"Orphans are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” – David Platt.
It's so true.
How easy is it to overlook the poor, the meek, the hungry....
When I was little, my daddy always said to me, 'Good things happen to good kids.' (This was his way of getting us to work in the garden or to do whatever chore he wanted us to do. If we did it and did it well, the result was a trip to the Cash Variety Store where I got a Yoohoo and a bag of Funyuns).
I heard this my entire childhood. I believed it wholeheartedly. In fact, I think it was also my moral compass.....'Good things happen to good people.'
Then years ago, I had the rug pulled out from under me.....and with said rug pulling - my life was forever changed. I remember thinkin', 'well that wasn't supposed to happen - good things happen to good people.'
Right?
Big fat WRONGO!
I think it's easy to get comfortable. It's easy to look at others and think that they did something to deserve whatever it is that they are going through.....sometimes people do reap what they sow but sometimes it's just what they were given.
These kids are a reminder of that for me. They didn't do anything - THEY ARE KIDS!
We are blessed beyond measure because many of us don't worry about where our next meal is coming from because we have 3 weeks piled in the fridge, pantry and freezer. We don't worry about our kids getting a cold, getting diarrhea or a fever because we have doctors that will fit us into their schedule today. We don't have to worry about where our kids are, because we know - we keep them safe. We send them to the best schools we can find, we make sure they have their helmets on, we don't let them walk outside without us.......
I was talking with a friend the other day and she said (which I agree) you don't adopt because you want to save a child........Please let me make this very clear, Maggie Hilina will not go in our family history as the kid that we saved....she is our daughter. We will love her as our daughter. I promise you - when I looked at her she was MY CHILD. Nothing else.
However, with that being said, I was moved into action because I saw pictures of kids - I learned their names - there was Micah....there was Macy. There were also so many good organizations (Compassion International, Project 61 and Ordinary Hero) that posted pictures, that told stories. I saw my kids in those hungry, scared eyes......I studied what the Bible said about orphan care. I knew and felt strongly about what I was going to do.
I encourage you to learn their names. Look into their eyes. They didn't deserve whatever situation they are in. They are little. They are alone. Sometimes they are sick (but with medicine and regular treatment they can live normal, healthy, productive lives).
Yes, I trust with certainty that God has a plan for them. I know His ways are not mine.
I was given the gift of meeting our daughter and was so abundantly blessed by meeting the kids that I did on our first trip to Ethiopia.....we played with them, we sat with them and we talked to them... their names are forever etched into my heart.
There are orphans here in the US. They are in Ethiopia. They are in China. They are in Russia. They are all over this world. I encourage you to find one, learn his/her name and look into those eyes. I promise your heart will change forever and be so amazingly blessed by knowing them.
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