How my passion was ignited

I guess the purpose of this blog is to give me an outlet to express my ideas and thoughts about orphans and adoption. This new found passion was actually brought on by the process of bringing our son home from Haiti. Throughout his adoption, I researched the internet, read books, attended seminars, and studied the Bible. There was so much out there about orphans and adoption. This was a new world to me. How could I have missed this? After hundreds of hours of pouring over all this information out there, I had a new perspective on life. Now that is a big statement, but it is true.

I was self-centered and only focused on what I could get out of life. Now don’t get me wrong, I wanted to love on people and spread the gospel, but only on my terms. And I wasn’t excited about it. I would get so excited watching Andy gear up for each new college year. He always had this drive and joy about his job. I am so proud of him for this faithfulness over the years. He truly loves serving and teaching these wonderful college students. He is willing to get his hands dirty and work outside the 9-5 office hours. Every year his ministry improves and grows because he has sparked this excitement in other people too. That is ministry. So where was mine?

And then came Bo. I guess I am a slow learner, because this has been a long process for me. Andy and I had always talked about adopting someday. Don’t ask me why, but we both felt like that was what we were supposed to do. Well, actually I can tell you why--God made us that way. So to make a long story short, we started the adoption process last summer. When we received the referral of Bo, my heart ached for him. I didn’t know if I could make it 9-12 months like they estimated. What could I do to speed things up? So I started all the research that I talked about earlier. And in that waiting time, I developed a strong passion for ministering to the orphans of the world. Here was my ministry!

Thank you God for giving this to me. It has made such a difference in my life over the past year. I know I am still selfish, but at least I recognize it now. I know I am still lazy, but I have spurts of unabandoned hard hitting direction. I have learned so much about orphan ministry that I want to share it with everyone I meet. Hence, now you get the pleasure of reading this blog!

So in a way God used Bo to save my life. Now that is dramatic! (And not really theologically correct) But I guess I am trying to convey that I get what God wants me to do right now. And that is a great feeling!