About 5 years ago God opened my eyes. He had shown me His call to help orphans. I had once lived in my nice warm little bubble and I had closed my eyes tight to the atrocities of this world. I didn’t know that there were children who needed help, orphans who had nothing. How did I not know? You might ask. It wasn’t on my radar because it wasn’t placed in front of my face.
For my entire life I always believed that the people who adopt children did so because they couldn’t have biological children and that these children completed their family. My eyes had been closed tight to God’s call on all of our lives to serve and help orphans. Once my eyes were opened I couldn’t turn my head. I realized that our world is filled with the fatherless – those who want and need families. Then I had a whole new problem. What could I do about it?
My husband and I looked into adopting. We actually explored both international and local (foster) adoption. We quickly realized the difficulties that it presented us – especially because we had 5 small kids all under the age of 10. Our youngest was only about 9 months old. We found out some challenges, at least at the time, made it nearly impossible to adopt. Many countries have laws regarding how many children you can have in your home. It turns out that even our state also had these laws. I think 4 kids was the limit – we already had one “too many”. Some countries had long travel requirements – which just wouldn’t work with the ages of our kids and the special needs of our oldest.
Frustration welled up inside of me. Why had God put this in front of us only to not let us fulfill His call? This question led me to a deeper understanding of this call. We are not all called to adopt, but we all are called to be an advocate for orphans.
Let me say that again: We are not all called to adopt, but we are all called to help orphans. God calls us to love. He calls us to care. We are called to be a listening ear at 2am to your friend who is having trouble with the adoption process. Let’s bring casseroles and pie to the family who has just brought their children home. Why not care for children who are in foster care? God tells us to do these things. We are called to sacrifice our time, our resources, our finances to further His Kingdom through loving the fatherless.
Practical Ways You Can Help Orphans
- Cook a Meal for a family going through adoption
- Donate Clothing for foster & adoptive families
- Offer to Babysit, so that new adoptive parents can have a night out
- Donate Services – If you have a business or a hobby that might benefit children or parents, help them out.
- Give supplies like cribs, blankets, baby gear, bottles, and toys
- Provide Respite and Other Needs
- Provide other Resources to Families in Need
- Sponsor a Child
- Become a Safe Family Host
- Encourage Families in Crisis
- Host an Orphan from Overseas
- Pray for Orphans
- Pray for Adoptive Parents
- Become a Foster Parent
- Give Money to Christian Groups who are Helping Orphans
- Visit Orphans on a Mission Trip
- Become a CASA Volunteer
- Ask Wait No More to Come to Your City
- Form intentional relationships with families who adopt – find out needs and show love
- Start an Orphan Care & Adoption Care Ministry in Your Church
For more great ideas on orphan care, please see the Christian Alliance For Ophans.
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Read more here:
What a Sunday in November has to do with Your Purpose
A Mom of 12 Shares the Beautiful Truth about Adoption
Behind the Scenes at the Mully Movie Premiere
My Interview with Dr. Charles Mully
Mully: The Movie Everybody Must See
A Letter to the Church: Children Are a Blessing
11 Lessons Learned This November about our Calling & Christ’s Love
What a great post! Thanks for sharing. It’s a great reminder that we can do good in many different ways. I’m so thankful for your suggestions.
What a beautiful list of ways to help those who have no family of their own. My sister adopted 4 kids from foster care, and I’ve considered adopting, too.
This is awesome! I’ve always wondered about other ways to help orphans besides adopting. I would love to adopt someday, but I am still waiting to even be married and I don’t know exactly what the Lord has in store. 🙂 Great post!
Great list of ways to help! I’ve enjoyed your posts about orphans!
This is a good post and it goes in with my last blog, we should look for ways to help the needy especially the children during this season. .. and always.
Love this! Growing up my family we always had multiple children we would sponsor through Compassion. Looking forward to doing this with my own boys!
Thank you for this wonderful reminder! This is a great list of ways to help when you’re not able to adopt.
Great post! It’s important to remember that there are lots of ways to help even if you are not called into adopting yourself! Thank you for sharing this practical list!
What a wonderful post, and some great tips for how to help those in need. It frustrates me how restrictive so many of the laws are. If there are loving and able families, they shouldn’t be told they can’t adopt or foster, simply because there are “too many” kids already in the home…meanwhile, those poor children remain stuck in the system. I just don’t get it
I love that people are becoming more aware of adoption and needs of adoptive families! Thanks for this post.
Thank you so much. Itis so important that, even if we can’t adopt, we live out the command from God to care for orphans.
Wow..I never would’ve thought of these ways to help families..thanks for sharing!