James 1:27 says "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."
Who are the orphans in America in 2012? Who are the widows? Who are the people on the margins of society that can most benefit from the church stepping up and fulfilling their duty? I believe it is the foster child and the single mother. (My sister-in-law Kristin, in all her wisdom, first shared this with me.) We decided to adopt because of James 1:27. We want to be obedient to God's call to care for the orphan. Private adoption started to not feel right. Was this tiny little baby we were going to receive REALLY an orphan? Sure. Maybe in the most basic form of the word. But if we chose to pass on that baby, 20 other couples from our agency would have gladly snatched her up and raised her lovingly. Were we really needed to serve in that way? I don't think so. Could we have served? Absolutely. Could we have loved that birthmother with the love of Christ? The birthfamily? That baby girl? Sure. Is that the greatest need? I don't think so. I think God has SO much more.
As an aside--I don't say any of this in a judging manner. Two weeks ago I was wholeheartedly a member of the private adoption field. God opened my eyes to a need, and revamped the call that Grant and I feel towards adoption to mean something different than we originally thought. And, that's how God works. I think He reveals one step of his plan at a time. This is our next step. I think if God had told us a year ago to foster to adopt we would have laughed and said No way! We're ready for this step now.
The private adoption field started to sit wrong with me for another, yet related reason. Here were twenty-some couples waiting desperately to adopt a baby. Wanting desperately to have a child to love. And there weren't enough babies to go around. We had already been waiting for 9 months. They tell you to expect to wait over a year. And yet, all across the state, there are SO many children in foster care that truly NEED someone to love them.
The end of James 1:27 has never really stuck out to me. I get stuck on the orphan and widow part. But "keep yourself from being polluted by the world" is right there with it. The world would tell us not to foster. The world would tell us it's too hard. Guard your hearts. Guard Alex and Noah's young little hearts. Don't take such an emotional risk. These kids have been hurt! They could hurt you! You never know what you're going to get! Go the safe way. Adopt a baby who has a clean slate. And on and on and on. It's going to be hard to tune those thoughts out. Hopefully God, and the godly people we surround ourselves with, will shout louder than the world: It Is GOOD to love. Love is always a risk. The greater the risk, the greater the reward. You're doing the right thing. God will bring the right child to your family. This will be the best thing for your family. Not the easiest thing for your family, but the thing that will bring you closer to God and closer to who He wants you to be. And on and on and on.
We start our training process tomorrow. We have to take 36 hours of training. It's 6 Saturdays in a row from 9-4 (with an hour for lunch). It's going to be long and intense. But--Grant and I also get to spend time together! And have a lunch date every Saturday. :) We also have to re-do our entire home study. Nothing can transfer from our first home study. We have to do ALL the paperwork, fingerprinting, interviewing, home inspections, etc. again. Ugh. Not looking forward to that part, but at least we know what to expect and where to go for everything now!
I'm looking forward to tomorrow and to getting this adventure off to a good start!
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