Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

Psalm 31:14

One of the honors of my life has been watching current and former foster youth overcome adversities in their lives. I cherish these moments more than seeing families start the adoption or foster care process. It is greater than churches donating tangible items. There is nothing more inspiring than watching beauty come from ashes. Sometimes, I get to know the youth when they are on the other side, and hear their testimony after they overcome the greatest trauma or hardest experience of their lives. Other times, I meet them in the thick of it. I encounter their pain of rejection or the low of disappointment. I partner with them, waiting in hope for change. Even then, sometimes things do not go as planned.

Psalms 31:24 proclaims, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” How can we be strong and hope, if there is nothing to wait in hope for? So much of what we are doing as a team at City Without Orphans is coming alongside the foster/adoption community in their difficult journey and breathing hope, through support. Strong’s Hebrew Translation 3824 says this word “strong” doesn’t just mean the physical standing in strength. It also describes it as an “inner part, mind, will, heart, soul, and understanding.” This is not just a message for the foster and adoptive community (taking on so much unknown in their lives), but it is also for you! Take courage, child of God.

Lord, I pray that our hearts will be open to see how it can be good for us to wait in heart and spirit, because you will meet us there. We put our hope, no matter the size, in you.