Eternal Purpose

Having reached our fundraising goal, we are aware in hindsight just how frenzied the past months have been. We didn’t realize how heavy the weight on our shoulders was until we were free of it.

I know that the burden was the Lord’s to carry all along. I know that he wants us to cast our cares upon him and to let the peace that passes understanding guard our hearts. We do. But it’s hard, you know. It’s hard to really let go of every little bit.

It’s not that we were worried, really. The burden was one of busyness, a constant awareness of just how much we had to do. We knew that God expected us to work while we were trusting him and not just sit and wait for the money to be delivered in the mail.

The busyness had purpose. We were working to raise money, not just for our own son, but for all the orphans of all the world. It is the calling of all Christians: “to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

Bringing Little Brother home is about way more than just expanding our family or giving a single orphan a forever family. My number one desire is to have a heart more like my Father. And his heart is with the vulnerable: the orphan, the widow, the distressed. And the fundraising is part of that. We were investing in the Kingdom of God by loving those that he loves. Every T-shirt printed, every blog post written, every yard sale item tagged had eternal purpose.

It has been extremely fulfilling to live with such purpose. But the purpose does not end just because we are done raising money. It does not end when we bring our son home.

I hope and pray that many, many children will be given families and homes because of Little Brother. I pray that others will love him, be reminded of the millions that he represents, and be moved to do something to reach out to the orphans of the world. And my heart’s desire is that our family will be forever changed in a profound way by what we see when we are in Ethiopia.

I do not know what God has planned for our family, but I can’t wait to find out.

He has opened our eyes and opened our hearts in amazing ways since the beginning of the year. 2009 has been a year of tremendous growth and change for our family.

So I thank him for the busyness and I thank him for the opportunity to work with eternal purpose. It's just the beginning....