Things You Can Do Part 2

In the 1st Things You Can Do post I gave you 3 tangible things you can do for orphans. This post will be about the intangible things you can do for the orphans. They are just as important but sometimes overlooked. It's easy to quantify and feel good about money spent that goes to your favorite charity but the following 3 things you can do to help the orphans are just as, or more important than the first 3.

3 Intangible Things You Can Do:

1.) Pray. Pray everyday for the orphans; make a specific time each day to pray for an orphan; every time you brush your teeth, when you wash the dishes, etc. Go to an adoption waiting child's list, print off a picture and pray daily for that specific child. Pray by yourself, with your community group or organize a church wide prayer vigil to pray for the fatherless.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

2.) Speak up for the orphans. Remember that picture you printed out to pray over, carry that child's photo with you wherever you go, show people his picture, ask people to pray for this child and advocate for someone to adopt him.

There are over 500,000 children in the U.S. foster care system and these children need people to advocate for them. Contact your local children's welfare department and ask what you need to do to become a court appointed child advocate.

3.) Support people that support orphans. Help foster parents around the house, throw an adoption shower for a family adopting an older child, encourage and pray for foster parents and parents in the midst of adopting.

This past week at church a complete stranger, I mean someone I don't ever recognize seeing at church before stopped me as I made my way back to teach Sunday School and told me they were praying for our adoption. Those few words from pretty much a stranger meant so much to me and the encouragement I felt from them was like a balm to my soul. Never be surprised by the strength of kind words.