Thoughts from Meredith

Hey, this is Meredith! I'm 13 years old and these are my thoughts on having another brother (or sister!) come into our family through foster care. I've been praying about what it would be like and if this is where God wants my family right now. I read a verse in James and that opened up a lot of meaning to me about what God's Word says about adopting or doing foster care. The verse is James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." I think this verse means that God encourages His people to look after orphans when they really need someone to love them. I'm very excited and willing to share my family and home with another child. I think that we need to keep our house open to more children, of any background or race, and that we should treat them as a part of our family. My parents have talked to us about writing a family mission statement and one major point we included was keeping our house open to anyone. Also, the most important reason that I want to do foster care is that we can lead them to the LORD, and shine a light for Jesus in their life. There are some things I am worried about though; yelling at them, fighting with them, or just getting annoyed!! But I know that if this is God's will for us, he will take care of all of the extra stuff. This experience will definitely be difficult at times, but will teach me to be less selfish and more patient. And I am ready to take the challenge.