An Accurate View

My dad has been living in heaven for the last 13 years, but I still find myself learning from him.  He was an optometrist, a vision specialist, so his life's work was to help people see as they should.  Some of my earliest memories are climbing up into his exam chair, feet dangling, head pressed up against that black piece of equipment, seeing all kinds of letters.   With the flip of switches, Dad would begin to check my vision.  I guess he was switching to different lenses, changing the view, so he could take me to the accurate view and determine the strength of the contacts and glasses I would need.

God has been flipping switches on us for years now,  giving us a different perspective.  The crazy faith walk we have been on of adopting an orphan, leaving church staff after 25 years and starting Orbie for Orphans has been inundated with God changing our view.  2 weeks ago we were in Haiti, and even though we had been there other times, a flip was switched.  We could see so much need in the orphans of Haiti.  We went into remote areas with no schools, no clean water, no sanitation.  We saw people just trying to survive. We visited 7 orphanages. We could see their tremendous physical needs, but even greater we could see their spiritual and emotional needs.  We will never be the same.  

Often people who go on mission trips talk about being "gloriously ruined".  It IS glorious to be able to really see God's view,  and it DOES ruin us from spending our time, energy and resources on things that really don't matter all that much.  Life is so short, the needs are so great...and the blessing to be able to see is really amazing!  God sees everything as it really is.  His is the accurate view.  If He works in your life as He has in ours, following "wherever He leads" means  a new perspective.   It's a view that will break your heart, challenge you to fly higher than you ever thought you could, and change you forever.

Heavy Laden Children

When this beautiful child came to us through adoption two and a half years ago it didn't take us long to see that she was heavy laden. She had spent from age 2-5 in a government run orphanage in China. Her pain was so evident.  At the surface.  Real.

One thing thats easy to surmise about every single orphan and foster child on the planet- they are heavy laden. There has been trauma and great loss.  They are staggering under the pain of living without the love of a family.

3 weeks ago we were at the National Orphan Summit in Nashville.  One of the main speakers was a  man from Kenya.  At age 5, he saw his mother beheaded.  He lived in an orphanage until he was 18.  In his message, he said that it wasn't the lack of food or clothing that was hard...it was the emotional pain.  In his orphanage years, he never had anyone hug him or tell them that he was loved.

Our mission is to make a powerful connection between God's Word and these shattered hearts.  They can understand it.  He is able to heal them through biblical truth.  In Matthew 11, Jesus says these things can be hidden from the "wise" of this world, and yet revealed to little children.  In the same passage, He invites the weary and heavy laden to come.  This is an invitation every orphan and foster child so desperately needs.  In verse 29, He says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul."

We're trying to do that "learn from Me" part to heavy laden children.  A life without the love of a family is too much to bear and their souls are crying out for rest.  Parents give rest to their children.  They calm them when they are afraid.  They soothe them when life hurts.   By losing the care of loving parents, these children have lost that rest.  But oh the power of Scripture!  It's not just black ink on a page.  It's living.  It's the actual Word of God able to heal, bind up and restore.   In Matthew 11:29 there's a beautiful link - learning from Him results in rest for the soul.  By animating the specific biblical truth these children need, the learning curve is greatly accelerated.  And the best result of all? Heavy-laden orphans finding rest for their weary souls.

The Brevity of It

This week I had heard Billy Graham's oldest daughter, Gigi, speak briefly at The Cove here in Asheville. She asked for pray for their family because George Beverly Shea died this week at the age of 104. Many, many years of serving Christ alongside Billy Graham around the world with incalculable fruit! Truly, his was a life well lived. Gigi went on to say that someone had asked her dad what he thought was life's biggest surprise. His answer? The brevity of it. Oh, the truth in that! It all goes by so quickly. Flies by, actually. In many ways, I think that one truth is what led us to start Orbie for Orphans. There is so much suffering. So much work that needs to be done. So little time. Jesus told us to work while it is still day, because night is coming when no one can work. For us, even though we had been in full-time ministry for 25 years, it was alarming to think that our ministry years were going to end one day. There was almost a panic that we wouldn't have the biggest impact with the years we had left. God led us to start Orbie to meet a great need in the world: the creation of a tool that churches, mission organizations and orphanages can use to connect God's Word to the specific pain of these children. We are simply thankful that God has this for us, and could never imagine a better way to spend the days we have left. Time's running out...

The Power of Shoes

Our friends Wes and Stephanie Wright share a pretty miraculous story today of what they almost missed....the rescue of their newest little China doll who came home to America in February. Here are Stephanie's words: We had heard all the objections from every corner and had many ourselves. After all, we already had 8 children, two in college, three adopted with special needs, and the last one with severe surgical needs and lifelong challenges. So Wes decided we should not proceed with plans to adopt Ava. The next day I got an email from him titled, "Shoes". Here is Wes' email to his wife: "I start with shoes because as I sorted through shoes last night and began putting them away, I thought about the feet that could use them. I looked at all the boxes of clothes we have in the attic and thought about the feet that could use them. I looked at all the boxes of clothes we have in the attic and thought of the little girl that could use them. I did not sleep well as I thought of Ava. I had looked over her file yesterday and her pictures. It is wrong of me to commit to her and then walk away. It is wrong of me to begin planning for her and walk away...I am unable to walk away from Ava. My eyes are full of tears as I write this, I will not abandon her. Our kids will rally around us, our parents will get on board. This is not about anybody but Ava." We got to meet little Ava two days after coming home to America. She was breathtaking. Melted into our arms, so grateful to be with her new family and new friends. We were all in awe of this sweet creation of God. It's mind boggling to think that precious Ava could still be sitting in an orphanage, if it hadn't been for shoes....

Movies and Moms

I answered my cell phone today only to hear crying at the other end. My friend had been to see the movie "The Impossible", and it had really torn her up. This movie is a true story about a family who experienced the tsunami in 2004 and their journey to find each other. She described the unbelievable emotions of the characters as they fought to stay alive and find their children. As she was telling me this, I thought of Les Miserable. We saw it on Christmas Day through TEARS. The most profound part of the story for me (spoiler alert) was a mom taking desperate measures to help her child and yet despite her all her effort, that child became an orphan. The audience is brought to a critical moment....will someone please rescue that child? Her future was hopeless unless someone stepped in. Nothing else mattered to that dying mom. Nothing else would matter to any mom who was not long for this world. I've heard Rick Warren's wife, Kaye, share her experience of spending time with a lady in Africa who was dying. All she could talk about, all she knew, all that was in her heart was, "Who is going to take care of my children?" As things stand now, 99.9% of 153 million orphans are not finding homes through adoption. They need to be rescued. God has a solution and its fairly simple and clear. His people are to care for them, evangelize, disciple and give them families. They are waiting. Let's do it!

Look what a family's love can do!

2 Year "Gotcha Day"

Today I just feel thankful. 2 years ago today we were whisked into a room in China to see Collins for the first time. Coming into the building, I was expecting to be able to sit down, calm my pounding heart and wait for awhile for the orphanage worker to arrive with our daughter. Instead, the children were already there. About 5-6 little girls were sitting in a room next to ours. The door was open. Carl pointed from across the room, "There she is!" We had seen pictures but NOTHING could have prepared me for that moment. When I had experienced childbirth years before, I learned that there is no moment like seeing your child's face for the first time. I remember the exact moments of seeing Spencer and Conner's yummy faces right after birth. Time seemed to stand still, and I could barely wrap my mind and emotions around those indescribable moments. This was no different. In seconds, our translator Grace called us to come and meet her. Hello! Just walk across the room and meet the child I had prayed for and missed for four long years? I had ached for her for so long. Just walk across the room and meet our daughter? The little sister for our boys? Meet this child that was found outside the gate of a welfare institution in China when she was 2 years old? I threw Conner the camera and off we went. Collins was the first child that came through the door. She walked out holding the hand of a lady from her orphanage. She was petrified! I cannot imagine the emotional earthquake this was for her. She was weeks away from turning 5, so she was old enough to understand. She was trying so hard to be strong, but fear was engulfing her. We gently tried to give her gifts, hold her hand, feed her snacks. She only had the clothes on her back, a backpack with a coloring book and a plum. When it was time to go she let me hold her hand as we walked to the van. Once the van door shut, the tears, panic, and grief began to pour out. She had lost so much. Losing her family at 2. Spending 3 years in an orphanage. Nothing is as horrific as being a little child without the love of a mother or father. She was so brave for having endured so much. And now she was enduring the loss of all she could remember and going with total strangers who spoke a language she had no understanding of. It must have felt like being kidnapped. Now 2 years have come and gone. 2 years of so many high high's and low low's. A great definition of adoption is "entering into the pain of another". Collins has had to grieve. And sad often looks like mad. Parenting her has not been easy at times. But I believe that the choicest things in life must cost. To heal from deep grief you have to walk through it. Even in the hardest times, Collins has brought indescribable joy to our family. We have laughed more than we ever have before. She is sweet, fun, lively, gifted and it chills us all to the bone to think that we could have missed living our lives without this precious little girl. So today, I'm thankful.