Adopted By Christ

I had a divine appointment yesterday. Steve and I were keeping my best friends, boyfriend's two kids. They are very sweet and adorable. They are 6 and 4 and have a lot of energy. Needless to say now that they have left our house feels a little empty.

Yesterday a firend of mine posted that there was a fair going on and that it was free. So I decided to take the kids since Steve had just got off work and he wasn't feeling so good. I figured he could use a couple of hours of quiet and the kids couple use a couple of hours out of the house. So we make it to where they are having the fair and we walk up. Apparently my friend had no idea that this was set up for the kids in foster care. Thankfully they let the kids go in and they got to play for a little while. The people were very kind.

When we walked in there were kids everywhere. I couldn't believe all the kids. Babies all the way up to teenagers of every size, shape, color, etc. And the foster parents ranged in age from young to old, black to white, short, to tall, etc. You get my point. The kids were so fun to watch and they were so charming. They were having a great time.

Then they went to give out the gifts that the community had been generous enough to donate. They had two bikes and a flat screen TV for the parents. It was wonderful to see the giving. Every foster child got a gift.

My heart was full to bursting by the time we left and it reminded me how selfish we can be during the holiday season. We tend to focus on what we are getting or what we are giving to those close to us, but what about to those that don't have the luxury of having people who truly care about them. What about that child who is spending Christmas with strangers, or that elderly person who has no family left. What about the homeless person under the bridge that can only hope they will get a meal or that person who thought success would bring him happiness. Do you ever stop to consider anything other than you and your family during this season that should be based solely around the greatest gift we were given....eternal life. Do we focus more on the material gifts that we are given or do we focus on loving those that Jesus would love if He were physically on Earth now?

It really opened my heart and my eyes to see these children getting to celebrate a good Christmas with children like them. Thankfully these children were able to see that there were people who really did care and that they were not forgotten. It was wonderful to see the generosity of the businesses and communities in their giving to be able to provide gifts for the children.

I know my mind is already working on a way to give to these children. Most of these children aren't there because of something they did, but the selfishness of their parents. It was more than apparent in the eyes of some of the older kids that were there. One in particular stands out to me. She was a very pretty girl. Probably around 12 or 13. She is in the Methodist Home. In other words, no one will ever adopt her. She will age out of the system and then who knows. Maybe she will go to college. Maybe she will make something of herself, but the reality is that she will probably end up on the streets for a while or maybe find some guy who might take care of her, but who knows at what price. She may end up on drugs or with a criminal career. There are so many roads that this girl could possibly take and due to being forgotten she will probably choose one that will harm her. To look into her eyes you would understand why I say this. Her eyes were hard. She had built that wall around her heart so that she couldn't be hurt anymore. To think that a young girl has already learned how to guard herself to the pain. Does she know that she has a heavenly Father that will take that pain or does she even believe that a good father can even exist? It is so sad to think, unless something changes, she will probably always have that hard look to her eyes. She will always be fighting for her place in society.

I tell you about all this not so that you will write a check to some foster agency so that these children will have a little more for Christmas. I write because these kids don't need money. These kids need people to surround them and love them. They need people to show them God's love does exist and isn't some fairy tale that they can't believe in because they dont' have that luxury. When are Christians going to put foot service to lip service. We are so quick to write a check because we can keep some distance to the problems in our community. We don't have to be soiled by them. But we forget that's exactly what Jesus did. He got down in the trenches and loved the orphaned and the widow. He loved the whore, the dirty tax collector, and the religious man whose heart turned to repentance. A man raised from the dead was a close friend and everyday hard working men were his followers. The rich man turned away from him and His own people on Earth crucified Him. And yet He died for them all so that we could give the ultimate gift to each other by telling them of God's love for them.

Identity in Christ

So I have gone back to school and it is a different experience going back and being 10 years older than a lot of my classmates. It is intimidating because you know they are looking at you as the older more mature person. In a sense it gives me accountability and that is really neat.

I also tend to watch people from a different perspective than I did 10 years ago. I see things in a new way not only as an older person but in comparison to my life 10 years ago. I see so many girls that remind me of me at that age. I wish I could say that with pride, but I say it with shame because I was not the example I should have been. I wasn't a Christian, though I claimed to be, and I did not set a good example for many of my peers. I was a follower of the people around me instead of letting the people around me follow me to God.

I was listening on the radio the other night about being happily single because God can use you in a different way that what He can use married people. And whereas I am glad I am married to my wonderful husband, I can see where Paul was going with this. There are so many benefits to being a Godly single person.

I know we are taught from very young that being married is the only way to be. Marriage is a great thing, but it isn't for everyone and it isn't the earlier the better in a lot of cases. So many young people today wrap their identity around their relationships that they lose who they are or never learn who they are by themselves and with Christ. I know because I did this. I was so busy trying to please the person I was with at the time that I compromised what was precious and dear to me. I never learned to stand on my own without someone being there to hold me up. My identity muscles were weak, I guess you could say.

I have now worked on figuring out my identity and who I am in Christ, but it has been a long road. It would have been a lot easier to do on my own and when I was young than having to deal with it now when I have so much baggage piled on top of what God really wants to shine through. I regret very much that I didn't take the time to learn how to be me without someone else.

I am always encouraging young people to be single for a while and be able to figure out who they are without another person around. Especially young women who are taught that they are only complete with someone or once they get married. That's why we see so many women unhappy in marriage is because they don't figure out who they are before they try to love someone else.

Why do you think God tells us to love other AS YOURSELF. You can not love anyone else until you love yourself. You have to love yourself through the good, bad, ugly, and completely unbearable! You can only love yourself with the love of Christ. Otherwise it is downright impossible.

I thank God everyday that He put me with a man that has allowed me to work through the baggage with God only and didn't interfere while I had to do this. But it was also a very trying time for our relationship that thankfully we were able to work through. But I do regret that I didn't take the time to figure out how to survive without a man in my life before I got married the first time.

Here is my request, especially to the young women out there. Please go to college, get a job, and live on your own for a while. Let God show you that you don't have to sacrifice who you are in Him to have a relationship. Then let Him bring the right guy into your life and you will see how great a relationship based on God can be because you were confident in yourself in Christ. And if God wants you to be single. Rejoice in being single because He will use you in mighty and amazing ways!

We will always have struggles, but why make it any harder than it has to be.Figure out who you are in Christ before you complicate the situation by adding someone else. If you are not confident in Christ as yourself then you will take on the personality of the other person and lose yourself. Then you will end up resenting that other person down the road when you realize that you no longer know who you are.

And above all remember God loves you even when it feels like no one else does! He the perfect Father, Husband, Friend, Confidant, and above all Lord.