More Significant

I realize that I barely have my pinky toe in the ocean of foster care, but already it is something I feel passionately about. One of the most common questions in the foster community is, Why? Many people look at foster care and think, “That’s too hard. It’s too emotional. It’s too painful. I would get too attached.” But I think those people are missing the point.

Foster care isn’t about what I want for my family. It’s about what every child deserves. I don’t choose to foster because I want to have more kids or a bigger family. I don’t choose it because I want to feel good about myself and get that warm, fuzzy feeling. I choose it because now that my eyes have been opened to how many children need a safe and loving family, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do something about it.

In the second chapter of Philippians we read the following: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This is my prayer. That as God brings children into my home, I will count them as more significant than myself. That rather than thinking of my own interests and desires, I will be focused on the needs of these precious children. 

“But what about your own biological children?”

Can I really say that in God’s eyes my girls are more important than another child He created? I am not blind to the fact that fostering will affect my biological kids. But what I do know is that regardless of inconveniences, difficulties, and frustrations, my children will receive something so much more valuable than they otherwise would have. Their world will grow. It will become a great big place full of people. Full of others. They will learn to see and notice the needs of others. They will learn that people have needs they may not understand but needs they may be able to meet. They will learn the grandness of God’s love. They will learn grace. They will learn to appreciate. They will learn to lean on God. This is my prayer for my girls. Because although I know this new life will not be easy for them, I fully believe that it will be meaningful for them. And I believe that they will learn, alongside their parents, to count others more significant than themselves.

Ultimately, that’s the whole point of foster care — to count these precious children as more significant than ourselves. Thank God for His reminders and for His presence along the way!