Invitation to Prayer, Wednesday
Hi Friends,
Thank you for joining me in prayer for the children of the world. If you can, we'd love to have you pray together with us this Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., in the gym conference room at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, followed by lunch together.
Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook ! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries.
All the best,
Carrie
Dear Intercessors,
We could have missed this.
It's a refrain that has been echoing around the adoption community for the last few weeks as adoptive families have reflected on their journeys during National Adoption Month. As part of National Adoption Month, November is also a time to encourage more people to consider adoption and ask the church to pray about how she can better care for orphans and foster children. And for many families who hear this call, its an overwhelming prospect. The stakes are high, the cost is huge, and the possible ways that adoption or foster care can introduce heartache, angst, and anxiety into our lives are too many too list.
The call is undoubtedly there... but to say yes? That is terrifying.
But on the other side of the yes? Speaking as an adoptive mama, when I feel my little girl lean in for a hug and hear her tell me she loves me, my heart almost stops when I think, "We could have missed this."
There are so many reasons to say no. It's so expensive. The process is unpredictable. The child might have more medical needs than the file says. She may not adjust well. He might be too angry and disruptive. What if he takes my attention away from the child I already have? How can I meet her needs? I'm not that great of a mama, how could I step up my parenting game to help a child who has experienced such loss? It is so easy to say no.
But this week, a few days after Thanksgiving, I'd like to invite you to listen to the families who have said yes. I want you to see the faces and hear the stories from mamas and daddies who, with hearts full of gratitude for their children, want the world to know, "We could have missed this." You can read hundreds here, or you can simply enjoy just this one:
Photo by Stefanie @ Ni Hao Ya'll
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I know I don't speak only for myself as an adoptive parent when I say, but for the grace of God and His spirit guiding us through the steps and leading us through the hard days, we would have missed this! And I'm so grateful we didn't miss it!
In the week after Thanksgiving and at the close of National Adoption Month, I think it is good for us to pause and give thanks for these children and families who are living out the ministry of restoration and healing in their homes. Thank God for these families who demonstrate that He alone can set the lonely in families, bind up the brokenhearted, and care for the fatherless. Please join me in praising God for adoptive families and asking Him to strengthen them emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically. Pray for Him to meet their every need, and to surround them with supportive communities who can help carry them when they are too tired to continue. And please pray for more families to listen to that quiet whisper in their hearts... may it be louder than their fears.
Praying with you,
Carrie
Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153
If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to info@facesofchildren.net
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