I just found out that November was National Adoption Month. I probably didn't know before because my heart wasn't ever really opened to the need until recently. I find it all the more exciting for us and our adoption to really be getting going this month; we meet with our social worker tonight for the first time for our home study {excited, but also a little nervous}. A couple of weeks ago another couple at our church who is currently in the adoption process (waiting for their little boy from Rwanda) shared a little about their journey and also some staggering adoption statistics.
Did you know that there are 143 million fatherless orphan children today?
That if they were a country they would amount to the 8th largest in the world?
That there are 500,000 waiting children in the U.S. foster care system?
That in the U.S. 90% of orphans are being adopted into non-Christian families despite the distinct Biblical calls to us as Christians to care for them?
Here are a few scriptures that they shared that encouraged me...
17O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. Psalm 10:17-18
5 "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me." Matthew 18:5
27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
Here are some action points regarding orphans...
Pray~ every Christian can and should do this!
Get Involved~ check out these sites {I can't wait to dive into these}: Orphan Sunday, Hope for Orphans, Dark to Dawn
Act~ start praying about how the Lord would have you act... Sponsor (a great option for those not feeling called to adopt), Foster, Adopt!