Many of you may recall my blog post several months ago in which I discussed my disgust at the idea that because of the expense of adoption, a child faced the very real possibility of not only staying in an orphanage but, perhaps even worse, the child would soon age out of the orphanage and be released to fend for himself with little hope for his future. Of course, merely lamenting the problems of the world does not change anything. For things to change, people must be willing to act. To that end, after months of prayer (and a great deal of struggling with just how much I'm willing to live by the faith I preach), Dottie and I have decided to act on behalf of at least one orphan in the sea of orphans. We are going to adopt the child who I posted about earlier.
I realize that many may have questions about his decision so let me anticipate and to answer them now. Most likely the 2 most frequent questions will be along these lines: Do you really need another child? (For those who are counting this will make 5.) & How are you going to afford this?
I'd answer the first question just by simply saying that this is not about our "need" to have another child. This is about a child in need that we are called to help. We are not called to adopt every child in the world but we know that we are to follow through with this adoption. As with most any calling, we don't have all the answers. We simply have to be obedient to what we know that God has called us to do.
To the second question: well, we don't know exactly. However, let me give you this analogy. Say that a child of yours finds themselves in the middle of an emergency. They are in desperate need of your help. What would you do? Would you sit around and simply say, "Well when we have all our finances together and we can help you with no sacrifice on our part, then we'll get back to you." Or would you do all that you can to help your child? I'm not suggesting that you would neglect your other responsibilities, but you would make it a priority to find a way to help your child. Right away I know there are those who would say, "But he isn't really your child. He is a child you are just wanting to adopt." Here is where I must vehemently disagree. Again, this is something we are called to do. God had placed it on our hearts that this is our son. Our son is facing an emergency. His life is facing a crisis and as responsible parents we must do all that we can to help him and bring him home. We are doing this by faith that our Father in heaven will provide by whatever means He chooses.
Finally, I would like to say that this has personally been a challenge to my faith. But as I have become obedient to His call I have found the peace that has come with every major life decision that I knew He was calling me to. We go into this journey admittedly with some, I wouldn't exactly say fear, but with wonder as to how it will all work out. We also go into this journey with great joy. It is an amazing blessing to follow the Lord in his command to care for the orphan. We are in love with our new child and long to bring him home.
