Roses Among the Thorns

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”—Proverbs 18:21 (NKJV)

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”—Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”—Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)

When people hear you tell your story, how many times has someone remarked, “I could never foster” or “I could never adopt”? Probably more times than you care to count. Most days you can laugh off such comments, but on one of those really hard days, you wonder if you’ve got what it takes to continue your fostering journey.

After a particularly emotional goodbye handing off one of her medically-fragile fosters, Bethany got in the car with her two little girls and started to sob. “Why are you crying?” her four-year-old daughter asked. (Bethany and her husband had been fostering for years, but this placement had required a bit more from them.) “Because Mommy doesn’t know if she can do this,” Bethany tried to explain. After a few seconds, the little voice from the back seat piped up again, “But Mom, this is what we do.”

Stepping in to care for someone else’s biological child is an incredibly exceptional calling. Like a beautiful, fragrant rose, it comes with many rewarding moments. But like the thorns on a rose, being a foster parent also comes with painful moments.

The apostle Paul knew this feeling very well. He knew his calling was to be a missionary, but he had an affliction he described as a thorn given by God to keep him humble. Paul knew God was powerful enough to remove the thorn, but God was showing Paul an even greater power—the one that is made perfect in weakness.

Sometimes we may wish that fostering would be easier! If this is our calling, why is it difficult? But it’s in those very moments, at our weakest points, that God gives us the power to endure. It’s a mysterious and beautiful exchange.