orphan care – Erin Ulerich

Is the God You Know Too Small?

My daughter and I are preparing for a mission trip to Africa. Most days I am excited about the trip. Some days I feel overwhelmed. And every day I feel the need to prepare for what we will walk into.

We are going to a very hopeful place; hope is even in its name: Hope for the Fatherless.

Caring for orphans has been a recurring theme in the life of our family. Each time we step into orphan care, my view of God gets a little bigger and my view of his tenderness toward the vulnerable goes deeper.

There is a truth that I’ve learned, seemingly opposites that we must hold in a careful balance.

Our world is broken and God is at work.

Our world is so very broken. No one can argue with that. Five minutes of the evening news or a couple of clicks on any screen will break the hardest heart.

Sometimes I look at the brokenness and I forget that God is at work in this world.

I look at the brokenness and feel helpless and I assume that God feels that way too. When I focus on the brokenness my view of God is too small.

Ready for a dose of reality?

God knows this world is broken, and moment by moment He is redeeming it. He is not wringing his hands in worry. He is not wondering how to work in spite of the brokenness of our world. He plans to work through the brokenness. He plans to work through the very things we try to avoid.

God is at work and He wants us to join Him.

He calls out to us, inviting us to jump in and take part of what HE is doing in and through the brokenness.

The first step is taking our focus off of the brokenness and placing it on Him. It is in saying “I know you are working. What would you like me to do?”

The second step is to dive into His Word. To see what God says about Himself and what He says about the vulnerable in our world. His heart is so tender toward them.

Orphan care is simultaneously heart-wrenching and hopeful. And we need God’s Word to give courage to our hearts and guidance along our path.

Through orphan ministry I’ve discovered that God does not always work the way I think He should. I discovered that He is bigger than I thought, and that His ways often don’t make sense, from a human perspective.

I also discovered that He relentlessly and unexpectedly weaves beauty and redemption in the darkest places, He gives hope where circumstances look hopeless, and He continually draws people to Himself.

I’ve written a seven-day devotional that helps us see the heart of God toward the helpless. It is a helpful guide for those new to orphan care.

The Hope of the Helpless is available on Amazon. (This is an Amazon affiliate link.)

Since God is King, What is Our Response to His Kingship?

♥ ♥ Day 4 ♥ ♥

Our Response to God’s Kingship

When God brought His people out of Egypt, He was their only hope.

Powerless to change their circumstances, they were at the mercy of a human ruler who showed no mercy. When God stepped in, He showed His power and authority over the Egyptians gods through the plagues. Then he went head to head with Pharaoh. This way of delivering His people was meant to show His absolute rule. “…and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 14:4)

And His people’s response?

Worship

“Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord…” (Exodus 14:31-15:1)

When we see God’s Kingship firsthand, worship is our first response.

1 Chronicles 16:24-25

1 Chronicles 29:10-13

Psalm 67

Psalm 115

Psalm 5:11

Trust

What about the times when God works in ways we don’t understand? Times when He doesn’t do what we think He should when we think He should?

What is our response to His Kingship then?

He is still King.

We can cling to the kind of King He is and His heart toward the helpless.

We can tell Him we don’t understand. We won’t be the first to bring that up with Him. As King, he has no obligation to share His plans with us.

In His grace and mercy, He proves His character and shares His promises with us in His Word. And that is our anchor in times of questioning.

Isaiah 45:9-10,18 Psalm 20:7

Job 38-41 Psalm 31:14-15,24

Job 42:1-6 Psalm 37:5-7

Proverbs 3:5-6 Psalm 62:8

Psalm 13:5

Which verses stood out to you most today?

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This is Day 4 of The Hope of the Helpless, a 7-day devotional I wrote as a guide for praying for orphans.

The Hope of the Helpless walks us through God’s heart for the helpless, His vision for their future, and His gracious invitation to join Him in caring for them.

In honor of the International Day of Prayer for Orphans, I am posting a devotional from The Hope of the Helpless each day this week.

I am looking forward to your responses, to having real conversations about orphan care, and to talking through your questions.

If you would like to receive these posts directly to your inbox, subscribe to my mailing list on the sidebar.

If God Is King, What Kind of King Is He?

♥♥Day 3♥♥

What Kind of King is He?

Having someone in authority over us is fearful when we don’t know what they are going to do with their power. On the human level we have experienced leaders who wielded their authority in abusive ways.

If God is in control, what is He going to do with that control?

What kind of King is He?

He is the kind of King who was so concerned with our salvation, so moved by His desire to see His people face to face in eternity, that He who was 100% God also became 100% man.

Jesus went through the cities and villages, proclaiming the Gospel and healing every disease and every affliction. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:35-36)

Jesus knew the people in the crowds were created for more than being harassed and helpless. He healed them physically to show His power to heal them spiritually as well.

He is the kind of King who lived in the broken world we live in and has felt every emotion we feel.

He knows what it is like to be abandoned.

He knows what it is like to feel broken-hearted over the helpless.

Knowing what kind of King God is helps us trust Him, especially when we don’t understand what He is doing.

When His path is untraceable, we can trust His heart.

List the words and phrases that describe the kind of King God is.

Isaiah 54:10 Psalm 12:5-8

Psalm 99:4-5 Psalm 146:9-10

Psalm 10: 16-18 Psalm 147:5

Deut. 10:14-15, 17-18 Zephaniah 3:17

Psalm 9:7-10 Hebrews 4:14-16

Psalm 107

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This is Day 3 of The Hope of the Helpless, a 7-day devotional I wrote as a guide for praying for orphans.

The Hope of the Helpless walks us through God’s heart for the helpless, His vision for their future, and His gracious invitation to join Him in caring for orphans.

In honor of the International Day of Prayer for Orphans on November 11, I am posting a devotional from The Hope of the Helpless each day this week.

I am looking forward to your responses, to having real conversations about orphan care, and to talking through your questions.

If you would like to receive these posts directly to your inbox, subscribe to my mailing list on the sidebar.

Who’s In Charge Here?

♥ ♥ Day 2 ♥ ♥

God is on His Throne

In this world, infants lie five to a crib in orphanages, the room reeking of the smell of diapers needing to be changed.

Little ones fervently pray for a family to belong to, countries shut down adoption for political reasons.

In this world parents choose drug addiction over their own children.

In our honest moments the questions bubble to the surface.

Lord, where are you? Do you see what is going on?

Do you care?

When a king sits on his throne, it shows a position of authority.

When we say God is on His throne, we acknowledge that God is King of everything He created. Whether people choose to recognize it and follow Him or not, this truth remains.

He is King.

Kingship is difficult to grasp. We like to think we are in control of our lives. We like to think that we can bend circumstances to benefit us. But acknowledging God’s Kingship is vital to reaching out to the helpless, because the hope of the helpless is grounded in God’s position as King.

God’s dominion is total. He carries out all that He wills, and no one can stop what He has planned. He is sovereign over the every-day events of life as well as the big events.

God never leaves His throne. He never sleeps, He is never caught off guard. He is constantly moving forward with His plans for His people, His plans to build His Kingdom.

And the end goal of His plan? Relationship with His people. They shall see His face. This plan guides His rule as King.

I believe the heartbreaking situations grieve God’s heart, because He knows every name of every baby crowded in those cribs. He formed the heart of every child to need the connection of a family. I also believe that the heartbreaking situations will not have the final say.

There are things that happen that won’t make sense on this side of eternity. But we can cling to this truth:

God is King. He sees. He hears. He knows. He redeems.

Write the words and phrases that describe God and the way He rules as King.

Rev. 4:11 Psalm 11:4

Psalm 45:6 Psalm 93

Psalm 47:1-2 Psalm 96

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This is Day 2 of The Hope of the Helpless, a 7-day devotional I wrote as a guide for praying for orphans.

The Hope of the Helpless walks us through God’s heart for the helpless, His vision for their future, and His gracious invitation to join Him in caring for orphans.

In honor of the International Day of Prayer for Orphans, November 11, I am posting a devotional from The Hope of the Helpless each day this week.

I am looking forward to your responses, to having real conversations about orphan care, and to talking through your questions.

If you would like to receive these posts directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to my mailing list in the sidebar.

Orphan Care and Our View of God

There are 153 million orphans in the world.

That fact brings many questions to mind, but mainly “Why?”

Why are there so many orphans?

The International Day of Prayer for Orphans is a great time to ask questions, to begin finding out about the situation of orphans in America and around the world.

There was a time when I didn’t know much about orphans, or orphanages, or street children. It was one of “those problems out there” that didn’t really impact my life. That changed 10 years ago, when Matthew and Sheila Nasekos made the ~~crazy~~, ~~questionable~~, bold commitment to adopt a 13-year-old girl named Karina from an orphanage on the other side of the world.

I’m so thankful they followed God’s leading. The ripple effect of their decision has been life-changing for many others, including Karina, of course.

Then there was Vladick, the little boy who God gave me a mother’s heart for, and yet closed every door in our adoption process.

That heart-breaking journey involved wrestling with some pretty big questions about who God is, about the way He works, and about His ability to work on behalf of the helpless.

Orphan care brings us face-to-face with our view of God. How big do we believe He is? How powerful? Can He really work in desperate situations? What about when He doesn’t work in ways that we think He should?

One ripple effect of my journey is The Hope of the Hopeless, a 7-day devotional on praying for orphans that I would love to share with you this week.

The Hope of the Helpless brings us to the perfect place to start when it comes to orphan care: God’s heart for the helpless, His vision for their future, and His gracious invitation to join Him in caring for orphans.

I will post a devotional each day this week. I am looking forward to your responses, to having real conversations about orphan care, and to talking through your questions.

Even the tough ones, my friend.