Family

Family

Now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

“FAMILIES DON’T HAVE TO MATCH.”

It’s a statement on a shirt I bought from a small organization raising funds for foster care. As a foster and adoptive parent myself, I am always on the lookout for others who are raising awareness and try as often as I can to partner with them.

This shirt in particular always gets a lot of curious questions as I’ll explain my family to strangers and acquaintances alike. Their responses are varied: some offer us praise, others have follow-up questions about safety or birth families, but one man’s response in particular has stuck with me. He simply asked, “Why would you do it?”

At first, I thought it was an obvious answer, but as I’ve continued to consider his question, the real answer goes so much deeper than the surface things I could say like, “it’s the right thing to do,” “we just love kids,” or “it was modeled to us by others.” All of these answers would be true, but they don’t really get to the heart of why.

The truth is that Kyle and I have always had an overwhelming sense that we have been brought into the family of God. That we are loved and accepted. And we want nothing more than for others to experience that same sense of family, of belonging. That’s the real reason why we’ve brought kids in, adopting them into our family as our own. We want to give out of what we’ve been so graciously given: a family.

Families don’t have to match. This is the whole truth surrounding the family of God. There are no longer strangers or outsiders or foreigners. Everyone is welcome. We are all members! And shouldn’t our earthly families simply mirror our heavenly one? If we are children of God, the answer is a resounding yes. There are no more strangers or foreigners among us, only family.

Lord, may we welcome others into our families, just as you have welcomed us into yours. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Who is someone around you that needs a family? How could you invite them into yours?