Tuesday Testimony is set aside to share some of our grant recipients and their stories. May you be blessed…
In December of 2009 we had the joy of bringing home from Ethiopia our two precious children, Kaden and Makyra. I don’t think we realized the magnitude of God’s mercy on their lives until we actually met them and met those who the Lord used to save their lives. Kaden was abandoned by his mother when he was one day old and Makyra’s mom died in childbirth and she was "forgotten" due to the grief surrounding her mother’s death. Days later she was brought to the orphanage in a plastic bag. The orphanage workers told us that they hospitalized both Kaden and Makyra and were up for days praying for the Lord to sustain their lives. How indebted we are to our brothers who the Lord used to rescue our two precious children.
As we have enjoyed parenting Kaden and Makyra, we are constantly reminded that their very lives prove that God truly is a father to the fatherless. However, while we praise the Lord for saving the lives of our children, we are not able to forget the millions of children in the world who are still alone, starving, defenseless, and without the Gospel. This reality has led us to again adopt two more children from Ethiopia. Further, there are two key Scriptures that have led us to this decision:
"Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies." Psalm 41:1-2
The friend who pointed me to this verse told me that those who consider the poor are blessed by the Lord and will be delivered, protected, kept alive, and kept safe from enemies. She encouraged me to not think about the next 18 years of paying for braces and college but instead to live in service to the poor and to rely on the Lord to provide for our needs. The second Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 9:8:
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."
In the face of raising 4 children under 2, this verse has been our perpetual comfort. We are adopting more kids assuming the grace of God will show up to enable us to be godly, loving parents to 4 children. The Lord has all grace and he loves to give it to the humble so that we might not just "make it" but abound in every good work. May God give us much grace as we seek to adopt more children.
