I sing with our church choir. Everyone has been very understanding of my commitment of, oh, about 80%-90%, with four young children and other church duties throughout the week. I enjoy and am blessed with the music outlets provided to me, as music has always been such a big part of my life.
We are working on a song entitled "I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry" for the baptism of our choir director's precious baby girl, which will be happening this Sunday. So happy for her, and for the blessing that Baby J is to her family and to our church family!
Here's the song with lyrics, if you want to hear it in its entirety:
I choked up singing, which I have done during previous times I'd heard this song. The words are powerful, and point to how God has been with you from the very beginning, and will be with you "when you shut your weary eyes" for the last time.
But, today, I could not stop thinking about the connection of these words to our family, the personal connection I feel God is saying to us right now.
"I was there to hear your borning cry, I'll be there when you are old."
Wow. It seems so obvious and trite, but it hits me so hard it hurts when I think about the seven kids who will always be a part of our hearts.
God was there when one of them courageously fought off the drug-induced haze into which, as a tiny baby barely big enough to survive by itself, this precious little one entered into our world.
God was there when another one was found, left in a car on a summer night, while parents were spending time at the bar.
God was there when another one was living in a home filled with months worth of garbage, broken glass, pet dander, moldy old food, and all kinds of dangerous/illegal substances littered around everywhere.
God was miraculously there while they were mistreated or ignored, or both.
God was there through the hurts and pain. God was there through the indifference and neglect. God was there through the hunger - physical, emotional, and spiritual.
Not only was God with them, as in physically being near. He held them close, comforted them, cried along with them, whispered hope and love into their tiny ears.
And the thousands, millions, of hurting, abused, and neglected kids around the country... around the world... God is there with them, too.
The contemplation of these thoughts was almost too much for my puny brain to wrap around. I wanted to literally drop to my knees, crying out with a grateful heart, and simultaneously crying out for this hurting, broken, sinful world.
The rest of the equation began circling around my brain next. If God was with them at the beginning, He will continue to be with them until the end.
Three children have entered into our homes and our lives, and left again, gone to paths different and unknown (to us). Two more - the twins - are smack in the midst of being part of this family, and all signs seem to be currently pointing to their imminent departure. God only knows the ending of this story, and we can't discern it now.
But we have full confidence that God will continue to guard and keep them, wherever they end up. He's big enough to walk with them through everything. We may be only a small character in a child's story, but God is the author.
It is not easy for us humans to give up control to someone else. In this case, it's not even a matter of giving up control, because we never have it in the first place. (Which I think is really the case for most things in our lives.)
Spunky Gal, Preemie Boy, and Baby Girl left our home. The twins may do so too. It will be time to let go, and let God take care of them. Life may not be easy for them, but at least Someone will always be there.
God doesn't promise that the bad stuff of this world will disappear. It's hard to understand that. Our world is full of sin. But it is a comfort to know that He is always with the smallest ones, the ones most in need of protection. And He is with the investigators who discover a hurting child, with the caseworkers and judges who determine a plan for the child, and with the new homes into which the children are introduced. He never turns His back, even if His actions may not be able to be seen by our human eyes at the time.
And this is a wake-up call to all of us. Be God's hands and feet. Every bad situation is one in which we can act. Reach out. Find the ones in need. Heal the hurts with the love God first showed us through His Son. We can't turn blind eyes to what's going on all around us, in our own cities. Let God use us to bring His kingdom, even in a small way, here on earth.
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