My family recently said goodbye to one of our foster children. With the goodbyes came the obvious grief of losing the relationship with a child who has become part of our family. It also brought up lots of conversations about why we choose to do foster care. We are often asked things like, “Don’t you get too attached?” or “How can you let them go?”
We have worried by hospital beds, made ER visits, frequented therapy appointments, and sat through court with our foster children. We have been kicked, bitten, punched, cussed at and called names I wouldn’t repeat by these children. As foster parents, we try to comfort children who cry themselves to sleep at night in our home while wishing they were in their own home. We try to help children understand what they are going through.
We deal with consequences of other people’s actions.
For a long time, this made me angry. I thought the parents certainly needed to understand what their kids were going through. They needed to know exactly how their choices affected and hurt their children. It wasn’t fair that we had to deal with the fall-out of their decision.
Until I realized that God loves us like that.
Even if we don’t stay with Him, God chooses to “get too attached”. He gives us free will and will “let us go” if we choose to walk away from Him. God cares for us in all of the little things and He is with us through all of our trials. We don’t always understand the circumstances that we are going through, but God is there to comfort us and be with us and teach us.
Jesus chose to become human and deal with the consequences of our actions.
And it certainly wasn’t fair that Jesus took on our consequences! He was free from sin, and yet chose to come to earth to take away our sin! (1 John 3:5) Jesus didn’t just “deal” with our consequences, he died for them. (1 Peter 1:18-19).
It isn’t easy, but we try to love the parents of our foster children. God’s grace is given to us freely and without cost because He loves us. While I fail all the time at loving the way God does; if I have been given so much love and been forgiven for my sins, I want to try to extend that same grace to others.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Eph 2:4-5
Christine is the Lead Pastor at ARK United Methodist Church, a church replant in North Sioux City, SD. She is also a Ministry Coach with MOPS Int’l, wife to Matthew, a foster and bio mom to 5 kids, and an aspiring chicken homesteader leaning on the grace and hope of God amidst life’s messes. You can connect with her on Instagram as cececappetta.
We have worried by hospital beds, made ER visits, frequented therapy appointments, and sat through court with our foster children. We have been kicked, bitten, punched, cussed at and called names I wouldn’t repeat by these children. As foster parents, we try to comfort children who cry themselves to sleep at night in our home while wishing they were in their own home. We try to help children understand what they are going through.
We deal with consequences of other people’s actions.
For a long time, this made me angry. I thought the parents certainly needed to understand what their kids were going through. They needed to know exactly how their choices affected and hurt their children. It wasn’t fair that we had to deal with the fall-out of their decision.
Until I realized that God loves us like that.
Even if we don’t stay with Him, God chooses to “get too attached”. He gives us free will and will “let us go” if we choose to walk away from Him. God cares for us in all of the little things and He is with us through all of our trials. We don’t always understand the circumstances that we are going through, but God is there to comfort us and be with us and teach us.
Jesus chose to become human and deal with the consequences of our actions.
And it certainly wasn’t fair that Jesus took on our consequences! He was free from sin, and yet chose to come to earth to take away our sin! (1 John 3:5) Jesus didn’t just “deal” with our consequences, he died for them. (1 Peter 1:18-19).
It isn’t easy, but we try to love the parents of our foster children. God’s grace is given to us freely and without cost because He loves us. While I fail all the time at loving the way God does; if I have been given so much love and been forgiven for my sins, I want to try to extend that same grace to others.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Eph 2:4-5
Christine is the Lead Pastor at ARK United Methodist Church, a church replant in North Sioux City, SD. She is also a Ministry Coach with MOPS Int’l, wife to Matthew, a foster and bio mom to 5 kids, and an aspiring chicken homesteader leaning on the grace and hope of God amidst life’s messes. You can connect with her on Instagram as cececappetta.
RSS Feed
