I'm ashamed at how neglected this space has become, and yet recognize the need we've had to step back and contemplate some significant changes in the ministry to which God has led us.
I've stolen a few moments of quiet today as footballs whiz by my ears and little princesses in tutus brush my leg to dwell on the reality that this past year was one of healing.
It was a long season of embracing the calling we now know we cannot escape and girding ourselves with His abundant grace to walk forward with hope.
We've come to an understanding that as John Piper said, Ministry is not what ordinary Christians do. It's a lifestyle devoted to making much of Christ.
My friends, that is not comfortable or easy.
Some days, I'm not even sure I would say I believe it is worth it.
But the corners of my soul resonate with a Yes.
Each day we peel back the layers a little more and realize this thing we do is messed up. It doesn't make sense. It's not natural, or clean or black and white.
Instead, it's muddy, and messy, and so very grey.
But as my friend Jeff Huey once told me, It's often the grey where God moves greatly.
With each passing day, I increasingly have come to the truth that my own means of survival is by, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:8, fixing our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.
Foster care is crammed with the unseen.
All of real ministry, the down and dirty, truly takes form in the unseen.
This past year, I had such dark moments of feeling so very lonely.
I've considered more and more how foster care {or any ministry} is an actual state of being. If we are truly surrendered to our calling, we cannot pretend that it will not infiltrate every space of our lives.
This could be a terrifying truth, or powerfully freeing.
Because when we own this and are able to embrace it, we are likewise able to own that in this life we are continually waged in a war, deep in the trenches.
And daily, we must take up the full armor.
We are finally able to lay aside our complexes to fix and rescue, and instead stand firm...and when we have done all, we stand.
We're sometimes asked what the "end game" is in our ministry. What is the point when we will be satisfied and fulfilled...when it will be completed?
Only a few years ago, I would have said it was when the word adoption had sealed a deal.
Now, we say Jesus.
Our reward is not a child, or many children.
It is not a successful reunification or another chance to share our story.
Our reward is Jesus Christ.
He is the end of our quest for satisfaction.
I'm reminded often of Jude 1:24, To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...
Friends, this year, if we truly surrender ourselves to the hand of God's work, it's gonna feel some days like we are falling.
There will be moments we are tempted to despair, to pull the fuzzy blanket over our heads and hide with the chocolate truffles.
BUT GOD...
He is making all things new, not all new things.
He longs to give us a fresh vision of His Son.
Before foster care, I didn't need Jesus, like on my knees crying out with groans.
Jesus used foster care to save me. This is the space He calls me to intentionally experience Himself for my good and His glory.
In order to hope, we must have a need for hope. In order to trust, we must have a need to trust.
My friend, we are waiting expectantly for Jesus, and Isaiah 64:4 promises that, He acts for those who wait for Him.
Our lives are meant to make Jesus believable to the world.
The hope and power to do this must come from something beyond ourselves.
For me, it has meant spending these last months with the truths and promises taped to the ceiling and walls, by the bed on nights when I wake from the sounds of their nightmares.
It's carving space out to preach the Gospel to ourselves, to each other, to our sons, and to the children entrusted to our care.
It's intentionally redefining success to not be a ribboned finish line, but daily fixing our eyes on Jesus who both authored our faith and has promised to perfect and finish it.
He is the beginning and end.
Your life is rooted in the unshakable sovereign purposes of God.
You have been chosen, and consecrated, and formed and appointed for a great purpose.
~ John Piper
Because we are GREATLY loved ~
Missed you, Catie! Glad you are "okay" and again, so very touched and grateful that you, your husband and children are there for these families! I'm sorry you have had some dark and lonely times....I know how that feels although likely not for the same reasons. The holiday was a difficult one for me with my family situation regarding my brother but I know that God has this and knows the outcome!
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