I was helping with a program to aid local Christian families in becoming foster parents. I didn't have professional training and my Russian wasn't great for dealing with bureaucrats, but I could offer some encouragement and help with spreading the word.
A single woman at a local church was interested in finding out more and going through our training program. I took a packet of information, and prepared to meet with her.
When we met up at her workplace, I was surprised to see that she was about my age...just a working single girl, trying to make ends meet like everybody else.
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I had met so many people who "wanted" to help but were struggling financially; living in cramped quarters; unsure of themselves...or, who simply weren't winning favor with officials, for whatever reason.
At the same time, the orphans had their own disadvantages that created obstacles: connections to relatives who didn't want them to be adopted; behavior problems; emotional scarring...
You start to limit the possibilities...but here was someone who wanted to give it a try. And little by little, she got to know a group of siblings from the orphanage...took them out on weekends; to her house for visits; had many occasions for bonding. All very quiet and unassuming, until you look and see that all these little steps have added up to something incredible.
I do think that there is a feeling of "that's not my thing" that comes from the Lord. We can recognize where we are not gifted; where it does not seem God is leading. But other obstacles are just temporary; difficult to move by human strength, but having potential in the supernatural.
This rings a bell with me - virtually everything I have done in life has been something I once thought I couldn't do. Sometimes God dumps opportunities in our laps that seem totally incompatible with our natural abilities, but, like Moses, God gives us all the abilities we need.
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