That IS My Child!!

Back in February Mike and I attended a marriage seminar along with several couples from our church. It was called Love Worth Fighting For and featured Kirk Cameron and Warren Barfield. As much as the middle school girl inside of me loved seeing Kirk Cameron (in fact he sat just two pews behind me for a few minutes!), it was actually Warren Barfield who had the biggest impact on me.

First of all, if you haven't heard him explain his inspiration behind writing the song "Love Is Not A Fight", you really need to! (This is the song that was the theme to the move Fire Proof). I will quickly explain the background of the song, but it's nothing compared to hearing him explain it...

Basically, he and his wife got into a fight over something incredibly stupid. But the fight then brought up every frustration they had been holding against each other for years. He said they stayed about into the wee hours of the night fighting, screaming, and yelling. When they each had said everything they could, they just sat and looked at each other in a "Now what?" type of situation. They decided that if they were going to stay together in their marriage, they had to fight for it just as hard as they had just fought against it. That simple idea really stuck with me and has been so great. I have to fight for my marriage harder than I've ever fought against it. I just love that!

And if you haven't heard the song, you really need to listen to it. Powerful lyrics.



But then when he really got to me is when he started talking about Food for the Hungry, an organization focused on ending world hunger. Warren Barfield was talking about how he got involved with them by doing a monthly sponsorship for a few kids. After awhile he decided to take a trip and see first hand some of the kids receiving sponsorships.

When we were at this seminar I knew that international adoption was our next step. This was actually about the point in time where I had been spending a couple of weeks researching Congo like crazy and crying every night. So with that in mind, I was extremely emotional listening to him talk about his trip to see all these needy children. And then he took it up a notch...

He said he was actually telling this story at another marriage seminar and advocating for these children, but apparently it bothered a woman. She came up to him afterwards and basically told him that she hadn't paid money for the evening for him to try to make her feel guilty and she didn't appreciate it. He said he was speechless. But that he wanted to say to her, "What if that was your child's picture on this packet? What if that was your child having to daily fight for water? Wouldn't you want everyone to pay attention and help them out??"

At this point I was an absolute bawling, ugly cry, mess of a person. I'm telling you, I was weeping and sobbing. All that was going on in my head was, "That's my child! That is! THAT IS MY CHILD!!"

My child is somewhere in the Congo right now and is potentially hungry, thirsty, and in desperate need of a hug. They are so worth the cost, the paperwork (and paper cuts!), the time, and the advocating. They are worth it all and deserve it all.

A few weeks after that a friend posted this video on my Facebook. It sums up all my thoughts so well on the Christian call to care for orphans. That. Is. My. Child. And I can't wait to have them in my arms.