My Revelation

Well, it’s official!  My blog is up and running!  Hallelujah!  I first want to say thank you!  Thank you to those who believe in me and encouraged me to take this step.  Grant and Erica, your support is invaluable, and I love you guys!  Thank you to anyone who takes the time to really READ the pages of this blog which I have worked so hard to prepare.  I strongly encourage that if anyone is visiting my blog for the first time, please fully explore each section.  The goal of my blog is to educate and advocate!  I have poured my heart and soul out onto these pages and have great hopes that it will reach people and make a difference.

I want to warn everyone, I am at the beginning of this journey.  I have grand ideas about what the future might look like in terms of helping children all over the world.  Namely, improving the systems responsible for orphanages in foreign countries and in turn improving care for the children in said places, as well as somehow improving the foster care system and adoption industry in America and all over the world.  It is obvious that in all of these places, the safety and well being of the children are not the main goals, and far too often it is money driven.  So to be quite forward, I am not advocating for children so that they might end up in an abusive home living with parents who have sinister motives. Unfortunately, that happens too often as well.

Romanian orphan, tied to his bed. Oh, my mom heart!

Many things I have written for this blog may be hard to digest.  In fact, I was recently having coffee with a good friend (you know who you are), and I was telling her about the things I had learned while “digging”, as I call it.  Her response was one I sort of expected, something along the lines of, “I don’t know how you were able to watch that!” or “I couldn’t have handled reading that.  It would make me too sad!” or “That would depress me too much.”  At the time, I didn’t think about it too much, but afterwards it hit me like a ton of bricks… She feels how most people are probably going to feel.   Like they want to run the other way for fear of the raw emotion that may emerge by learning about these things.  Fear that they are just one person who cannot do anything to help or change the plight of these kids, so why go  through the pain of learning?

I will tell you, at the beginning of this journey, I was the same as everyone else, avoiding things that produced too much of a real emotional upheaval.  I didn’t want to be depressed!  But as God took me down this path, I realized that I NEEDED to feel, really FEEL!  Feeling the walls crash down around me, in my cozy life, and having my heart break was a necessary step.  I have spent many days and hours on my knees begging God to tell me how He could let this happen to children!   I have spent so many days in deep prayer, depressed and lost as to what to do.  After so long of asking God the question of “how”… I got an answer.  It’s not “how”, it’s “what”.  “What” was I going to do about it.  I realized that God did not do any of this, it’s people and free will.  It was clear to me that God wanted me to know how Satan gets a hold on people and the evil that can come out of that.  So, what I am trying to say, in way too many words,  is this: I had to be shocked for this cause, I had to be depressed for this cause, and it was necessary for me to be moved beyond my comfy perimeters and have my eyes opened to see more, to see what others don’t even realize is there (I was one of them).  I needed to see the suffering endured by these young and precious lives.  It was all needed so that I could be changed.  The way I think, the way I view others, the way I see my own children, and the way I live my life.  He helped me to see my selfishness.  My selfishness to desire a life where I get to do what I want and not think of anyone except for my little family unit and our happiness.

He heard my prayers for wisdom, and He gave me a deeper understanding about what really goes on in the world.  He heard me, and now He breaks my heart for what breaks His heart.  It has been LIFE CHANGING!  For the better I might add!  This is what clarity is!  My heart now feels free, like the sky is the limit for His glory!  I find myself wondering how could anyone go through life NOT EVER feeling this!  It’s miraculous, and it’s just the beginning!  I have no idea what God has in store for our family, but we are all on board and ready to follow when He says “Go”!  I hope that all who come here and read this are willing to go as well.  See where this knowledge takes you.  Maybe God has a plan for you in this.  And maybe not.

Please, I ask, just don’t be afraid to learn.  These children NEED us!   They need us to be their voice because they are suffering in silence.   Maybe you aren’t going to be asked to adopt, because adoption isn’t for everyone.  Maybe God will use this information as a seed planted in your heart, which will grow and lead you to adopt or to start your own journey to help the kids of the world.  We are all called to care for the orphan (James 1:27) but in different ways.   Maybe all He is going to ask you to do is to have the courage to help share a child and their story with the world.  Whether it’s via Facebook, Twitter, email lists, church groups, a chat with a friend, really whenever, wherever.   All you may be compelled to do is press the “share” button, which would be greatly appreciated.  You just never know how something that seems so small, like sharing or reading some strange woman’s blog, can change or save a life.

Thanks for visiting and God bless!

Andrea