In preparing to be foster parents, one of the things that stood out to us most was the goal of foster care, to see families reunited. We were also amazed at the success rate of families being restored and made whole again.
Looking back though we realized that this fact should not have amazed us, because we serve a God who is in the business of restoration and redemption. This truth is so important for us to remember as followers of Christ, but especially as foster parents, because of the brokenness and sin that is so often prevalent in the lives that we are working to change. Out of this darkness though it is God’s desire to bring light and life. Not just in the lives of the children in our homes, but also in the lives of their families, and the lives of all who are around us.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 tells us that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
God has changed each one of us through Jesus, not for ourselves but for His glory and so that we could go out and do the work of seeing other lives changed and made whole again. We must hang onto this hope so that we can continually live this great calling that God has placed in our lives even in the midst of all the pain we see. We must remember the purpose that God has for us and always work towards that goal of restoration.
We were blessed to see this in our first placement. Our home was only open just a few days when we got the call that a two week old baby girl and her three year old brother were coming to our home. Through the 9 months that we were blessed to have them be a part of our lives we got to see them grow and change. But also through the work we were doing and the relationships we were building we saw healing in their parents and siblings and their family was eventually made whole again. What was most surprising though was the healing we saw in the members of our family as they cared for these precious little ones along side us. What a great testimony this was and is to the restorative work of God in our world.
We are not naïve. We know there is still pain in this world, as we felt that pain when those little ones were no longer in our home. We also know that not every case will go this well. But even in the midst of that, we know that we must continually live out this calling so that others can feel the love of Christ and have the opportunity to feel his loving arms wrap around them and make what was once broken whole again, because Christ first did this for us.
Well said. It is amazing to watch Christ's love work in and around us, our children, and their families.
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