It's not pretty....

I need to write this post...it's been on my heart for a very long time. Mostly, I want to write it because I know this blog will be saved and will be part of "me" when I am no longer here. It will be something my children and maybe even my grandchildren will read as it's my way of "journaling".

This post is sort of "part 2" of the post I wrote called "Crazy? Insane? Idiot?". I know most people will shy away from reading the whole blog post and will turn away from its truth. It's not pretty...it's much easier to live without knowing than to know and have to do something about it.

the question is WHY? So many people have asked me "why"? Why do I care so much about adoption? Why would I keep adopting? Why do I always talk about it? Why am I so burdened by hurt and lonely children? Why would I want to keep adding children to my already "full house"? Why, why, why?

Tonight I was discussing a very serious matter with my husband about a potential adoption (for us! more on this at another time) and he said to me "But even if this adoption works out you will still think about it all the time, you won't stop!" He's absolutely right! And I refuse to apologize anymore for having lonely, hurt and broken children on my heart, all the time! I pray God never allows me to become so comfortable in this selfish world that I would forget the hurting children.

Jesus says in Matthew 25:35,36, 40, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, for I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least one of these, you did for me"

I see my own children in all the children. I think about each child as if they were my own - how would I feel if it were my child who was cold? hungry? alone? crying? unloved? unwanted? afraid? Truly, a day does not go by that I don't weep for these children, wishing I could do more, wishing I could be more for them. I cannot live my life pretending these children don't exsist. I can't live frivilously knowing children are sick, hungry and alone. I will not! It's hard to do in this society...we are so full of ourselves and what we think we "deserve". We are constantly putting oursleves first and focusing on our greediness. I want to be different than that. I want to put those children first...i have everything (and SO MUCH more) I need...I don't want to live a selfish life caring only about myself...I want to love with the love that Jesus has filled me with.

What God has given me is not only a heart for the orphans but a voice! I was voted "most outspoken" in high school and I think most people who know me would still agree with that! I have a voice and I'm not afraid to use it! I tell anyone and everyone about children, about orphans, how they can help, what they can do, how they can adopt...I can use my voice to advocate for the most vulnerable, I can use my voice to fight for children who have no one.

I was reading a blog the other day (a really incredible young lady who loves like Jesus) and I loved what she had written...Do you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself? Do you love your 147 million orphaned neighbours and the 3.5 million homeless (in America alone) as much as you love yourself? Do you grieve for them the same way you would if it were your own children who were hungry and homeless? What would be different if you did? If this day is all you're promised, what are you doing with it? Right now, today, are you doing what you want to be doing when Christ comes back?"

God wants us to love others...he wants us to love the orphans...he wants us to love the poor...he wants us to be so much more than just living every day for ourselves....

"...I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We don't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small but you are living them in a small way. I am speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively." 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

Luke 3:11 - "John replied, 'If you have 2 shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry'."

I've been hearing a lot at church lately that all God wants from us is just a relationship with Him. He doesn't "expect" anything from us, we don't need to "do" anything for Him and yet, I read over and over again in scripture that God does want us to "do" something. Not to earn His love or to earn our place in Heaven but because it's what His pure love is. Loving others. Over and over again, scripture tells us to love the orphans, the poor, the lonely, to love the least of these people is to love Jesus. If we have a relationship with Christ then we will be OVERFLOWING with His love and His compassion and we won't be able to sit and do nothing!!! The love will flow out of us and we will want to share it. And not just sharing it with the Christians we are comfortable with but with "the least of these" - seeking those who need God's love!

James 1:27 tell us, "Religion that God our Father considers pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

A few more places where God tells us to have mercy, be kind, love others...

Matthew 5:7
Matthew 25:34-36
Luke 14:12-14
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15
Romans 12:13-16
Colossians 3:12-14
Matthew 19:21
Mark 10:19-21
Luke 18:22

It's not pretty, but it's true. There are children who need us, people who need us...we cannot live as if they don't exist. We cannot forget them. We have to do something. We must love with Jesus' love.