What if..........

 What if you carried a child for 9 months.........thought about all of your different "options" which were far and few in between.  Thought about how you could possibly work, afford daycare, and take care of your child .....alone......

What if you were dying of AIDs.....your husband already passed on, and you were left alone and wondering....will someone raise my child for me?   What if my children are HIV+ too.......for sure then it will be harder to find anyone who will want to take in my children and love them as their own......you whisper please Lord don't let them die alone............

 What if you were a father trying your best to raise 7 children on your own after you wife died of leprosy or Malaria.....the oldest can help, but there are so many mouths to feed and you feel so inadequate since your wife died.......who will raise your children?  Will anyone want a large sibling group???

 What if you are alone.  A teenage mother who has made some really big mistakes, and you have taken drugs and had alcohol while you were pregnant.  Now you are booted out of the line of prostitutes until your "illness" of having a child is over.  Left to wonder- should you have aborted.....surely no one wants your child now they may be "broken"?

 What if you are contemplating abortion right now........who will change your mind?  Who will help you to see that there are other people willing to take in your child?  Who will help you make the most difficult decision?  Who do you trust?  Aren't they all just lying to you?  Why would anyone care about you or your child........they have down syndrome.........????

What if................................................your baby is born and your agency tells you there is no one that wants your child because they have dark skin???  or there really isn't anyone waiting for a boy..... or there is no one that wants YOUR CHILD?

What if you are in trouble with the law....or have an addiction.....or have a boyfriend that beats you......or have a bad group of "friends" that smoke pot,  and all these circumstances lead the state department to your door.....and your children are taken away.........and NO ONE WANTS YOUR CHILDREN?  Not even to just help for a while........until you can get the help you need.

WHAT THEN???

Will you step up?  Will you be the difference between - life and death for an HIV+ child, will you be the change that opens your heart to help that sibling group of 4 or 7 stay together and pray with them each night that mommy can kick the addiction....will you be the one in the clinic that helps someone to see that ALL LIFE is precious......will you be the one to adopt across lines of disease, skin color, age, and sex of child.....so that ONE MORE or SEVERAL MORE children can have a home?

I am NOT perfect in my thinking Lord, but help me to be the change you want for all of us.  Help me to remember that when I am filling out the application for adoption that all of the children in the world are yours, but you NEED people to step up to take each and every one.   Help me to remember that this child has a name, a desire for family, and a heart that was designed to be like yours.

Help me to remember that if it was me...........I would cry out day and night to you Lord to help me in my time of need........to send an angel or angels to come and rescue my child from the despair of hopelessness.......

**Pray with me that my cousin and her family are able to be at peace as they wait until tomorrow for the consent forms to be signed for their baby girl through adoption.  They have experienced two failed adoptions and it is very very hard.  She was born last night :)

This post has laid heavy on my heart for some time now.  I pray that we all take this seriously and pray before our Father about the 163 million orphans now in the world- next door to us, in the next city over, across the US, and all over the world.  These children call me daily to pray over them that someone would come and take care of them.