How we started fostering, pt. 2/3
God Speaks Through A Friend
Jessica writes: I used to volunteer in an all-girls’ high school lunchtime program. The chaplain of the school was a lady, Alison, who also belonged to our then local church. She was also a foster carer, and I remember seeing her interact with the teenage girls (who were not much younger than her) she fostered at home. Alison confided how some of her foster girls had stolen money from her, runaway from her, and lied to her. But she was always willing to take them in and be a Christ-centered relational anchor for them, hopefully loving them as Jesus would love them. My chaplain-friend’s example left an indelible mark on my heart, written by the Holy Spirit.
After moving across to the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, I lost contact with Alison. We had 3 children within the first 4 years of our marriage and we planted ourselves in another local church full of young people! We still dreamed of adopting, although reality had set in that we were unlikely candidates due to our growing family. But after “randomly” bumping into Alison about 3 times, I invited her to come over to our place for lunch for a much needed catch up. She agreed and after 2 hours of eating, chatting, and coffee, I had an “a-ha” moment — I turned to Alison and said, “I know why we’ve been bumping into each other; the Lord wants you to tell me about foster care and how to become a foster carer!” She gladly did and I prayed for confirmation after she left, “Lord, if I’m meant to foster children, Paul will have to say ‘yes’ straight away.”
As soon as Paul got home from work, he asked me how lunch with Alison went. I told him about our time and the ensuing realization that she was there to tell me about foster care. I told Paul excitedly that I believed we were meant to become foster carers, too, since adoption was no longer an option for us, to which Paul agreed (praise God!). It was a quick “yes” for Paul, who immediately turned to the Bible and to Psalm 68:5-6, “A Father to the fatherless, a Defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.” We prayed in unity to do what God was calling us to into. I immediately rang the Foster Care Association of Victoria who put us in touch with OzChild.