Choosing to See - and Having The Father's Heart

Yesterday I finished reading a book called Choosing to See written by Mary Beth Chapman about living through the tragic loss of their 5-year-old adopted daugher, Maria, who was killed when she ran in front of her brother's truck as he was pulling in the driveway.  I remember when I first read about what happened in 2008, how my spirit groaned for them, only knowing about the family because of Mary Beth's husband, Steven Curtis Chapman is a well-known Christian recording artist.  I remember stopping the moment I heard about it and praying for them fervently, that God would touch them and give them joy even in the midst of all the sorrow I knew they had to be feeling.  And even now, as I read the book, I can't imagine the pain and sorrow and grief they all went through, even though my heart ached fresh in each new chapter.  There were something like 40 chapters in the book, and I probably cried through at least fifteen of them, so profound was the deep love they have for each other, and the searing loss they experienced, and the daily struggle to overcome the sorrow.

Most of the book is about children, and more specifically the Chapman Family's heart for rescuing orphans.  And, that is the part of the book that impacted me the most.  As I sat in my living room Saturday morning before work, reading those chapters, it was like our Father broke off a piece of his heart and thrust it into my chest, and I was overwhelmed by this deep, deep love for the orphaned.  I mean, I was completely destroyed by it...by how vastly and immediately my heart broke for the orphaned children in the world.

As a Christian, I have always known, logically, that I was supposed to care for the alien, the fatherless, adn the widow.  I give monthly to WorldVision, to support a child in Sri Lanka so he can get medical care and go to school, and I send a few cards to him every year without doing much else.  Sort of as a detached do-gooder mentality.  I knew I was able to afford to do it, and I knew when I was at that particular concert and they passed around the little information packets with the pictures of these little kiddos, the Lord impressed upon my heart to do it.  But beyond wanting to support this kid financially because I felt the Lord calling me to, I really didn't invest a whole lot into it.

My friend, Davy, works for a ministry that's primary focus is to sustain and support orphanages all over the world.  She has had a heart for orphans for years, and is currently in Africa doing these good works.  I always understood the passion of that call, because I'm just as passionate about what God has called me to, but now I share that same heart.  I understand the inability to ignore it, the inability to stand by and be silent, the inability to be inactive.  I don't know what that will look like for me.  I don't know if that means the Lord wants me to travel the globe and do work at orphanages.  I don't know if that means I'll just be a bigger financial supporter of Orphan aid in the future.  I don't know if that means that I'll eventually adopt, and give a loving home to children who have never had one.

What I do know is that my Father has cracked open a dry, hard place in my heart and flooded it with love and compassion for the unfortunate, and the fatherless.  And because of that I feel like I have a greater understanding of the way He loves us.  Because, you see, we are all orphans (in the spiritual sense), seeking a home, desiring love, looking for a father to protect and provide for us.  And He sees us all as His children, and He longs to bring us into His family, to LAVISH his love on us, to protect and provide for us, to give us a future and a hope.  He aches to call us His and to give us good things.

And now, I read these verses with better understanding, and a heart that cries out to accomplish, to help, to love and support.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

"For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.  He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.  Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Deuteronomy 10:17-19

 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and wthout blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise and glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:3-6

If the Father has put the same piece of his heart in you, here are a couple of ministries you can look to partner with.

Here's a link to the Chapman's Foundation for Orphan adoption and aid: http://www.showhope.org/
Here's a link to my friend, Davy's organization.  http://www.orphanreliefandrescue.org/