This is the Kingdom

Psalm 146

"Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,

in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

who executes justice for the oppressed,

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the sojourners;

he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,

your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!"

Recently I did a search for "fatherless" in the bible. I was interested to see, first of all, how many times the word was mentioned as well as some of the contexts. In doing this, I couldn't help but notice that many, if not most, of the time the word is mentioned, so are the words "foreigners/sojourners/strangers and widows." At one point, I looked at Nathan and said, "It's like they're God's favorite or something." Haha. Of course, I was kidding.. we're all His favorites!! ;) He loves His kids. It seems obvious, though, that He calls us to have special concern for these. I just couldn't help but think that if my heart looked like His, I would care SO much more for these. What a blessing and a challenge it was to me. 

Another blessing and challenge came through an appointment God had for Nathan and me at the recent pancake breakfast- that was given in our kids honor. There was a man and a beautiful little girl, both of whom we've never met, sitting with a family we knew. Nathan was already talking with them and as I made my way around, I saw her. She is from India and had recently been adopted! She was precious. Then, immediately when I walked up, her dad started talking to me. Now, when I say "talking," I mean shooting straight to the point. There was no watering down.. he was sharing the tough and glorious truths of adoption. I could have listened for hours. He shared about his journey of God calling him and his wife to adoption (he's 51 and a grandpa!). I learned so many great things during our conversation, but one specific one I'd like to share. He was describing the scene when he arrived at her orphanage in India and he saw her in person for the first time. He began to cry as he shared that when he laid eyes on her, God said to him,

 "This is the Kingdom." 

Wow. I really have no words for how this impacted my heart. This is it.. how have I missed it for so many years as a believer? There is no condemnation... my heart has just been awakened and I feel as if I am starting to see and feel so much of a deeper love of my Father God than I've ever seen or felt before. I'm at a loss for words, even as I write this. 

Oh God, will You open our eyes and hearts to see and feel what You do? 

All I know, is I want more. I want to go deeper.

147 MILLION ORPHANS - 2 + the heart of the Father and His Spirit + my hands, arms, feet, eyes and mouth = Love deeper than I've ever known.

My heart is jumping out of my skin, ready for this love adventure. I know it'll be hard.. but who ever said it would be easy? Not God. His promise is His grace. And it's sufficient.

Hallelujah!

By His Grace,

Kimberly