partnering with ShowHope to care for the orphan

I have the privilege of partnering with ShowHope and once a month blogging about a different aspect of adoption and the orphan.  It actually started last month but somehow August got away from me so I am combining August and September's topics.

August's questions was "Why do orphans need families?"  This seems like a silly question...because why wouldn't an orphan need a family?!  A family gives you a sense of belonging.  It gives you an identity and helps define who you are.  Sometimes orphans are listed on "waiting child" websites - and a lot of times they are listed as a number...with some of the details of their specific health or developmental challenges.  But that is far from who they are!  

Take my precious godson, Eli, for example.  He could be floating through the foster care system as Eli, a three year old boy with SPD (sensory processing disorder).  But this is not Eli summed up!  Because God called his family to adopt him, he is not just Eli.  He is Eli Beck.  He has a first and a last name - he belongs to the Beck family.  Yes, he does have SPD, but that is not what defines him - he is so much more than that - he is a son, a brother, yes, a godson :).  He is all boy and is full of energy.  He loves spiderman.  And spending the night at Kiki's house (my house). But as much as he loves being with me once in a while, he always wants to talk through what's going to happen - making sure the end is always "and then go home to mama's house?"  And I am always happy to reassure him - yes buddy, and then you will go back home to mama's house.  Which is always followed by a happy "yay!"  He has hard days sometimes, but he has a family who walks with him through those hard days helping him learn that he is capable of anything and there is no label that will hold him back from becoming the person God has created him to be.  He is not alone.  No matter what happens in his life, at the end of the day he can know that he will ALWAYS be able to fall into the arms of his family and know that he is loved and that they have his back no matter what.

Just like my Eli needed a family...I needed one too.  An earthly family, yes, because I too am adopted.  But even more than that, a heavenly family.  I belong to my earthly family...but I also belong to God's family because He has adopted me as His daughter!  Yes, I am a Hallquist, but I am more importantly a child of the King - He ultimately defines who I am.  No matter what happens in my life, no matter if I lose all my friends, no matter how badly I screw up, I can always have the guarantee that at the end of the day I can fall into the arms of my Jesus and He will be there to remind me that I am His. That I belong in His family.  That I am loved. And that He has my back no matter what.  :)

We all need a place where we belong.  

A family is just that.

Why do you care for orphans? 

Oh my.  How do I answer this?  Because I have to.  Because I am commanded to.  Because it is not an option.  And because there are more than 147 million orphans in the world who have no voice for themselves and need someone to be that voice.  Because if I don't, who will?  

One of my recent favorite songs is by Matthew West and is called Do Something.  This song leaves me itchy.  The entire song is awesome, but I will just put the chorus and one verse here for you to read: 

I’m so tired of talking
About how we are God’s hands and feet
But it’s easier to say than to be
Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves
It’s alright, “somebody else will do something”
Well, I don’t know about you
But I’m sick and tired of life with no desire
I don’t want a flame, I want a fire
I wanna be the one who stands up and says,
“I’m gonna do something”

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something

This is why.  Because we ask all the time why God isn't doing anything to fix the problems we see all around us - but the answer is staring back at us in the mirror - He did do something - He made us!  We are to be His hands and feet.  Not "them"...whoever "they" are.  Us!  You and me!  Right now!  In all our busy.  In all the things on our to do list.  In the middle of all that, it is also our job to advocate for the orphan.  To be a voice for them.  To remind our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that we are commanded to care for them.  And no, this doesn't always look like adoption.  But soo soooo many more of us could adopt if we would simply put away the American lie that our lives are supposed to be easy and that our children are suppose to have their own rooms and we're supposed to have the newest cars/houses/technology etc. 

But I suppose that's getting a little off topic.  :}  Why do I care for orphans?  Because behind the word "orphan" there are faces...and those sweet faces are much more than that.  They are souls with names...boys and girls who long to belong and to be known and to be squeezed tight and be told "I love you" and know what the word "forever" means...and to know and believe that that word applies to them.  And when I think about them, I can't keep quiet.  I must speak about them and for them.  In the  hopes that I can help just one more child find their forever family.  And after that, maybe just one more.