The Details

As I write this, I am sitting in an airport watching people and wondering where they are going , where they came from, and what their individual story is. I wonder what events have occurred through their lifetime to bring them to this point and what people God has used through that process. Maybe there was one person that had an enormous impact on them that drastically changed the trajectory of their life. When I think about how someone can make such a profound change in the life of another human being I wonder, could I ever make an impact like that? I believe that this is the business God is in and if we have the desire to serve Him and willingness to allow Him to work through us, I must answer with an emphatic “yes.” Personally, I can’t think of many ways more powerful to impact a life than through adoption, which is certainly at the heart of God! Does this mean that He cares about ALL of the details? Of course he cares about the details, especially when it comes to the life of one of His precious children!

I only started working at Lifeline two months ago and one of the biggest things God has had to remind me of over and over again is that He is in control of all 143 million orphans in the world…He very much cares about the details! In my heart, I know this to be true but working in an environment where I see all of the details, all the hard work, all the paper work, and all of the logistics behind each adoption and foster care placement, it would be easy to quickly forget that God is in control of all these facets and so much more. I can imagine that someone who has been or is currently in the adoption/foster care process has likely struggled with some of these very same thoughts themselves. These families spend an enormous amount of time filling out paper work, going through training, reading books, answering questions, and I’m sure at times they feel as if the ultimate fate of what child will become a part of their family for eternity is up to a random conglomeration of themselves, social workers, agency workers, national workers, or even government officials. Yes, God chooses to use all of these people in this miraculous process and yes they have important roles to play, but God is leaving His fingerprints throughout the entire process if we are in accordance with His almighty will (including every single piece of paper). I believe we should work diligently and faithfully “as for the Lord and not for men (Col. 3:23)” on whatever part we play in the process, but remember that ultimately only God is in control—for after all, they are His children. What a blessing it is to serve a God who cares about everything from a precious child to a lifeless stack of papers!

Whitney White
International Education Counselor