Messy

Life is so messy, so very messy.  I have spent a considerable amount of time and energy trying to shield my children from this mess that is my life.  I have prayed, cleaned, tidied and sanitized our lives; I have cleaned house a hundred times and continually feel prompted by God to rid our family of the trash that the world likes to drag in.  God has been ever faithful and has washed us in His Word, repeatedly.  And then He asked us to do a strange thing ~ He asked us to make the mess and the pain part of our family, permanently.  I wrestled with God in the beginning about subjecting my four oldies to some of the pain our Adversary readily heaps on the orphans of this world.  I found myself asking, "God, you can't be willing to put the oldies at risk for a few nameless, faceless orphans?"  And He gave me an unexpected yet resoundingly firm answer,"YES." And then He asked me a question (never a good sign when a question comes,) "do you believe your children are more important to Me then My orphans?  While they may be nameless and faceless to you, they certainly are not to Me.  Would I subject Tay, Trae, Cole and Grace to pain, sacrifice and discomfort to usher more children into My kingdom?  Well duh?! Of course I would!!"  OK, so the well duh? was my interpretation but you understand His point too, my children are no more important to God then any child any where in the world just because they are my children.  And the greatest gift we can ever give to our children is the gift of Jesus and my four oldies understand Jesus on a far deeper level then I ever did as a child or teen, sometimes their understanding seems to run far deeper then their father's or mine.  There is a profound purity to their innocence and their willingness to trust God in all things.  Another adoption, sure!!  Two or three more Ruppels, of course!!  Moving this show overseas so we can care for more hurting orphans, ABSOLUTELY!!  They are all in with God and they have begun to learn what many Christians will never learn ~ to minister all the time, around the clock, in the their own home and enduring hourly sacrifices that most people will never be aware of; all for two, little strangers.  Strangers, that have invaded their homes and lives, have disrupted all they have known for the last 14 years, strangers that are often ungrateful and distant, strangers.  But, my four oldies seem to understand a truth at a such a young age that took me 32 years to accept and embrace ~ that while they are strangers to me they are entirely known and loved by God and He completely expects His church, His bride to fully engage in the care and ministry of those whom we consider "strangers." 

Life is messy, life is painful but out of great pain comes great joy.  You can not know true joy until you have experienced true pain and when you willingly embrace the pain of a "stranger" His blessings are astounding.