As Christmas approaches I am reminded each day of the children living in foster homes and orphanages, both here and abroad. I listen to Steven Curtis Chapman’s “All I Really Want for Christmas” in the car, I receive pictures of orphans portraying a living Nativity scene, watch videos on youtube and facebook, read updates from families in China picking up the newest members of their families just in time for a Christmas together, and I have but to glance up from my computer to see Jack’s face smiling back at me from the front of my microwave. The reminders are everywhere, but in so many ways they are bittersweet. There are so many children without homes, without families, but there are also so many I know by name that have hope. Hope of a family, hope of a future outside of an institution, hope in the love of our Heavenly Father. It is sad that these children do not have families with which to celebrate the holidays, but it comforting to know there is hope.
It may seem strange to say this, but in midst of it all my heart does not break for Jack. Of course I wish he would be home with us for Christmas, but I guess I’m just not in that broken-hearted place. I am not saddened when I see his picture but just the opposite. When I see his little face my heart is lifted, it jumps for joy and I can’t help but smile. I, of course, am saddened by the fact he still lives half a world away, but that is greatly overshadowed by the excitement and knowledge that he has been chosen for us and will be coming home. I am anxious for our journey to officially claim him as ours and look forward to all the memories just waiting to be created together as a family. But as I continue to acquire new pictures of Jack there is often another little face smiling in the photos as well, a friend of Jack's that is almost always by his side, and for that small child my heart does ache and my heart does break. For that child, a little girl named Jessica, I am daily saddened by the thought that she has yet to be found by her forever family. And for Jessica there is no certainty that next Christmas will be different.
Jessica is a beautiful little girl who as, Gianna Jessen would say, has been blessed with the gift of Cerebral Palsy. Now I know what you may be thinking – cerebral palsy a gift? It may seem an odd thing to say, but think about this… If Jessica did not have cerebral palsy then she would not be considered a “special needs” child in the country of China. If Jessica was not considered a “special needs” child she would not have been placed in a special needs care unit in her orphanage in Luoyang. If Jessica was not placed in a special needs care unit she would not be under the care of Joyce and Robin Hill, co-founders and operators of the New Hope Foundation. If Jessica had not been placed within the care of the New Hope Foundation she would never have been given a home at Maria’s Big House of Hope. If Jessica had never been given the opportunity to live at Maria’s Big House of Hope she may never have had the chance to hear about the love of Jesus Christ. So, all things considered, I would say that for Jessica cerebral palsy has definitely been a blessing.
Now I can see the other argument rising – what if Jessica wasn’t born with cerebral palsy? Who is to say that her birth-mother would have still given her up to the care of an orphanage, and I can understand that way of thinking. But I also know that I have two beautiful, healthy daughters living in my home who were both born in the country of China and who were not born with cerebral palsy and who were still relinquished to care by the government for whatever reasons their birth-parents had. So who is to say things would be any different? Not me. Only God knows what really happened at the time of Jessica’s birth, only God knows all the sides and all the details, but He also knew in advance where this beautiful girl would go in her life and He blessed her with a ticket to Maria’s.
And right there at Maria’s, in the loving care of nannies, nurses, doctors and friends is where Jessica can be found today - waiting with hope for her forever family. Lively, cheerful and full of smiles, Jessica waits for God to lead the right people to the right place at the right time so that she may also spend her future making memories with a family that loves her. And so today, as with many days before, I will say my prayers for Jessica and for the family God has planned for her. I will pray that she continues to be healthy, to grow and learn, and to live a life full of joy. And I will pray that God will open the hearts of others to pray for her as well. I will pray for her forever family, and pray that one day soon God will bring that family into Jessica’s life to claim her. And I ask you with all of my heart, won’t you join me?
To learn more about Jessica and her story, please visit her feature in the Show Hope blog.
Beautiful post... and I completely understand the blessing/gift part. Both of my beautiful China girls were born with the blessing of Spina Bifida. It has changed our lives in so many amazing ways. Praise God for all these beautiful children... may their families come forward soon!
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