My sister and her husband had 3 boys. She homeschooled, led in church groups and participated in neighborhood and community activities. It seemed a perfect picture. Until one day God put it on her heart . . . become a foster parent. At first it was a whisper. Then the whisper, a tiny stream, became a river. Soon the current swept she and her husband into a foster parent class and they placed their names on the list.
A call came. Would you take one child? What if there was a sibling? And then, what if there were 3? And what if the youngest was a baby? And what if they were not the same race as your family? And what if they had been abused . . . with each question the love compelled her heart to open. God eased the door open wider. She and her husband said yes.
She calls her family her 6-pack of boys. From 22 months to 15 she has 6 rugged, playful, busy, growing and challenging boys. Some days she is delighted at the chaos. Some days she weeps. Her life will never be the same. It is a risk to open her home but a bigger risk to open her heart. What if she cannot adopt these boys? What if they cannot overcome what they have experienced in life? And in her darkest moments, what if she is not enough, enough?
There is only one answer to all of those questions. Do you LOVE?
Not do you have love. Not do you believe in love. But DO you LOVE? It is a verb - it is a choice - it is a response - it is a decision. Once you decide that one thing every thing else falls in place.
For every chaos can be tamed by love.
Our roads often bring us to chaos we did not anticipate nor wish or foresee. What we desire and what we hope compels us to love and we choose to open our hearts completely. We risk because we cannot NOT - it meets our greatest longings. It changes us.
Our enough IS enough . . . truly . . . there is only question we need to ask. Do you LOVE?
