Faithful Families and their Extraordinary God

[First of all, I have to give credit for the title of this post to Noel Piper's great book].

For anyone who has considered adoption (especially foster care adoption) this is a great article from the New York Times: God Called Them to Adopt.  And Adopt.  And Adopt.

I read this article last week and have been thinking about about it a lot ever since then.

On one hand, I find it really encouraging.  I am so spurred on to hear about these families willing to adopt one, two, three (or more!) special needs kiddos from the foster care system.  When most people adopt, they just want the typical kids, the ones with the least amount of problems as possible.  But these families have intentionally sought out the ones that no one else wanted (which is exactly what God has done with believers... sought us out and saved us and adopted us when no one else wanted us, in the midst of our mess and problems).

On the other hand, I found it eye-opening, sobering and a bit discouraging.  Somehow, I believe that things with foster kids get easier after an adoption is finalized, or at least after they are in a healthy/typical family for a few years.  Its a reality check to realize that it might be hard for years to come (though certainly not always).

And for a few days after reading it, I felt really discouraged.  I wondered, "How could I ever do that? Should we even pursue foster care adoption if these things are a possibility?".  I think this hit especially hard right now because of how high needs baby boy R is.  And with him, we know that he is leaving in a couple weeks, but could I commit to a child who might be this high needs for years to come?

And then God helped me to realize something.  These families aren't special.  Sure, God may have created them in certain ways to make their life situation more doable (for example one of the moms mentioned not needing much sleep at night).  But ultimately, there is nothing in these families that no other believer has access to.  They adopt because God first adopted them.  They adopt because God gives them the love and the strength to care for their children.  God has adopted all believers, and can give any one of us the strength to do the most difficult ministry, including adopting a high needs child.

And that was a little bit of a relief.  And also a bit scary.  Because to get us to the point where we could do something that difficult, God would need to do a lot of work.  And I don't know if I want to be stretched that far.  But only God knows if we will ever adopt, and if we do, what it will be like when that happens.  And whatever he does, it will be for our good and the good our children.  And I can base my hope on that truth.

[If you haven't yet, I encourage you to read the article God Called Them to Adopt.  And Adopt.  And Adopt. whether or not you have considered adoption or foster care.]