A Patched-Up Perspective on Being Broke

If all goes well, in about 16 months, we should receive a referral for a special-needs child from China. Almost every night we listen to our kids praying for God to bring a new brother or sister home. It’s strange how much you can miss someone you don’t even know.

Without question, the most frustrating part of this whole process has been financial. I'm not writing about this so that you will pity us or give us something. I'm writing about this because money is THE primary barrier to many families with a heart for adoption.

The more I become immersed in this need, the more I am amazed that little pieces of green paper could affect whether or not a living, breathing child finds a loving home.

For determined families, finances can bring a lot of changes. Over the past few months, I have taken on a new job. We’ve sold jewelry. We’re trying to sell portraits. We’ve taken money out of savings. We are researching grants. We are looking under every rock, trying to make this adoption happen however we can. Many other adoptive families are doing similar things.

During our grant research, I spoke with a wonderful gal from an organization called Show Hope. This is an adoption foundation started by the Steven Curtis Chapman family.

As we talked, we told this gal how frustrated and discouraged we were becoming with the financial aspect of this process. It’s very, very difficult to have so much love in your heart for a child - to feel like someone is missing - but then to feel like you cannot reach him or her.

As we talked, however, this woman offered some insight that I had never even considered. She said she thinks God sometimes allows financial challenges to exist in families who are called to adopt for a reason. She said financial need forces families who love orphans to talk about the plight of waiting children. She said that when we grieve publicly, this encourages the body of Christ to become infused with concern for the need.

As understanding and love spread, others begin to worship God by joining in His pursuit of waiting children. By working together, Christians who aren’t able or called to adopt can still become a part of the adoption process. Together, we become the hands and feet of Christ to a child.

Her words changed my feelings about our situation. Maybe God wants to use our inadequacy to help others experience adoption at a new level? Are we humble enough to go there? What if this story isn’t just about one distant child + one waiting family? Maybe God wants us to share an up-close picture of adoption with people who have never participated in one?

Maybe part of our calling is to push the reality of hurting, waiting children back into the forefront of Christ’s body? Most of these kids will never hear the name of Jesus spoken. They will live and die untouched by the Great Commission. This is a tragedy that we are called to affect.

So, may God use our weakness and our need. May He use it to help transport 147 million little voices into places they cannot reach on their own.