After a group of high schoolers visited an orphanage during a ministry
trip, one student was visibly upset. When asked why, he said it reminded him of
his own situation 10 years earlier.
This young man had been living in an orphanage in another country. He
said he recalled people coming to visit him and his friends—just as these
students were doing—and then going away. Occasionally someone would come back
and adopt a child. But each time he was left behind he would wonder, What’s wrong
with me?
When the teenagers would visit an orphanage—and then leave—those old
feelings came back to him. So the others in the group prayed for him—and
thanked God that one day a woman (his new mother) showed up and chose him as
her very own son. It was a celebration of an act of love that gave one boy
hope.
Across the world are children who need to know of God’s love for them
(Matt. 18:4-5; Mark 10:13-16; James 1:27). Clearly, we can’t all adopt or visit
these children—and indeed we are not expected to. But we can all do something:
Support. Encourage. Teach. Pray. When we love the world’s children, we honor
our Father who adopted us into His family (Gal. 4:4-7).
The more God’s love grows in us, the more His love flows from us. (RBC)
