One Less

153 Million.

That's the current estimated number of orphans in the world.

While we were in China, we passed a man on the street who will forever be ingrained on my heart. He was a street beggar. His legs were terribly deformed and twisted to the point that you couldn't even tell whether they were all there. He was homeless. He was unable to walk or to do anything to care for his personal needs.

All I could think as I stepped back from our group to get my emotions in check was,

"His mother never came for him."

And I don't mean his birth mother. Only the richest of the rich in her part of the world would have been able to afford his medical care. She must have made the most courageous and heart-breaking decision she could...to take her child to the only place that could offer him even the possibility of a better life - the orphanage - in the hopes that someone with more resources than her could offer him a better life.

At the moment I saw the beggar, I was thinking about his adoptive mother. Somewhere out there God had equipped, prepared, and called a family to be his forever family. And they didn't go.

There are currently 153 million children in the world waiting for their adoptive parents to come for them. These girls and boys need medical care to make them physically healthy. But even more than that, they need adoptive families to pour love into their precious souls.

I am certain that beggar would have been my son, if Russ and I had never come for him. That truth was seared on my heart the moment I laid eyes on that man. I am so grateful to him for giving me that revelation.

Adoption is hard. It comes with different challenges than biological families. Your family has to be willing to put in the time to understand attachment issues, medical diagnoses, and the grief and loss that every adopted child experiences...not just in the beginning "get to know you" time, but also on birthdays, Mother's and Father's Day, and during class projects on family trees when the loss of parents is realized again and again. I believe that adoption is most certainly a calling from God.

I also believe God has already called 153 million families to adopt these precious children. It may be your family's calling. It may not be. But make it a conversation for your family, amongst your friends, and in your church, because these children are unable to advocate for themselves. Get the word out, and find out through amazing organizations like Show Hope and World Vision what your family, friends, and church can do for these precious souls.

Praise God, there is one less orphan in the world today.....