Foster Fridays

“By their fruit you will recognize them...Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” - Jesus, Matthew 7

Around the time my husband and I decided it was time to fully pursue foster care, I was in a spiritual crisis. I think charging into it full-on was actually an attempt to hang onto my faith. Theology I’d studied for years, doctrine I built my life on, was being painfully torn down.  My faith was being so deconstructed, that all I knew for sure was that I believed in Jesus Christ, and I believed He loved the world, and that He wanted us to do the same. If this was all I knew for sure, I had to act on it. I’m so thankful that I was placed in the foster community I was.  I started “following the fruit.” I saw people giving so sacrificially, and emphasizing that this was a Biblical mandate. I heard “this is hard, but it’s okay, it’s what Jesus would do.” I observed an emphasis on what we do as Christians, not what we avoid, fear, or judge. Some of what contributed to my struggles was witnessing a lot of arrogance and self-righteousness from spiritual leaders. In foster care, your constantly vulnerable and always having to learn, leading to noticable humility. Faith, backed by  such selfless and humble works, could only come from Christ. I saw Jesus in the foster care community when I so badly needed, and so desperately wanted to see Him.