Posts by The_Embassy

I got into a fight in 1st grade.  She pushed me down on the sidewalk; I got up and pushed her down on the sidewalk. We were both sent to the nurse (and detention) and ended up with almost identical scars that remained through high school. We later became friends and grew to laugh about our craziness.

But, before my scar came along, my skin grew this rough, bumpy scab.  As a kid, I was intrigued by scabs:  “How’d the body do that?  And look how easily you can pick it off, see the dotted, white skin underneath, and then it grows back again…like magic.”

God calls each one of us to love sacrificially (Eph 5:2). Loving this way is hard. In our home, this call meant becoming foster parents. Being a foster parent is not easy or simple, and sometimes it is not even fulfilling (as you and I are tempted to define it). It is hard, it is costly, and it is often thankless, but we do it nonetheless. Here are three reasons why we, as a couple and now as a family, choose to do what is hard.

My wife and I were sitting on our couch talking about the upcoming holiday season, and I asked her what she wanted for Christmas. Needing some time to think, she asked me what was on my own wish list. 

I started thinking of when I was a kid and Christmas would be on its way. My sisters and I would get so excited to get each other presents. We loved giving gifts to one another and surprising each other with a very specific present. My mom homeschooled us and my dad was a soybean farmer for most of my childhood, so we similarly got so excited at the idea of treating mom and dad with what little money we had.

We all face situations that look as though they’ll never change. It’s easy to get discouraged and accept that it’s never going to work out. But God says, “I will turn things around for my people” (Zephaniah 3:9). He’s a turnaround God. He turns Red Seas into dry pathways, He turns five loaves and two fish into dinner for thousands, and He turns skin filled with leprosy into skin as clear as a baby’s. When thoughts tell you, “Your situation is permanent. You’ll never get out of this problem,” get ready.