Foster Care

So tonight was a big night for my husband and me. We've been in foster care training since the end of January, and tonight we finished our last training class. We've both felt God calling us to foster and/or adopt children since before we got married. If I'm being honest, I only wanted to adopt children. Foster care has always seemed so scary to me. I mean the kids aren't guaranteed to stay with you. Sometimes they are with you for one night and sometimes a year, and they can still be taken away from you. Talk about emotional trauma!

But, God has really softened our hearts, especially mine, to foster care. We were able to find an amazing Christian foster care organization that I can't say enough good things about. It's the Bair Foundation, and you can go to their website at www.bair.org. They have been such a huge blessing to us, and I know they are going to be an amazing support system for us once we are licensed foster parents.

Anyway, back to God's calling. I believe as Christians we all have a calling to take care of orphans and widows. I mean James 1:27 (NLT) says, "Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us." It doesn't say we should or that we can, it says "we MUST." I know God doesn't call every person to foster care, but that is the way God is using us to fulfill James 1:27.

I honestly never would have considered being a foster parent until after I'd read the book, Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Then I read this amazing issue of a Christian magazine our church gets. It was all about foster care, and the stories I read absolutely blessed my heart, and God began transforming my heart.

Usually when you think of foster care, you think really negative things. The kids are messed up, you'll get attached to them then they'll be taken away, the kids may be violent, they have major behavioral disorders, etc. Yes many of the kids in foster care do have issues, but usually not of any fault of their own. They are a product of their environment. They need stability, love, nurturing, and encouragement. They need to know that there are people who will love them unconditionally, but more importantly they need to know that there is a God who will love them and never let them down even when every person they've ever trusted has let them down.

It makes me think of how I was, how we all were, before Christ came into our lives. We were messed up. We had major issues, but in spite of all that God sent His son to die for us so that we could become His inheritance. God adopted us as His sons and daughters. That's what foster care/adoption is about. It's a beautiful picture of what God has done for us, His children.

I'm not trying to romanticize foster care because I know it is going to probably be harder than I can imagine. But I also know that my God faithful, and He is not going to give me anything that I cannot handle with His help. We are excited and terrified about this new journey God is sending us on, but I think that's a good thing. I know if we just let God use us, then He is going to bless us beyond our wildest imaginations. Please pray for us as we embark on this amazing journey.

(The photo is one I took of my nephew. I thought it fit this post.)