I always call Jesus our perfect parent. He is in fact Our Father! But He is our Mother too! He is our greatest Encourager, our greatest Comforter, our Protector, our Shield, our Refuge, our Everything. I think He gives on loan every child brought into this world to the parents He chooses they be born to and raised by.
If those parents raise them that is.
I have done just a little bit of travel to third world countries over the past 3 years specifically to Kenya and Haiti and I have witnessed first hand the dire life of an orphan. An orphan who maybe eats a mud pie to fill his or her tummy because they don't have any food. An orphan that lives in a cow dung hut and not on a street in a slum, if he is lucky enough. An orphan whose eyes look funny because they are so mal nurioushed and an orphan who desperately craves love in a manner I have never experienced to the point that they practically throw themselves at you because they are so...unloved.
An orphan that has the brightest biggest smile just because he is alive.
An orphan who just like your own child desires to do the best he or she can in school.
An orphan who wants to do a good job or receive an "ada boy" since they don't even know what a sticker is.
An orphan who if he has some shoes, is filled with more pride than a child who gets a full ride scholarship.
An orphan who most likely walks 2-5 miles one way to school...with no shoes.
An orphan who has to go home half way through the day to eat some pourage because he/she can't stay awake during class.
An orphan who thinks his or her only way out is to get an education...yet they have no one to pay for it.
As the child who has an iPad and so many video games and toys that they will end up- never having enough.
As the child whose parent drives them each way to and from school.
As the child whose primary fear is what might be in their closet or under their bed at night.
Although we may not get to see the 143 million orphans around this world, they are there-living in darkness, trying to function, trying to do their best, wondering if they are loved.
May the Light of Christ comfort them.
May they sense His love and presence on this Mother's Day!
May they know they are fearfully and wonderfully made and are not and never will be
forgotten by their Perfect Parent!
May they all know Him intimately and be adopted back into His Kingdom someday if not already.
There are over 143 million orphans in this world today and I believe around 125, 000 in the US alone from the bit of research I have done. And on this Mother's Day, I want to lift them up, cover them in prayer and truly hope and pray that the Holy Spirit reveals to them just how special they are to Jesus our King of Kings! They are loved! Deeply! Perfectly!
James 1:27
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.
Isaiah 1:17
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
