Pure and Undefiled....

James 1:27 says that “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  That word “visit” is perhaps misunderstood.  You see in the Greek that word means not just to pop in and say “hello” it means to look after, to care and provide for.

As you may know our family has been particularly impacted by this verse in our calling to adopt orphans.  We are convinced that the Lord of all and the Creator of all of us has called us to “look after” and “provide for” orphans.

In obedience to his call we adopted Naomi in 2010 from an orphanage in the Philippines.  She’s living a new life now and the Lord’s work is evident.  You see – she sings – all the time. But the songs are not popular tunes or even Christian music from the radio.  They are songs she makes up and sings to her heavenly Father that are spontaneous and all her own.  What a voice and no kidding when she does this we stop and we listen and we are amazed at what the Lord is doing in this little girl’s life.

We returned home with our daughter relieved ‘the process’ was complete. “Not doing that again – that was too hard” we thought to ourselves.  But it’s the Lord’s story not ours. While in the Philippines we encountered a little boy –we call him Jacob. Jacob was abandoned at birth by his mother and then once more by what was supposed to be his adopted family in the Philippines where he was placed by their equivalent of our Child Welfare system. Abandoned. Twice. Jacob never left our minds.  The Lord brought him to mind over and over again – in each member of our family. 

Early in the Spring of 2011 Lorrie and I were called by the Lord to this task once more.  Adoption is not easy – it is hard. Its hard emotionally in the waiting for it to come about and hard because the world, the bureaucracies the “process” and yes the enemy is set against you.  It is also incredibly hard financially. Typically the adoption process can cost up to $22,000.00.  It is a monumental endeavor for any family. We sacrificed much to get our daughter home, we went into debt and did not seek the help of others – looking back we think that maybe we should have opened up a way for others to take part in what God was doing for these children.  In fact, we believe that the Lord has told us very clearly that this battle is his and he would provide the means to “look after” and “provide for” one more child – Jacob in particular. 

More often than not the Lord chooses to work through his people and that has what he has been doing. People we do not know have been giving, someone who wished to remain anonymous contributed $2,000.00 at exactly the time Lorrie and I chose to be obedient to this call.  Later an acquaintance contributed $1,000.00 – again at exactly the right time to start the ball rolling in the Immigration Service of the United States.  When the Lord has blessed us with any excess either through our income or through the generosity of others we have obligated it to this mission.

We are now at another Red Sea, another Jericho waiting to see how the water will part and how the walls will fall.  We were approved by Immigration to adopt a child from the Philippines today. This means that very soon, we will be asked to pay $7,000.00 in fees to the US Government and the Government of the Philippines – funds that we can only depend on the Lord to provide.  There is more after that but for now we’re focusing on this Jordan before us.

We’re asking that each of you consider being part of what God is doing – to be part of parting the Sea and knocking down walls – to help us “visit” an orphan.  Lorrie remarked today that she has 400+ friends on Facebook and that “if each one gave just $10.00 we would be over half way”! Wow what a thought. So we’re trusting God and asking all of you to prayerfully consider joining us in this mission to bring Jacob home – NEVER to be abandoned again, to sing his own songs of praise to this Strong Tower, this God who loves him, loves you and loves us.

Thank you and may He who parted the waters, and knocked the walls down be with you.

Marshall, Lorrie, Joshua, Noah, Hannah and Naomi