- MFWT
Foster Fridays: On Being "Called"

I had a thought today...I hope it doesn’t sound harsh, but I think it’s something important. I frequently hear people say that “God hasn’t called” them to foster or adopt. Now, I don’t believe everyone should foster or adopt. There are some people whos talents would better serve another hurting community. There are also people who have pursued fostering, and the door has clearly been shut. However, this language of being “called” seems problematic to me. Are we implying that God is refraining from keeping kids safe, or from putting them in families? There are hundreds of thousands of children needing safe homes. Do we really believe that this is because God isn’t “calling” people?
I love this quote by Jason Johnson, “What if we started to assume the answer was ‘yes’ until we heard a ‘no,’ rather than "no" until we heard a ‘yes’?” Today my husband and I were talking, and he brought up James 1:27- “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” My husband said he doesn’t believe you can ever be truly fulfilled in this life if you’re not serving a hurting community. I tend to agree. I’d like to challenge you to search your heart. Have you been feeling pulled in a direction that scares you? Is it possible you’ve been interpreting concern as the lack of a calling?