May is foster care awareness month. Last summer, after 11 years, we closed our foster care license. But fostering will always be a subject I love to chat about. Fostering impacted our family in beautiful and profound ways—emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But sometimes, fostering was really, really hard. And it’s important to talk about that, too. Here are my thoughts from a Facebook post I wrote three years ago:
Foster care will sometimes lead to feelings of too-much-ness. Too much pain. Too much loss. Too much brokenness. When too-much-ness happens, I need worship music and time alone with Jesus. I need to lament my heart out. I need a snack and a walk outside. I need to cancel a day of plans and sit on the floor with my kids. I need to ask God to do a miracle in me and for me. I need friends who I can spill my guts to and who will just let me cry for a minute. And then those friends will remind me of things I already know but maybe need help believing again. Because sometimes I can feel like God’s mercy or his provision or his protection has run out for me. But it doesn’t. It doesn’t run out. And God answers my prayers for miracles in the most tender ways. I say all this because if you do choose to move towards brokenness, at times it will be too much for you. And that’s ok. A tree’s roots grow deeper in response to strong winds and scary storms. And we grow deeper in the midst of too-much-ness. May is Foster Care Awareness Month. It’s good to be aware.