Home.....More Than Just a House

     It's a loaded question.  I know more than most. Those first few days....they are rough.  It's a feeling out of new territory.  What is expected of me?  What am I allowed to do or not do?  Do you really even want me here? You don't even understand how I'm feeling. 
     This new bedroom....by the way, I've never slept alone or in the dark.  New food....I'm going to starve here.  The changes are so rapid and little bodies and big minds have a hard time taking it all in. That dog....he scares me.  Is he going to bite me?  I just want my mom.  I want my dysfunction back.  It was comfortable.  
     Being in care as a teen, I get those first few days.  I can look back like it was yesterday and smell the scent of eucalyptus, the feel of luxury of a bed that felt like heaven, but I knew that things were different.  They were way different and I didn't ask for the change. 
     But God....He had plans that I couldn't imagine.  He was going to use my trauma to heal me.  He would use it to bestow compassion  for birth parents and to understand so deeply what my foster and adopted kids would feel.  He was setting the stage for a testimony that I could sing for days.  He led me through brokenness that I never thought I would heal from.  This is my foster care journey.  It has followed me my entire life. From being in care, having my daughter in care, and having over 20 foster kids of my own, I get it.  My goal is to inspire every church in America to get it too. 
         Church....let's show up.  Let's let these children, these families, hear us praying for them.  Let's deliver hope in the midst of a mess and "visit" them in their hour of need.  James 1:27 lifesong. I cannot think of a child who needs the church to show up more than one who has just been removed from their family. We can do this....one pizza, one meal, at a time.  We can bring hope to people in our communities who just need us to show up.  That's Foster Blessings folks.....Welcome.