Orphan Ministry

As I've been researching lately and reading books and blog posts, I feel like there is so much about adoption and orphan care that I don't know, yet I already feel that God is turning my heart not only towards adopting a child of our own, but somehow getting involved in orphan care. There are so many practical ways to do this, and God hasn't directed me toward one specific way yet, but the desire and passion is beginning to grow in my heart.

I've recently been reading this book called Orphanology by Tony Merida and Rick Morton.This book emphasizes God's heart towards us and how he has adopted us into His family. It takes this wonderful example from all over the scriptures to show us how we should have the same heart toward others, especially orphans. The book of course talks about adoption and contains adoption stories, but is also a cry to the Church to "take care of the orphans and the widows" through financial support, prayer support, adoption and so much more. This book along with some other adoption agencies and orphan advocate ministries that I've been looking have begun to open my eyes to something more. It seems as though this command from God has been lost in many churches today. Not because all of these churches are doing bad things or neglecting something on purpose. Many of these churches have wonderful ministries that help the poor, the widow, and so many others. In most cases it has become an "out of site out of mind" situation, but I don't think it can stay that way if we want to walk out the gospel as Jesus did. I don't claim to be an activist in this area, but it does seem that in this personal journey of adoption, God is planting something much bigger in my heart. I can't wait to see what unfolds as the journey continues.

Comments

Kathy said…
I love that you are on this journey, Jennie. We'll support you any way we can.
January 24, 2014 at 6:02 PM
Charity said…
Love this! Can't wait to see where this road takes you guys!
January 26, 2014 at 10:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adoption Beginnings

So, Nathan and I are going to adopt. Yes, I said it, adopt. There has been a recent change from "Nathan and I would like to adopt someday" to "we are going to adopt". I have so many thoughts running through my head these days that this post may end up in a jumbled mess, but we'll just see. We are in the very beginning baby stages of our journey toward adoption, but you have to start there before you can go any further. It is so exciting and scary at the same time. I've heard others compare their process of adoption as similar to the feelings you have when you are pregnant with a biological child, and I feel that same way now. I feel like I did when I was pregnant with my first child, Ariana. While I was pregnant, I read everything about babies and pregnancy that I could get my hands on, I thought about it all the time and talked about it all the time. I feel as though I'm reacting the same way now, reading everything I can about adoption, researching a...
Read more

A New Adventure

Image
Spoiler Alert: No, we did not adopt a child. Just to update curious minds about our adoption journey, we moved our timeline back just a bit, and the plan is to apply to our adoption agency in April, and then the journey really begins. As for this new adventure, there was a young girl in our community that needed a temporary home to live in for a while. Nathan and I were asked if we would consider taking her into our home. We prayed about it (quickly, as a decision had to be made in one day) and sought wise council. The whole time we were considering this decision I felt a great peace. We decided we could take on this new adventure, and I felt a great peace that God's grace was with me for this journey. So, now we have twin girl two-year olds! Eden and our new little girl share the same birthday month. She's been living with us for just over two weeks and has been a jewel. Of course there are normal issues that go along with parenting any two-year old, and she and Eden lik...
Read more

There Is Hope

Image
It's been a long time since I've updated everyone on our adoption journey, so I believe it's time. In April of this year we applied for a second time with an agency to adopt from Korea, and for a second time we were denied. It is hard even now for me to let you in on this part of our life, to be vulnerable with our journey; my heart aches. There was nothing wrong with our application on paper, the agency just told us that there were other families currently in the process who were in even better financial situations than us that were facing some difficulties in their adoption process pointed at finances and they felt it best that we did not pursue adoption to Korea through them at this time. I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat, or two or three when I read those words in the email. Being denied the first time was difficult, but not exactly surprising. Being denied this second time literally felt like I'd had a miscarriage (and believe me, I know what that feels l...
Read more