A Break My Heart Strategy

I so appreciate Alan Hunt’s blog (http://alanh.typepad.com/religionpureandfaultless/2010/11/a-new-strategy.html) about Samuel and his “break my heart” strategy. Alan asks God to break his heart for every orphan child. My very first trip to visit the children was more than my heart could take.

I made my first trip to northwest China in 2005. During that trip my wife and I fell in love with two children. First for me was a young boy we call Jay who desperately needed a heart operation. Then there was Sara. Sara is a very caring girl in spite of being almost totally blind. Thankfully we were able to get Jay his heart operation. Sara was not such a good outcome. For over a year we dialogued with the Chinese government to make Sara available for us to adopt. The orphanage even processed some of the paperwork. But after many months the government abruptly changed their minds and changed the maybe to a quick no. It broke my heart. Sara ages out next month. I am so frightened for her.

My next trip to see the children was to central China after being refused permission to return to the northwest. From that stay I bonded with four 9 to 11 year old girls: Emma, Lila, Maria, and Jane. Since that trip I know that at least Emma was added to the waiting children list. As soon as I saw her picture I tried desperately to verify it was my Emma and to claim her for my own. Someone else had already chosen her. It broke my heart but Emma has a forever family now. That is what counts.

From visiting the children God did two big changes in my heart. First of all it put into me the desire to adopt myself. I have since adopted two older children from China, one 9 year old and one 11 year old at the time of their adoptions. I encourage people to just visit the children, but warn them that it could induce “heart disease” as it did with me.

The second change was the concept of my “Spiritual Children”. The six children above ARE my children. They never will be legally, but they are completely my children in heart and spirit. Their pictures are on my desk just like my 5 legal daughters. I pray for them just like my other children. I pray that each one of them will one day remember the time we spent together and ask the question “Why would that man come half way around the world just to be with me?” I pray that one seed will one day lead each one of them to Christ.

I am not fortunate enough to frequently visit the children. That is probably because I would not have room on my desk for the pictures of all the Spiritual Children I would adopt. But I encourage everyone to adopt orphan children—at least spiritually. It doesn’t cost any money, but the price is high: your heart.

For Him and His children.