Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)
 

I welcome Bethany Thompson as a guest blogger this week. The Lord has been leading Bethany and her husband, Robert, on a journey to provide foster care for a child in need of a home. Bethany shares their story and offers suggestions for how we can pray.
 
     My husband and I talked about adoption when we were dating but in an abstract, “what a nice thing to do” sort of way. It wasn't until after our second child was born that I felt God beginning to tug on my heart regarding adoption. But by the time our fourth child was born, I had put away the idea completely. We were certainly at full capacity in regards to tiny blessings! However, as the months went by, I felt God laying the subject of adoption on my heart once again, and I couldn't rid myself of the nagging feeling in my soul that this was something I needed to consider. I half-heartedly prayed about it, while the other half of my heart was occupied with good excuses. I already have four children to care for. I will be stretched too thin. What if we end up with a child with special needs that require so much of my time and attention that my other children are neglected? Maybe when our children are older and life is more settled, when I have more free time, more sleep, more parenting experience, more wisdom. I'm not equipped to handle this. You've got the wrong girl, God!
 
     As time went on and our fourth baby turned a year old, I continued to wrestle with the uneasiness in my spirit, feeling like God was asking me to dive deeper. I became convicted that I needed to talk to my husband about it. But, in disobedience, I avoided the subject like the plague. I continued to try to convince myself that the call to adoption wasn’t from God. Look at all of my good excuses! But still, the nagging feeling persisted.
 
     Then one day, while driving home from church, my husband said, "I know it sounds funny, but I feel like maybe God is asking us to look into adoption." My heart immediately started racing. I poured out my story to him: how I had felt like God was pressing it on me as well, but what about all these good reasons against it? He suggested we pray about it. I told him that we could pray about it, but I had already made up my mind and the answer was no. As a way to protect myself from my "jump first, ask questions later” husband, I told him I didn't want to talk about it again until after our youngest was two. I figured that would give him enough time to forget about it.
 
     I had told my husband that I would at least do some research on the subject and, in the course of that research, I stumbled upon the subject of foster care. Immediately, it became evident to us that this was the direction God was leading. When a child is removed from his (or her) family by the Department of Child and Family Services, usually due to neglect or abuse, he is placed in a home with a foster family. The main goal of foster care is to give the child a safe and loving environment while his parents have the opportunity to remedy their situation. Ideally, the child is eventually reunified with his parents.
 
     I continued to struggle, though, against God’s leading. When I eventually told my small group about it, they encouraged me to take the first step and let God open and close doors as He wished. Robert and I began walking forward. Afraid … unsure … certainly overwhelmed. But the doors began to open. I prayed, God, give me a heart for these kids, for these families. Lord, I don't want to do this. It is scary, risky, overwhelming, dark and heavy, and just too much. But I trust You. If this is what You want from me, please give me a heart for this work. Break my heart for what breaks Yours. Because right now, I want it to be someone else's problem. And He answered my prayer. Oh, how He did.
 
     We became burdened by the truth. Burdened by the fact that there are children in our community, just like our own children, who are abused and neglected and in need of a safe, stable, and loving place to live. Burdened by the fact that families are being ripped apart by unbearably heavy cycles of abuse and substance addiction. Burdened by the truth that we were also once without hope and in need of a rescuer and that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice to reach into our sinful, messy, broken lives to rescue us. And ultimately, we felt compelled to follow Him in obedience into foster care, knowing that He loves these children and families and wants to reach them. He was offering us the privilege and blessing of being used by Him in that work.
 
     Did we have enough faith to make the first phone call to an agency expressing interest in foster care? Yes, we did. Did we trust God enough to take 36 hours of classes in preparation? To complete a giant mound of paperwork? To endure more than ten hours of intensely personal interviews by a stranger? We did. How would we answer a phone call telling us about a baby in need of a family for a time? We trusted God and said yes. We took two-month-old Liam into our home on April 4.
 
     Now that we have a foster child, can we trust that God will protect and sustain us through whatever may come? That He will comfort us as we fall in love with a child who may go home to his family, whether or not we agree that’s in his best interest? Can we trust that the eternal gain for all involved far outweighs the pain and sadness we may face here on earth? Can we look a precious child in the eye and tell him with utter conviction that Jesus can break the chains of addiction and abuse and heal all wounds? Can we allow the pain and darkness and brokenness of the world into our home and trust that God will use it to shape our children into the people He wants them to be? Do we trust that He will hold this all together in spite of our fears, our shortcomings, our own sin and failures? Yes, we do.
 
     How about you? If God has been nudging you toward foster care, we would love to talk with you more about our journey or about foster care in general.
 
All of us can pray for the people involved in the foster care system. Here are some suggestions:
 

⦿  Pray that God will raise up Christian families who are willing to take children into their homes.
⦿  Pray for the children in foster care, who number nearly half a million nationwide and roughly 2,000 in Orange County alone.
⦿  Pray for the parents whose children have been removed and placed in foster care. Pray that they will come to know the saving power of Jesus to overcome whatever sins have plagued their past.

⦿  Pray for the judges involved, that they will make the right decisions to protect children.

⦿  Pray for overworked and overwhelmed social workers who do difficult, emotional work for these children and families.

⦿  Pray for the foster parents in the trenches of caring for these hurting children. Please pray for us and our family!

Thank you, Bethany and Robert, for sharing your story!

In Christ,

Carol Gilbert

Calvary Community Church of Brea