What If...

This post popped up in my Facebook feed last night:

"Guys. I am in tears as a child with special needs is about to be delivered to my house in the middle of the night. My house. I am a single mom of 4 but there is no where else for him to go ....because he has special needs. We need more foster families to STEP UP and be on the front lines with our county agencies. Kids don't come in to care during normal "business hours". This is just not OK. ‪#‎fostercare‬ ‪#‎churcharise"

The reality of foster care is unbelievably painful. Frankly, it's embarrassing. How did we as humans come to a place that we can't care for our most vulnerable...our sick, broken and undefended children? The truth is, it is sin. An awful, awful, awful consequence of our first decisions in the Garden. The reality of foster care is that it is our own darn fault. We did this.

But the Lord says, by His grace, we can have a hand in fixing it. Forty-one times in the Old Testament alone, God says: care for my sweet babies, take them as your own and love them like I love them.

What if the Church actually did that?  What if even half of those sitting around us on Sunday morning heeded the call to care for the widows and orphans in our own communities?  As followers of Christ we can't be satisfied with the horrible statistics that are associated with children in the American foster care system:

 

BUT...WHAT IF:

*Empty-nesters opened up a bedroom?

*Young families kept the spare highchair available just in case?

*Grandparents put their years of parenting experience to fresh use?

*Singletons gave their undivided focus to a sweet one in need?

*Fathers mentored an extra son?

*Mothers nurtured an extra daughter?

*The Church fought for EVERY child in a 100 mile radius of their sanctuary?

 

What if every child in foster care never had to fear multiple placements, abuse, anger, emotional isolation?  What if every child in foster care was welcomed out of their brokenness into the arms of Jesus through a family that let their heart break with what breaks His?

 

The What If can happen! 

The Church can arise!

Foster care as we know it can be forever and radically changed!

 

Please prayerfully consider becoming a licensed foster home.  Become the home that a precious child comes to know Peace in. Give the gift of a loved child to their forever family.

 

 



 

A gift from our own Chinese foster family.