Read His Words Before Ours!
Esther 2:5-8
James 1:26-27
Romans 8:5
Psalm 68:4-6 
There once was a woman named Esther.
She was young. She was stunning. She was an orphan.
Perhaps she is the most well-known orphan of all time; people have been reading her story for thousands of years.
But stop for a moment and imagine Esther as a little girl. Imagine a slight little girl with wavy, dark hair that wisps around her face. Smooth, olive colored skin and a little button nose. Big, dark eyes, framed by thick lashes, looking up at you, while her head bows in shyness. She blinks, and for an instant, you can see the sorrow that has settled in her spirit.
She has no mama. No one to wipe her nose when it runs or to rub her back when she wakes from a bad dream. The mama that labored this child into existence and cradled her baby face in her hands, is gone.
And this little girl has no daddy. No one to scoop her up and toss her in the air when he gets home from work. No one to playfully tease her, and remind her that she is beautiful. The daddy whose finger she once grasped with her chubby little fingers, has died.
What would you say to little Esther if you encountered her today? Would you wrap your arms around her and say, “Sweet one, you will go on to do incredible things”? Or perhaps, “Our Abba Father loves you, my dear, more than you will ever comprehend. He has great plans for you”?
Esther was adopted and raised by her cousin, Mordecai…
Who raised her
As
His
Own.
Mordecai became the daddy that scooped her up and tossed her in the air before nuzzling his nose into her neck and tickling her with his beard while whispering, “I love you, my girl.”
He became the man who would lovingly tease her and remind her that she is beautiful.
Adoption…
such a beautiful word because it reflects our relationship with Him.
We were once lost, wanderers, and slaves to our sin.
And when we decided to follow Jesus, we were adopted into the family of God…
He is our Father. We are His children.
But the Lord’s plan was never actually “adoption”.
The Lord’s original plan was no death.
His plan was for children to never feel the sorrow of not having a mama to love and snuggle them, or a daddy to care for and protect them.
But sin.
Because of sin, millions of children have never known what it is to have a father whose love reflects THE Father’s love.
It isn’t FAIR. It isn’t JUST.
But our God is a just God.
Children not knowing the love of two parents, is a great injustice.
God says that orphans will receive justice – and we, as believers who have been adopted by our Father, are expected to play our part in that beautiful, redemptive plan!
We are told to defend the weak and the fatherless.
We are expected to care for the orphans.
We, the Church, are called to be justice deliverers! We are called to look into the eyes of orphans and tell them that they are loved, and have purpose!
And we, of all people, should want to extend the gift of adoption because we know how life-changing that gift is.
We were not left as orphans.
We were adopted into the family of God.
We are not Fatherless, and we never will be.
Five years ago, I volunteered for a very special camp for children in foster care. I arrived not knowing what to expect, but excited to love on two little girls who didn’t have a mama or daddy. My life changed that week, and my eyes were opened to the heartache and hurt that comes when parents are not actively present in their children’s lives. Today, I went through some keepsake boxes and pulled out a note I received that week. Written in big, bubbly letters were the words, “Will you adopt me?” My eyes stung with fresh tears, just as they did five years ago. Those words changed me.
Two years later, my fiance drove me out for another week of camp, but he didn’t leave.
He couldn’t.
I had tried to convince him to come to camp, but he repeatedly said, “I can’t. I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t want to pour into these kids and leave drained and empty.”
(He voiced what many of us think but never have the courage to say.)
Yet, when he got to camp, he was captivated.
That week was defining for our marriage.
We began classes to become foster parents in June 2016. I was six weeks pregnant and our twins had just turned one. Almost six months later, we met our first foster son.
Six weeks after he moved into our home, he asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life.
While we could not adopt our sweet boy, we had the honor and joy of watching him become adopted by THE FATHER!
He is an orphan because his parents are absent,
but he is NOT an orphan because he has a Father
who will never leave him or forsake him.
Sister, what are you doing?
What is your place in God’s incredible redemption plan for the orphans in our world?
Today, I leave you with a challenge… DO SOMETHING.
There are millions of children in this world who need the Church to rise up and declare that the Lord will deliver JUSTICE to the fatherless.
Think of the MIGHTY and POWERFUL things children will accomplish when they have someone pick them up, toss them in the air, and whisper, “I love you”.
—
Not sure where to start?
Check out Royal Family Kids Camp!
Local to Kansas City? Check out a similar camp just for kids in this area!
Want more information on adoption? Head over to Bethany Christian Services!
See how your church can help local foster families get the supplies they need by connecting with a Care Portal in your area!
Support children all around the world and in your community through the Global Orphan Project.
Learn more about what it takes to be a foster parent here: A Child’s Hope Int’l’s!
Or, if you have specific questions, you can always shoot us an email or write on the Gracefully Truthful Community’s Facebook wall to get many responses and a lot of ideas!
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