Do you easily walk away from difficulties? When the heat gets turned up, do you run away? In the midst of battles, difficulties and problems in life, we can get the wrong perspective about things. Unfortunately sometimes we are duped into thinking that if it doesn’t feel right, it must not be right.
When our family first entered into this journey of becoming foster parents, one of the warnings I received was to guard my family. It was a fair statement. However, the logistics of that, what that exactly means could be questioned. Does it mean that if things get uncomfortable, it’s time to bail out? That question plagued me after a conversation with someone concerning the difficulties we were experiencing.
I was expressing to someone who was close to the situation, that we were feeling overwhelmed. It was not easy to take in two children who were not our own. It was not easy suddenly caring for little ones when we had already gone through that stage. There was an invasion of our space, our time, our finances and our hearts. The truth was that it was more difficult than we had ever imagined it would be.
The response from the person I was talking to? Then maybe we need to rethink what we are doing. If it is disrupting your family so much, then it isn’t worth it. You have no idea how easy it would be to feed into that! My flesh would love to say, “Absolutely! This is too much for my family. I need to guard my family so it’s time we bail.”
It’s interesting how believers will use what appears to be a good and logical reason for getting out of a difficult situation. It sounds so holy to say your family needs to come first, that they shouldn’t have to suffer. But aren’t we called to suffer? Aren’t we all called to carry our crosses? Who are we to say that just because something is difficult, or uncomfortable, or maybe inconvenient, that it isn’t meant to be. If everything in life came so easily, we wouldn’t need to trust in and rely on God.
Believe me…I have had to preach that to myself almost daily. I have gone into this situation with my heels digging in the dirt. Although my flesh has fought it, I have not given into it. I have chosen to follow the Lord. If I were to act on my feelings, to say that this is too hard for our family, I know in my heart of hearts that I would be disobeying the Lord….that we would all be disobeying the Lord.
Think about some situations in your own life. As a mom, our job is to protect, nurture, love and care for our husbands and children. We are to guard our families, no argument there! But guarding our family doesn’t always mean we try to fix what’s broken or what is difficult. It’s in those broken and difficult situations that we find growth and deeper trust in God.
If everything goes to plan, in just five days our foster children will be returning home. Many have asked us about how we are going to feel. We went into this knowing it was temporary. It was never a question as to whether or not these children would be returned…it was when they would be returned home. We never had it in our hearts to keep them. We knew this was for a season and for a reason.
God has done so much through this situation. At another time, when I feel its right, I will be sharing about this journey through possibly a blog or something. For now, we are quietly waiting for Wednesday, to hear the word that yes, they are going home.
We will continue to trust, even if our saying goodbye to them does turn out to be more difficult than expected…He has carried us through so much…He will continue to. God is faithful and no matter if you walk through the fire, the rain, the floods or the valleys…He is there.
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