2021 Is the Perfect Year to Foster or Adopt

At the start of every year, we set goals with every intention of checking off each resolution as we complete it. We come up with the ideal plan for personal success.

I will feel so awesome about myself when I have the best body, the most money, and the nicest things!

Maybe your resolutions even involve serving others or giving back to the community. Maybe you set goals to help you grow closer to Jesus — committing to reading the Bible or praying. These are great resolutions and good things.

For some of us though, there will be a question mark after a couple of items on our resolution list, or maybe, you’re too scared to write them down, but deep down, you know you want to: Foster care? Adoption?

Don’t get me wrong here. These are big items to be on the list! It’s one thing to eat an apple a day, it’s a totally different thing to love and care for a child in need.

What I don’t want us to do is to put those question marks on our lists year after year, waiting for the perfect time to foster or adopt, out of fear.

It’s easy to get caught up in waiting and miss out on something greater that God wants for us.

We want to wait to foster until our kids are older, or we have more money in the bank, or life has slowed down a bit from this crazy pace we’re maintaining. Or, maybe your family has some good stuff going right now. Why mess with a good thing?

John, one of Jesus’ closest friends, wrote in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Too often, we think fear equals bad. If I’m scared, I should stop. But if we pause and consider why we’re afraid, the fear that stops us can point to ways God wants to shape us.

When we push through our fears, we discover new aspects of God’s character. As a result, we love Him more. We trust Him more. Confidence increases, and fear decreases. That’s what John wants for us when he talks about being made perfect in love.

We begin to think and choose differently because we’re no longer making decisions out of fear of what could happen.

But it all starts with a yes. A decision to say, “Yes, God, I’ll trust your promise rather than give in to my fear.”

Waiting until “the stars align,” and we feel secure and ready to take a leap of faith, isn’t actually a leap of faith at all.

The perfect time to foster or adopt isn’t ever going to come. You’re never going to feel ready. You’re never going to have enough money. You’re never going to have a big enough house. You’re never going to be strong enough.

So, if you’ve been waiting for the perfect time, stop. You’ll be waiting forever. So change those question marks to periods, and make 2021 the year you say no to fear and take a leap of faith to finally foster or adopt.