Caring for Orphans

Some of you know that Joe and I have not been able to have children. We got pregnant in our first year of marriage, but miscarried at 13 weeks. Since then, we haven’t been able to get pregnant again. For a while, we thought it just wasn’t God’s timing.

A couple years later, though, we were studying the book of Isaiah and I was challenged by God’s command to take care of widows and orphans.

Isaiah 1:17                                

Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

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

Joe and I prayed about whether God was directing us to take care of orphans by pursuing foster-to-adopt. We attended a conference about it and then signed up for an official orientation class in our area, but the doors were locked when we arrived (2 minutes late, because of some slow traffic). We knocked on doors and called numbers we had, but to no avail. We took that as literally a closed door, at least for a time.

Four more years past, yet another fertility doctor visited, and we continued to pray about what God wanted us to do. So, last May, Joe went ahead and scheduled another foster orientation, but this time they came to our house. After many training classes and home visits, we were finally licensed for foster-to-adopt a few weeks ago!

Who else are the orphans, widows, or oppressed around you and me?

How might God want you and me to help those around us that are troubled, oppressed, or mistreated?

Alice