I was in a meeting recently when a well-respected Christian leader said a statement that hasn't left my mind since. "If Roe vs. Wade were overturned tomorrow, then what? Is the church--the Christian community--prepared to care for those children?"
He went on to another topic, but inside I shouted, "Of course! There are wonderful Christian people out there who'd love to adopt a sweet little baby." I mean, who wouldn't?
But the more I thought about it worries sunk in. Would they? If I were to call one hundred of my closest friends and told them I knew a teen mom who was looking for a home for their child...would they open their homes? Their hearts?
I hope the majority would, but then I got to thinking. What about today? Is there more each one of us can do today to prepare? Maybe my friends shouldn't wait for me to call them. Maybe God's already been talking to their hearts.
Has He been speaking to your heart, friend? Have you been listening?Have you looked into adoption? Have you considered the cost? Have you considered the reward?
Have you donated money to a crisis pregnancy center? Have you sacrificed financially until you can feel it? Have you volunteered? Have you turned off the TV, got off Facebook, and asked to help?
Have you reached out to a teen mom? Have you called up a friend whose daughter is facing a crisis pregnancy and offered a listening ear? Have you considered starting a support group for teen moms in your church or community? Have you bought diapers, donated baby clothes, or provided a meal to help an overwhelmed young woman? Have you offered to babysit? Have you become her friend? Have you taken her to the park and hung out just to talk about teething and diaper rash and first words?
Have you reached out to the children of a single mom? Have you taken them to pizza? Attended their basketball games? Offered to coach their teams?
Have you considered opening your home to foster care? Have you looked past your own heartache over having a child in your home for only a time and considered, instead, the impact you could have for a season?
Have you considered adopting a child from the foster care system, especially those who are older, ethnically diverse, in a sibling group or disabled (since those are hardest to place).
Have you considered volunteering in a program that offers hope and help to teens who age out of the foster care system? Have you taken time to mentor a young man or women who have no family to call their own?
Do you recognize that caring for life also means feeding the hungry, assisting the alien, befriending a widow, and visiting the lonely?
Have you felt the tug on your heart but ignored it?Have your read the Scriptures, but then put the Bible back on the bookshelf and walked away?
“When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:16
Jacob answered, 'They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
Genesis 33:5
Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.
Psalm 127:3-5
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Religion 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
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:37-40
What about you, friend? Are you willing to open your home? Your heart?Are you for life?
Are you for LIFE?
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