need for the system. Imagine the euphoric world where all parents loved their children and the community embraced children and always looked out for the best interest of those children. Hard to imagine? What about a world where even if parents and the community let down children, the ADOPTED children of God rallied and did not let them down. What if every christian home took in one child--how many children would be left in the system?

I praise God for the challenge this sister in Christ lays before us as she tackles and overcomes the challenge day in and day out. I am glad for her friendship and humbled by her service. I am so glad to have her wisdom and support. I found a blog by Tom Davis that I will spend many weeks meditating upon.

From Tom Davis' blog:
Today, I wanted to post some scriptures to meditate on. It tells some of the story of why orphans are so important to God and why we are supposed to care for them.

God calls Himself the Father of the fatherless.
· Psalm 68:5, “A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation.”

God considers spiritual service the purest when His people are taking care of orphans. (and) A religion that does not care for orphans is no religion at all.
· James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

God’s people are commanded to care for orphans. To see an orphan afflicted, and to turn a deaf ear, is sin, even rebellion.
· Exodus 22:22, “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.”
· Isaiah 1:17, “Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
· Isaiah 1:23, “Your rulers are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless.”

We can be the hands and love of Christ Himself by providing practical care.
· Deuteronomy 10:18, “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.”
· Psalm 10:14, “But You, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.”
· Matthew 18:5, “Whoever receives a child in My name, receives Me.”
· Matthew 25: 45, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me.”

Orphans are to be taken care of with the same honor and provision as a Pastor or Priest.
· Deuteronomy 14:28-30, “The Levite (priest), because he has not portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

A portion of all that we possess is sacred and belongs to the orphan.
· Deuteronomy 26:12-14, “You shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.”