Reminded

In the past day I have read two unbelievably heart wrenching stories by two different adopting families who have one thing in common-- their beloved, longed-for children have died. 

It is Awful.
It is Heartbreaking.
It is a Crying Shame.
It is Unacceptable.
.
I am sure that words for them cannot express the loss and grief these families are experiencing right now.  Two children that these families had longed to adopt and save, children who never had the opportunity to experience the love of a family, are now gone forever.  They will never meet them, hold them, kiss them and love on them like they had planned.  That job now is up to our Heavenly Father.  Only He can provide them now with the love they never got to experience in their short time here on earth.

How tragic that these lives have been lost.  How immeasurably sad that despite the best efforts of these families to get to these children, they were just a little too late.

And this is going on all over the world.

So many children are DYING!  Dying without ever knowing the love of a mommy and daddy.  Dying because their basic needs cannot be met.  Dying because they cannot receive a surgery or the proper medical care that they need to get to live.  DYING.

This isn't an every-once-in-awhile thing.  This isn't happening in just one area of the world.

No.

This is an all-the-time thing and these children I speak of today were from different parts of the globe. 

There are children all over the world tonight who need a family. 
Need hope. 
Need someone to wrap their arms around them and tell them they are loved. 
That everything will be ok. 
That they will get what they need.

Please let us not turn our backs on the immense need of the world's children.

God expects us to care for the orphans.  It is not a request, it is a command.  He tells us to do it.  Are we caring for them adequately enough if they are languishing away in orphanages, isolated in laying rooms without a toy in sight, being denied the basic of necessities, being treated like less than human beings and more like animals??

Only you can answer for yourself as to what you feel you must do.  Can everyone adopt?  No.  But everyone CAN do SOMETHING.

So, tonight I am reminded of how important adoption really is.  Reminded of what this journey is really all about.  Reminded that the life of a child is at stake.  This isn't just something to check off your "life's goals" list.  Adoption is important work.  It is God's work.  He is working through adoptive families to save His children, and for many of these children, as you can see, this is life or death we are talking about.  They want to live.  They want to be given a chance! 

Search your heart tonight and ask God to tell you what you can do.
Please.  For the sake of His children.