We have been foster parents for a little while now and each day I am learning something new about myself, about God and about life in general.  This life is not easy and it is full of heartache and miracles.  It will teach you to love more, embrace grief and deal with being uncomfortable nearly everyday.  It is continually changing me and below I have listed three of the most impactful things I have learned about life since becoming a Foster parent.  They are viewpoints to which I had never considered before doing this. 

Just being alive is a miracle.

I have heard of babies being found on the side of the road with umbilical cords still attached and surviving even though it is 30 degrees outside and raining.  There are children that have not eaten for days, being intentionally starved by their insane parents.  There are babies being born as drug addicts forced to endure hard withdrawal symptoms in the first few days of their lives.  This is all happening to those who are lucky enough to be born.  According to abortionno.org there are approximately 42 million babies aborted every year. *

I can say without a doubt that children are born against all odds and that every one of them is a miracle from God. Look at a child and think for a minute about their complete helplessness.  They can’t cook for themselves or buy their own food.  They aren’t even able to move themselves into shelter from a storm or get into a warm place to avoid freezing temperatures.  In fact, left to themselves they would all die. But that’s what Satan is accomplishing on this earth and battling to do every day.  He is turning parents against their children, talking them into abortion, abuse and neglect.

Satan is doing everything he can to kill off the creation before they can turn to the creator.

Even the most vile and undesirable deserve a chance.

As foster parents we are often swimming around in the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the people we have to deal with on a weekly basis.  Drug addicts, child abusers and just plain idiots barely touch the surface of the types of people we have to encounter.  I weave back and forth between wanting to smack people across the face and wanting to show love and support.  It is truly frustrating to deal with a parent who can’t keep their stuff together long enough to properly take care of an infant for less than an hour. 

However, they need to be given a chance,just like all of us have been given chances, to correct our course in life before God.  Without the saving work of Jesus Christ, we are all vile and undesirable in the same magnitude of those who shoot heroin everyday or molest children. (That hurts to write!) Furthermore we are all a product of a continuing work that God is doing in our lives. Each one of us has some cleaning up to do in many areas that will take years if not a full lifetime to complete.  Your interaction with an undesirable person could be a moment in time that God is using to help him turn to the Creator. 

Without multiple chances we would all be lost.   

Every moment with your child is a gift from God.

We went into foster care knowing that we were signing ourselves up for the hurt to come.  We know that we will fall in love with a child just to give him back to his parents, never really knowing if he is going to be safe for the rest of his life and left only to  pray for him for years to come and probably never hear from him again.  One day, our own children will leave our house and we will be left with praying for them continually between phone calls and visits.  We now enjoy a time where we can play and laugh and love on them at will.  We will face a day when those times are no longer available.  They will have jobs and families of their own that they need to spend time with laughing, playing and loving.  One day, if we are lucky, they will outlive my wife and I and we will no longer have any interaction with them until we see them again in heaven.  This time is short and fleeting and it never seems long enough no matter how many hours we may get with them.  I personally can think back on many days I have already wasted not spending with my children and putting other things in my life before them.  We must take every moment we can with our kids because they can be taken from our lives either by force or just by usual circumstances in life.  These moments are beautiful and God-given. 

Moments with our children are promises kept by God given to us as gifts for loving Him.

Life is a miracle.  Time is fleeting and Forgiveness is mandatory.  We must always remember that what we have here on earth is precious and never to be taken lightly.  We must all do what we can to bring the children of this world a chance to live a meaningful and impacting life so they can turn to God and further His kingdom.

* http://www.abortionno.org/abortion-facts/

Photo by Photography-S!