My mother and grandmother have set a beautiful example for me and have taught me through example (and other means), prepared me, encouraged me to be a mother someday. It is through their love of children that my own love has grown.
They have also created a legacy of taking in other people's children and caring for them as their own. This is one of the greatest acts of love that I have ever personally witnessed. It is not easy, either. I know. To treat another child with the same love as you would a child that you bore is hard. Another woman's child did not grow inside you. Another woman's child may not respect you as your own has learned to do. Another woman's child may not have grown up with the same rules. Yet, another woman's child still needs a mother. And it is so sad that not many women are woman enough to step into this role. Heck, even animals do it! We've all heard the stories of apes taking in pups, kittens, etc. and raising them as their own. The point of this post is not to point fingers or even belittle women who don't foster or adopt. Raising your own children is hard enough. I get it. However, if God has abundantly blessed you, and you have more than enough, please, please consider fostering or adopting. There are so many children who do not have homes, families, food, clothes.
I've witnessed this with my own eyes. The summer of 2011 (before my Senior year in high school), I went to China with an organization called Bring Me Hope for two weeks. I was a volunteer at a summer camp for orphans and was assigned a translator and 1-2 children, and that was our "family" for the week. Basically, I got to be a mother for two weeks to children who could not understand what I was saying without a translator. Our goal was twofold: (1) to give hope to the children and show them God's love (2) to be each child's advocate, in hopes to get them adopted by "forever families." Seriously, if you can, adopt. I promise, making an impact in a child's life is so worth the sacrifice. And I know, it is a sacrifice! But, you will be rewarded! And if you can't adopt, if it's not financially feasible, think about fostering. There are organizations that offer support.
So, that's my "adopt or foster" plug. If you want to read a 20 page version, ask me about my Senior thesis. I'll email you a copy!
Anyway, back to my main point. I have finally realized what my purpose in life is. While it is somewhat vague or broad, it is satisfactory to my "what the heck am I gonna do with my life?" "crisis" that I had when I was in junior high and high school. I plan to get my Bachelor's in Psychology and then go to Grad School (looking at Lee University) for my Master's in Family Therapy and Counseling and maybe a Master's in Holistic Child Development. Then, I hope to counsel foster kids. I hope that I can touch children's lives in the way that mine has been touched through my younger brothers, babysitting that I have done, and the foster children that my family has cared for over the years. I also hope that I can get married and raise more children-loving children!
James 1:22-27 (ESV) "22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
~Bonny Williams
