by Pastor Michael Salemink
The Gospel means we belong! We belong to our Heavenly Father. We belong because He creates, redeems, and calls each one of us. We belong to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from fertilization to forever. And we belong to each other. All members of the body of Christ suffer together and celebrate together.
Sometimes foster children may feel like they don’t belong to anyone. Abortion attempts to solve this difficulty with death. Fostering may result from brokenness, but it also provides opportunity for Gospel-motivated courage and compassion. Here are ten blessings of foster care:
- Fostering can save a life. A foster child faces the danger of not receiving the provision and care necessary for survival. Foster homes intervene in this emergency and rescue the little ones.
- Fostering can preserve a family. Foster care often offers space and assistance to parents encountering crises. It secures a stable context for their child until the parents can recover a healthier environment into which they may receive their little ones back for good.
- Fostering can prevent abuses. Many foster children have suffered interpersonal trauma. Removing them from such situations protects them from violence and danger.
- Fostering can deliver the Gospel. Christian foster families get to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ. They get to take part in God’s miraculous activity of taking lost human beings as His own children.
- Fostering can make a lasting difference. Foster parents impact and improve the rest of the child’s life. Their servanthood even benefits descendants by breaking generational cycles of dysfunction.
- Fostering can mean receiving love. A foster child shares his or her life and self with a foster family. And the training and support for foster families also form relationships and communities.
- Fostering can lead to adoption. Every child constitutes a gift and privilege from heaven itself. Nothing compares to the delight of a forever family!
- Fostering can relieve and heal hurts. A foster family’s kindness helps soothe and resolve the emotional and physical wounds a foster child carries.
- Fostering can draw families and marriages closer. Shared sacrifice brings brothers and sisters together. Overcoming adversity together makes better parents.
- Fostering can inspire and empower others. Acquaintances, neighbors, and relatives may follow one foster family’s example. They enrich their congregations, our communities, and even the entire country!