I've written this blog about 18 times.
I keep rewriting it and rewriting it because I don't want to sound pushy or like I know what is best for everyone in the whole world.
So I'll just write in plain facts and I'll encourage you to pray about it.
We forget a lot of times what it is we are doing here at New Beginnings and why it is important. On Saturday night we went to the Adoption Ministry Banquet and I was astounded at the way God revived my heart for our cause.
Some statistics:
- there are 143 million orphans worldwide
- there are 2 billion people who profess to be believers
- if 7 percent of the believers in this world adopted one child, there would be no orphans
My sister used to say, "orphans and widows are where it's at."
The speaker at the banquet said, "we have to get behind the issues that God has always been behind".
James 1:27 says, "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."
For us - we've always had an open door policy about babies and God is teaching us more and more daily that while children are a blessing, he longs for us to be intentional about family and when to build it. So a year or so ago, I may have gone to the banquet and said, "we have to adopt NOW" but I know it's not that season for us. And it might not be that season for you, either. I think the key is to really ask the Lord what role we are suppose to play in the lives of orphans and widows. Are we supposed to take one in, ready ourselves for that task, donate to those who are helping them, commit to pray for organizations that are taking care of them?
The stories were astounding that we heard on Saturday night. Some that I've gotten to see unfold myself - some that I couldn't even believe. Women, worldwide, leaving babies on doorsteps, drowning their babies because they couldn't care for them. It was really insane and it just reminded me - orphans and widows really are where it's at.
