Orphan Sunday, Part V

Happy Orphan Sunday! 

The last TWO ways you can consider helping and orphan or waiting child:


9. Adopt them into your family.

• Give a child a home through international, domestic, or foster care adoption.

• Adopt a young adult who has aged out of the system.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God is His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families… -Psalm: 68:5-6a NIV

10. Mobilize your church for them.

• Be a catalyst in your church for starting a sustained orphan’s ministry. Visit HopeForOrphans.org for resources and to learn more about attending a Your Church and the Orphan™ workshop.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. -Matthew 28:18-20

Personal thoughts:

I’ve said it before .. adoption is not for everyone. God doesn’t call everyone to adopt, but I do think that it is a proven fact that God expects all Christians to have some part in caring for the orphans and widows (both literally and spiritually). I also heard a lot of great quotes this weekend at the Mid-Atlantic Orphan Summit, but one that stuck with me about if you should or shouldn’t adopt, was this: Wow~  That quote came from Eileen Mestas (http://www.jobsdaughters.blogspot.com/).  I'm not sure if that's her own quote or from someone else.. but it was certainly a quote that stuck with me.  How true!  Eileen was awesome and such an inspiration.  We had the privilege to personally speak with her and meet her sweet twin daughters from Ethiopia.  Such an amazing woman and testimony. (I’ll post later on some of the great speakers (Tom Davis) and testimonies that we heard this weekend).

“God does not call the equipped; He equips those who He calls.”

Bottom line – We had doubts, and sometimes we still do from time to time.  BUT, we didn't want to be one of those couples sitting on their porch swing 30 years from now with regrets and questions about what IF WE DID adopt…how would our lives be blessed now?  Could we have afforded it even though we didn't think we could? etc., etc.  We didn't want fear of the unknown make our decision that will forever change a child’s life (and ours!).

As far as mobilizing in our church. We are not quite there yet, but are heading in the right direction. My goal is to definitely have an Orphan Sunday event next year and we also want to help other couples who are considering adoption.. not sure what that looks like (help with dossier prep, monetary contributions, support groups, etc.) But, we definitely want to ‘pay it forward ‘in some way, shape or form.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40