As I folded clothes this morning, warm from my dryer, I turned on the television and watched a young family at the birth of the newest son. I can never watch these shows without tears running down my face and today was no exception. I thought about just a few years ago when the courts of Ethiopia decreed that Meron was the first daughter to my own daughter, Laura, and her husband, Tymm. What joy we shared in our family as we looked at this early picture of our sweet Meron.
Meron
Our joy was doubled when Mebrate joined our family less than one year ago.
Joy on the television at the birth of a baby and joy in our family as each of our little ones were to be added to our family. There is a huge exception in this entry...147 million exceptions. There are millions and millions of children from tiny ones to teens, healthy and with special needs, far away and nearby. They need families. Readers of this blog...do you hear me? They need families.
The Orphan Care Ministry of First Christian Church in Kernersville and High Point, NC has dedicated ourselves to assisting parentless children. Previous entries to this blog have shown some of the ways we have worked to provide a better life for fatherless children. We have yet to tackle the giant steps of finding foster families and families willing to adopt. In July our mission team will return from Rwanda and also Ethiopia, the home of my granddaughters. When the dust settles and hearts have absorbed all that was seen, experienced and learned, we need to move on to finding families for some of the millions of children who need mothers and fathers.
There are so many children who will never have a family to love them enough to shed tears of joy at their birth. Never love them enough to snuggle them close to feed them while they are tiny. Never love them enough to teach them about the love of a family. Never love them enough to teach them that our heavenly Father sent His own Son to provide salvation for them. Never love them. Unless we do something.
Will you start to pray today? Pray that the Orphan Care Ministry will know how to encourage and lead families toward foster care and adoption. Pray that we will find families who will answer the Lord's call to care for orphans. Pray for yourself - yes, you who are reading this blog. Is the Lord preparing your own heart and your own family to bring a child home? Pray that we, as a ministry, will connect with local agencies who will lead us to matching forever families. Pray that we, as a ministry, will find ways to assist families financially as they move through the adoption maze.
I am asking you to pray. I am pleading with you to pray. Fall on your knees, calling out to our Father, asking Him to lead us. If you will join me in prayer between now and the end of July, please let me hear from you. We have had few comments to this blog but I am hoping for hundreds of responses in this call to pray. If you do not want to comment on the blog (or cannot figure out how to comment) please email your promise to pray to orphancarefccm@earthlink.net
Will you pray?
sandra ward, Orphan Care Ministry
Yes, I am committed to pray. Your passion is inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI love you, mom!
laura
The Lord has blessed me three times through children that needed parents. Brighton, Meron and Mebrate. I ache to think about children than will not be a blessing to families and who will not be blessed. Pray.
ReplyDeleteAs of today, there will be at least ONE less orphan. Tymm and I just turned in our application for Baby Hoffman Number FOUR!!!!
ReplyDeleteWOW! That is wonderful. WOW!!
Deleteahhh.. I am so teary. I have never been close to someone who has adopted when they made that announcement. It's fun when someone says, "I'm pregnant" a little bit nauseating when they say "we're pregnant" (nauseating as in your husband is not pregnant: he's not going to gain 30 lbs, throw up everyday, etc. His job during the birth is to get ice chips...really?! :). But the joy that comes from this announcement is so much greater. To think about how the future will change for this little life: I can't even find the words for that. I am so happy for your family and look forward to hearing about all your new adventures. Prayers your way. April Fjeld
DeleteWe recently studied in Bible class about El Shaddai being all-sufficient and providing all that is needed. I believe He is showing us how we can make a difference through the OCM. Already I have seen many good things happening through the ministry and it is just getting started. I am happy to be a wee small part of this calling. If everyone does a wee small part, it equals great things under God's direction. I will pray. (And, wait to see how and where God sends us to show His love to others.)
ReplyDeleteYour post was beautiful. Of course I will continue to pray. I was reading a book last week, Left To Tell Discovering God Admidst the Rwandan Holocaust (p.s. amazing..check out your public library). There was a paragraph in the book I felt like could have been words coming out of my mouth. They were said by the writer of the story, Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of the genocide (the entire book is her story). Here goes:
ReplyDelete"I was certain that God had a greater purpose for me, and I prayed everyday for Him to reveal it to me. At first I was expecting Him to show me my entire future all at once, maybe with a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder thrown in for good measure. But I came to learn that God never shows us something we aren't ready to understand. Instead, He lets us see what we need to see, when we need to see it. He'll wait until our eyes and hearts are open to Him, and then when we're ready, He will plant our feet on the path that's best for us...but it's up to us to do the walking." When we did our introductions on the conference call a few weeks ago (with the team going on the mission trip), I heard people saying repeatedly how they always wanted to go to Africa, they've always wanted to do mission work, etc. etc. Satan got in my head and said, "you've never wanted to go to Africa.. you've never thought about going on a mission trip.. you don't fit in... are you good enough?.. you can't even articulate why you are going." I put a stop to those thoughts immediately, but when I came across these words I felt like they were a message from God to me. I don't have to know all the answers now. I don't have to have "going to Africa" on my bucket list. I am in no way ready to understand God's purpose for me and this experience and that's okay. I just thank you, God, for opening up my heart and my mind and planting my feet on the path. I'll do the walking.
We are praying and will continue to pray. Pray for us too!? Love and appreciate your heart.
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