Bothered

     Have you ever paid attention to what gets you fired up?  And I am not talking about a good football game or someone cutting you off on the road.  What bothers you?  When you look at the world around you what do you see and think to yourself, "this isn't right" or my favorite pre-teen phrase "that's not fair".  There is something to those strong feelings, but let me come back to that. 

    This week I was reading from the book of Exodus about the story of Moses.  Being raised in the Egyptian palace, Moses could have lived his whole life with privilege and riches.  But one day Moses began noticing the Hebrew people (the people he came from) were being oppressed and treated very severely.  I can only imagine he burned with righteous anger seeing the people treated as slaves and when he witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew it says, "After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand" (Ex 2:12).  He was fired up, he saw the unfairness, and he decided to do something about it.  

    Moses was passionate and inspired to act on behalf of his people, albeit in a very unhealthy way.  He had righteous anger followed by an unrighteous act.  Despite this, God would call out to Moses many years later in a burning bush calling him to be the person who would lead the Hebrew people out of slavery and into freedom.  Why choose Moses?  Even Moses doesn't understand why God is choosing him because in chapter 3 of Exodus, he says to God, "Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?".  When I read this familiar story I noticed how God pointed out their shared compassion and how their hearts are aligned.  God tells Moses he has seen the Israelites suffering, He has heard their cries, and He is going to do something about it.  Remember years earlier Moses was moved to do something about it?  Now God was going to use Moses as His instrument to free the enslaved people.  

    God knew Moses's heart.  God is choosing someone who has a heart aligned with His and who has a passion for this particular injustice, someone who was moved to compassion for these suffering people.  And in taking time to process this story, I see that God uses ordinary people with hearts turned toward others.  He used Moses then and He still uses people today whose hearts are burdened and want to see things changed.  I also see that God doesn't need people to feel like they are able to do something and He doesn't need us to be qualified to do it.  God just desires a heart that is willing, a heart aligned with His.  Just the seed of a burden and faith can be used by God.  

    So if I may take a moment, I would like to share what we have been doing as a family with a seed of a burden that was planted several years ago.  If you have read previous posts you may recall that our adoption process began with a prayer for an empty bedroom in our house and the burden I felt to do something with it.  Now, this March will be a year since we formally stopped the process of adopting Katie from China.  And although those years of waiting and then deciding to let go of Katie were very hard, I know that those years continued to prepare and change my heart as well as give me eyes to see the needs of children and families all around me.  

    These new eyes and a growing passion to see children thrive in healthy, supported families led me to an organization called Safe Families for Children.  And over the past few months our family trained, prepared our home and hearts, and received a certificate to be a Host Family for this organization.  For a better understanding, here is their Mission Statement:

Safe Families for Children seeks to keep children safe and families together.  Safe Families for Children is rooted in faith, fueled by radical hospitality, disruptive generosity, and intentional compassion, to build a network of caring and compassionate volunteers to support families facing social isolation.  Our goals are to prevent child abuse and neglect, reduce the number of children entering the child welfare system, and support and stabilize families.

     Who am I to do this?  I don't really know...but I am a mom raising kids and loving it with extra room in my heart, home, and life.  I have the desire to see families supported, needs met, and children living without fear and anxiety.  I want to look around me and see families thriving in healthy homes, with healthy habits, and surrounded by a village that is ready to help so they are never alone.  I have a family who loves to open their home, meet new people, and join people on this journey of life.  And we have faith in the God who loved us first faithfully and abundantly and teaches us every day how to love more and love better.

    As we venture into this and have our first hosting next weekend, I would appreciate any prayers you can offer.  I am praying that our home would be a peaceful place and that the child who comes here would feel completely welcome and be able to just rest, relax, and have fun with us.  I would also ask for prayers for Safe Families for Children and their mission, for more volunteers, and for more families in need to know that this organization exists and wants to help before life becomes so desperate that the child welfare system has to get involved.  

    This is my story, and I pray that only God writes it.  I hope I make it clear that this isn't about me and this isn't easy.  Doing this requires work in my heart, mind, and life; and I almost never feel qualified to do what God asks of me.  But He doesn't ask if I am able, just if I am available.  So what's bothering you...maybe it's time to talk to God about it.