For years, I've heard God whispering- no, it's been more than a whisper- I've heard God beckoning, saying, "adopt."
Since this isn't the time for me, considering I'm 21 years old, single, still in school, and I have $70 to my name, I hoped that God was calling my parents to adopt. I was a mosquito in their ears about adoption. In fact, I prayed fervently that God would lead them to adopt and that they would do it. I found myself jealous of stories like Emily Chapman's, who prayed and prayed that her family would adopt, until they adopted 3 precious daughters from China and started the organization that I would come to love and work for- Show Hope, a movement to care for orphans.
My parents are only 51 years old. They are in good shape and their love for each other grows more and more every day. Daddy has a great job and momma is a dedicated volunteer at our church and a stay at home mom. But I'm the baby, I live away from home, and I just have one more semester left of college. And there are 147 MILLION orphans in the world today.
So, it makes sense that my parents should adopt, right?
Wrong. I believe firmly that not everyone is called to adopt, even though I begged God for years for my parents to adopt. But I am equally adamant that we are all called to do something to shine a light in the darkness. You see, for a while I thought, hoped, and prayed that my parents fell into the first category, not the latter. But now I see clearly that my parents shine a light in the darkness by raising me up in truth and by continuing to support me, at 21, in God's call on my life to look after orphans and widows in distress and to keep from being polluted by the world.
And my parents are adopting in so many other ways. They "adopt" young families at church to mentor and love on. They "adopt" some of our church staff's children for a night or a weekend so that the couple can finally have a date night again. They care for my grandparents. They love with reckless abandon through their time and resources. They are better stewards of what God has given them than anyone I have ever seen. They are trusting God with my life and they are willing to support me, love me, and pray for me no matter where God points and says, "Go." More than anything, they are following after Jesus. They believe that he was serious when he issued the great commission, and they remain completely and continually open to the nature of The Lord.
God is God, we are not. But recognizing that he could change this at any moment, he has not, to my knowledge, called my parents to adopt another child into part of our forever family. But my parents live out James 1:27 and they are without a doubt shining a light in the darkness, making a huge difference in the lives of the 147 Million.
How will you shine a light in the darkness?
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