They Just Don't Get It...

Some people just don't get it! You know the ones. The people who, whatever your situation, will just never understand YOUR life.

For us it's... well...it's a lot of things. We are a little strange. First off, we have 6 kids, and large families are not understood in our self-centered, convenience world. Second, we have adopted kids~3 to be exact. And as publicized as adoption is, there is still a vast majority of people who think very strangely on the subject. On top of that we have special needs kids-one severely ADHD, an asperger's daughter, and hypo and hypersensitive sensory processing disorder girls coupled with mega impulsivity! It's a lot! then we get to add that we are foster parents. Because we advocate for foster care so adamantly and openly, it brings a lot of "voices" to the table of our lives.

I had a friend recently say to me "why did you take a foster kid, I mean, why now? didn't you have enough on your plate already?" Her statement slapped me in the face. Not because of what she said, but because I knew she was voicing what most probably think, but will never say. It slapped me in the face because I literally could think of no response except, "why not? Because he needed a home and we are called as christians to provide it!" Her statement was a reflection of the culture in which we Americans live: we live seeking the least amount of pain and inconvenience in our own lives. Why on earth would the average person INVITE a little chaos? Cause themselves to reorganize thier life a little? Muddle through the changes in family dynamics? Choose to work with a state agency for a lengthy period of time simply to help another human in crisis? And why would they do it at such an inopportune time? Why give everything to a kid that most likely has nothing to give in return?

The Answer is because Christ did that for me! He takes me in everyday and gives me all I need, and even more than I can ask. He lavishes upon me that which I don't even know I need! Yet, truly in comparison I have nothing to give in return. I make feeble attempts at worship, glory, honor and praise to make His name reknown, but they are inadequate to say the least. Yet, He loves me. He takes me in. He protects me. He didn't ask for all my problems...those came with the fall of man dashed with my own mistakes. I also didn't ask for the many daily troubles I encounter with my own children. I struggle daily to parent to the best of my ability. I struggle with the constant pressure that very few people, or family, understand my children or seek to do so. I struggle with the constant comments of either "you are a saint", or "you are crazy". I struggle to understand my own children as they continually grow and change and, therefore, so do thier disorders. I struggle to convey to others the invisible needs my children have that are not overt, but underlying and take care, precision, and empathy to work with. I struggle as I fail every single day to be the mom God has called me to be. Each day I know I could do more. Each day I fight the inevitable pull satan has on me to beat me up at 8pm each night and whisper all the things I could have, should have done differently throughout my day. I struggle to keep my eye on God and not the others around me that 'just don't get it'.

If you have ever felt this way in your own life, you know that you yourself really don't get it. Do we ever really get it? Yet, we seem to be on that never ending search for that tangible someone who lives our parallel life and "gets us". Someone who can relate to us on every (or most) levels. Someone who can show up at your door with the perfect coffee drink at just the moment you may otherwise lose it. Someone that needs no explanation when your child acts heinously in the eyes of another, but to you you can see right through thier pain, suffering and need. We long for that someone who actively embraces us, our families, our children, our sins, our idiosyncracies, our bad days and good.

We know that that person is God, yet especially as women, I think we tend to crave another human desperately. Maybe I'm the only one..who knows.

Actually I believe most of us have those people in our lives already. I am sure I do. it is just that satan keeps attempting (and succeeding a lot) at telling me that they don't really understand..it's all an act. That somehow they secretly go away and recount all my little woes with scrutiny and half-heartedness. That no one could possibly be that interested in MY life! But God is that interested in our lives. God really does get it! He lives it with us every day, yet never tires of hearing our woes. When we act heinously, he sees our pain, suffering and need more clearly than we ourselves even see it. He knows our breaking points better than we even do. And the reality is...it wouldn't be beneficial for any of us who call ourselves Christ-followers to be at a spot of ease or to be unchallenged in our daily lives. I can't think of many instances in the bible where people were growing and becoming more Christ-like by being happy, complacent, and unchallenged in thier life. Actually i can't think of one! Think of any cirucumstance in the bible...pick one...most likely there is fear, imprisonment, deep uncertainty, unfathomable futures, sadness, sickness, failure, adultry, death, war, torn apart families, dysfunctional families, lies, hatred..the list is endless. These circumstances in our lives should always equal growth. So invite them. Relish them. Learn from them. Cuz God's the only one who is ever really gonna get it...Thankfully...because we are too much to handle for anyone else!