Lately I've been thinking...

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the orphan crisis in the world. I think up to this point I've thought of it as a rather simple one...if more people would open their hearts and homes to the orphans of the world we could get all those sweet little kids in homes where they belong... I think that's all I could wrap my brain around as we were going through the adoption process.

Post adoption, God has been opening my heart, eyes, and mind to the big picture...the real picture. Here is an excerpt from an email that I recently sent to one of my friends...

"I have goosebumps. I am just SO overwhelmed with God's faithfulness in my life right now. To know that I have friends like you, who so desperately desire to follow God's calling is more then amazing.

I don't know exactly what to say. I DO know that Satan does NOT like adoption. He does not want those 163 million children in the world to have families. Families build strength and security...both things he does not like us to possess. I also know that adoption is not the sole answer to the orphan crisis. We need to raise the poverty level around the world, we need to educate women, we need to equip women with income opportunities, we need to solve some major medical crisis in developing countries to keep parents alive and able to care for their children.

You know you have my support in whatever path it is you decide to pursue. I think that God doesn't ask us to be perfect or to know His will immediately, but He DOES ask us to jump in...ALL in...and do SOMETHING. I think as long as you're willing to take ACTION with your faith He will make your path clearer as you go. Just my thoughts..."

I was encouraged at my Created For Care Retreat by all the adoptive mommas...there wasn't talk of just adoption... There was talk of the big picture of orphan care. They all understood that they had done just one small thing to help. We all knew that we weren't plan A, that God hadn't planned since the beginning of time for us to parent our little ones, but that because of the broken world that we live in, He had allowed us to parent them. There wasn't anyone who talked about being done, not done bringing little ones home, not done caring for those who were left behind. I was challenged and encouraged.

I'm so glad that God has surrounded me by others who take the call to care for the widows and orphans seriously. People like the women who have helped with the Pad Party, and the Birthing Kits, and the Sole Hope project (more to come on that very soon!). People like Asher, and the women who wrote This post, and this one, and this one, and this one.

What will you do?