Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday. November has held a special meaning for me the past couple of years because it is National Adoption Month. Each year during the month of November I have had this overwhelming feeling that I should be sharing with my church about the plight of the orphan. And each year I have made excuses (the main one being my terrible fear of public speaking) and not done it. Then I feel terrible about the missed opportunity when November comes and goes.

So this year was different. I decided to put together a slide show presentation. I included scripture, statistics and many pictures that other adoptive families sent to me. It was a privilege to see all those photos of children before and after adoption and I enjoyed putting the presentation together.

The following is just some of the information I included. It is really heartbreaking when you think of all those children without families. It is hard to think that just one person could make a difference. But I am reminded of a quote by Steven Curtis Chapman in the book Restoring Broken Things: "One bed at a time. . . that's how we need to think about the daunting challenge of caring for so many orphans. One bed at a time."

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

Psalm 68:5 

According to UNICEF there are over 132 million orphans world wide, other sources suggest closer to 143-163 million.

 

-More than 46 million orphans in Africa.

-More than 71 million orphans in Asia.

-More than 10 million orphans in Latin America. 

-More than 120,000 orphans in the United States.

What can you do?

Pray for the Orphan

 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  James 5:16

Support an Orphan

When you have finished paying the tithe of your increase, then you shall give it to the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Deuteronomy 26:13

Adopt an Orphan

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Adopting a child won't change the world, but for that child, the world will change.

 

Our lives were forever changed when we answered the call to adopt.

 

Everyone CAN do something.