This video inspired this post:
I keep going back and forth about how I feel towards the bio-parents of our baby. It is so easy to go along with what everyone else says about them and expect (and sadly hope) that they will fail. And then God knocks me upside the head and reminds me that He loves them. And then I have to reshape my whole thinking again.
I've often thought of the woman at the well. It doesn't mention kids, but there is a good chance that she may have had several. Maybe these kids she didn't have anymore. Or maybe there were many abortions involved... I don't know.. It doesn't mention kids, and it doesn't matter if they were a part of her life or not. But I think Jesus would have treated her the same either way.
WWJD? I don't know what to say to these bio-parents. I understand since they are a part of my life that it is a good chance to be a witness to them... But I don't know what to say. They are nice enough. They are never mean to me. Small talk is as much as we ever have.
Yesterday our minister preached on Jesus' love. He mentioned the verse where the woman was caught in adultery, where Jesus told her to "go and sin no more". He said instead of condemning her He encouraged her. I never thought of it that way. It's so simple. Easy? Not necessarily. But it is simple. And it is what He would do. And I think I can work with that.
I often ask people to pray for these parents, but we also need prayers for our hearts to be where God wants them to be. I'm tired of flip-flopping what I think. I want to give them hope. I want them to know that their child is well cared for and loved, but I don't want them to think we wish them to fail, and I don't want to wish them to fail.
Foster parenting really makes you think more about the bar stool and the church pew. No matter where someone is sitting themselves, it is really hard to find someone who doesn't immediately put these parents on the bar stool. And it breaks my heart for them. Most of the time people will live up to what you expect of them. For sooo many to expect them to fail because of their past... I can't imagine where I would be today if at my darkest times people had done that to me.
(By the way, I don't think people on bar stools are bad. If we had any bars around here that could be us, lol. I just continued to use that as the metaphor because of the video.)
