f you’re discouraged because you receive so little thanks, this post is for you. It’s going to be part of a larger work based on the “God is Good Enough for Me” life, but focuses here on how futile it is to expect to draw encouragement from those we love and serve, when so many of them are wrapped up in their own concerns and worries. Learning to depend on a “rich toward God life” will give you much joy, sustained hope, and more spiritual energy for all of your relationships. It’s fundamental to our life in Christ, though I hear very few people talking about it.
Daniel needed to scream.
Fortunately, he lives in a rural area where coyotes are more likely to hear him than neighbors, so the cool night air enveloped his loud “You’re wellllcooommme.”
Daniel was, in fact, shouting at three men he had never met, the three biological fathers of his five adopted children whom he and his wife were blending into their family of three biological children, for a total of eight.
These men had conceived children but didn’t care for them. To be fair, one of them might not even know he was a father. The other ran from his family within weeks of his child’s birth. The third won’t be out of prison before his biological child is able to drive.
When children are born into a family of chaos and abandonment and an adoptive father seeks to provide order and care, the order and care aren’t always appreciated. They might even be (in fact, usually are) resented.
Daniel and his wife are heroic believers, taking in the lost and the least. They are not wealthy but they learned to supplement a public service income with a small farming venture. But the love of Christ compels them to love others, including five children from the foster system.
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