Yesterday I was a whiny jerk.
Today I can't stop praising God for all the good He is doing.
He is causing us all to hear the cry of the orphan.
He is causing us all to ask, "Do you want to use us, Lord?"
He is doing so much good, and I am grateful.
I've gotten so many emails today...so much encouragement.
On one hand, I'm sorry for "processing out loud." I want to be honest and try to not have it all together before I ever share what's going on inside of me. That's been a challenge at times, because we are all much more comfortable with the end result than the process, right? I know I am.
But this is a process...and the process is where we see our sin...our fear...our shame...and then see Jesus redeem all of that.
I didn't want to hurt people with those posts about battling frustration. Please forgive me.
It's been hard to know what we know...to have the need described to us in detail from the organizations trying to help these kids, and not cry all day long over those children...and not being able to find enough families to help them, or consider helping.
That's hard.
I've not handled that grief well.
Like I said...it was all raw and unrefined.
I guess I could have tossed all those emotions around for awhile and not written about them...maybe that's what I should have done. Nonetheless, I'm really thankful for how the Lord has used this community not only to take action for these kids, but also to lovingly correct and encourage me.
I needed correction...and I needed encouragement.
The Lord has offered both today.
I'm overwhelmed by how the Lord is bringing bodies of churches together.
How He's using His people to spread the word.
How He's sparking conversation about the poor...about the orphan...about our fears in regards to adoption. God has been busy!
How He's bringing about true community. People who can't bring these kids into their homes are offering to help...to be there...praying...reminding families making this commitment that they will never be alone in this. That's a picture of the kingdom! Rejoice!
I'm encouraged by how many people have emailed me to tell me that this has been a hard thing...how they weren't ready to think about something like this. How they want to be ready next time.
Some don't have community where they are and know they can't undertake something this big and terrifying without community. Who can blame them? I can hardly deal with the minor things in my life without our strong community. Adding something this big would be absolutely nuts without a group of believers surrounding us who love us and walk this road with us. I'm thankful that people have been changed forever about this...are looking for community now...to be ready next time.
God has used the orphan's cry to make all of us ask a lot of questions.
Do we care about the orphan? Do we see God's clear command as optional? What is our part?
If we look at our lives...our individual lives is there evidence that we're doing something...anything...to pursue orphans and help them. Are we sensitive to their needs?
Have we thought through adoption?
Have we talked about it out loud with our spouse?
Are we in community, surrounded by people encouraging us to take God's Word seriously, to care about the things God cares about? Are we connected to believers who will love us, encourage us and help us when we do crazy things to follow the Lord?
Are our lives too busy to be flexible and open to letting God interject a gigantic blessing or calling in our lives?
So many great questions.
Praise God for what He is doing.
He is using these precious kids in Haiti to wake us all up...to make us hunger after the Lord...to know Him better...to trust Him more.
I was sad yesterday, but today I can't stop rejoicing.
Thanks for not giving up on me...or beating me down in my sin. God has used many of you the last couple days...lifted my head...spoken truth over my life. Pointed me to Jesus...to His grace...to our giant need for it.
Let's not grow weary of praying for God to make a way for these kids to come.
He's already done so much...grown our faith...I can't wait to see Him finish this work.
8 comments:
I'm so excited to see how God is going to work through this process!! If it expands to the DFW area the Mosiers are in!
Matt told me the other night that if we still lived in CS we would definitely be doing this. I'm not going to lie part of me was relieved for the first time since we moved that we didn't live in there anymore. Definitely brought some nasty issues up in my heart. Praying for and seeing you guys sign up to do this has really opened my eyes and heart to see what it truly means to care for the orphan. Thank you for being so honest and showing how hard this process really is! Praying for God's glory to be immensely shown in this whole process!!
Heather, I appreciate your honesty. You say what needs to be said. How are we to "spur one another on towards love and good deeds" (Heb 10:24) if we never get poked by a spur???
So, ask the hard questions in humility... If you don't ask them... who will? God has given you a voice among hundreds and thousands.
Another thing that I would encourage everyone to evaluate is your action. If your response is only to pray and never act, then you are in clear disobedience to Scripture. Everyone can't act all the time, I understand, we can't all react to every situation the same way. So we commit to pray. Well, then really pray. Don't say "I'll pray for you" and then offer a missile prayer once and never pray again.
Also, read Matthew 25:31-46 and notice in that passage where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats that the ones who will enter into His rest responded with action. "For I was thirsty and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
"As you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me [Jesus]"
I'm with Sherman. You're not a whiny jerk. You're the voice of our consciences, which are easily quieted inside our heads. But then there they are, in black and white, in Hendrickville.
Too many of us make the first consideration in any decision, "But what about me?"
Thank you Heather for sharing your heart. That's a big part of blogging I think :0) I can't find this article I read awhile ago called: "Why You Shouldn't Adopt". I had to read the title over again to make sure I was reading it correctly. One of the main points was, don't adopt out of guilt or obligation. Adopt because you have a God given desire. Adopt because you can't deny the Lord calling you to do so. It is through this calling that we will find strength when times get really tough. I don't believe every one is called to go overseas and be missionaries or to have 19 kids like the Duggars although I find both these admirable. People should adopt because the Lord is leading them to do so. HOWEVER, I think as Christians we are called to help the orphans in some way. I pray the Lord uses your convicting words to motivate those who are called to adopt. If the CHristians don't step up, who will?! Thank you again. You are such an encouragement in my life!
actually, I meant to ask your opinion on that. Do you think all Christians are called to adopt? I respect your opinion.
man- i'm rejoicing alongside you. because this is hard stuff. and we are called to the hard stuff. and i'm there with you- crying through most of the day, wondering when i wasn't feeling bad about the orphans, WHY i wasn't feeling bad about the orphans. at the end of each day there is always so much grace, and HIs mercies are new each morning. what a God we serve-- in the dark and the light, there is hope and love.
Great question, Katie.
No. I don't think every Christian is supposed to adopt. I don't even think that's possible since there are way more believers in the world than orphans.
Aaron and I were talking about this the other night.
Here's what we thought...
The Bible is CLEAR...like crystal clear that we are to care for the poor, the orphan, and the widow.
The Bible is CLEAR that we're supposed to GO into all the world.
I think we love to sit back and real quickly jump to this conclusion:
Well...that doesn't mean we ALL have to adopt. It doesn't mean we ALL have to GO.
We can pray.
We can give.
Yes. That's true.
But, I think we all need to be DANG sure, considering what God says about the orphan and about going into all the world that we know FOR SURE God has told us not to adopt and not to stay.
Paradigm shift.
That's what we're asking God to do in us as a couple.
"Let our default be to adopt and to go, Lord. Then, if you say no, that's fine...but let us take your word seriously and not immediately jump to the conclusion that we are exempt from obeying you in these hard, clear areas of scripture."
I think we will admit to being people who have said "no" to adoption or going waiting for God to tell us yes.
But that's silly.
God has already shared his heart about the orphan, modeled adoption for us through all of our salvations.
He's already told us to go.
So maybe instead of assuming God's not talking to us, maybe we should assume he is.
The point is...
I think we're all called to know for sure from the Lord if we're supposed to adopt. I think we're all supposed to ask God if we're supposed to go.
Maybe he will say no.
But maybe he's already said yes, and we're not being obedient.
Heather
Heather we are wrestling and talking through all of these same issues right now as well. I love what you said in response to Katie. Thank you for challenging others and turning them back to scripture and what the Lord has clearly said.
Thank you for letting us confess our fears and our convictions to you. I would be about 48259589 times more worried and scared to be doing this if we weren't getting to do it together with such a solid community.
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