Ministry… yes we all would have heard about a number of ministries -healing ministry, tribal ministry, preaching and teaching ministry, singing ministry, ministry among children etc. We as a family have been called to provide a home for the less fortunate children. Mathew 25:40 “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Does that sound strange? The Bible says that “Children are God’s gifts” and we are to nurture them for Him. We may be their biological parents or we may be their foster parents. But in whichever form God chooses to give us these gifts, we need to accept them thankfully, love them and nurture them.
It was way back in 1983: I saw in a dream, the faces of two children in a river who were struggling for life. You may wonder whether we can give any importance to our dreams. Don’t come to any conclusions right now. Please read on. When I woke up, the dream remained crystal clear in my mind and I prayed that the Lord would show me clearly whatever He wants to show. In the next few days, I had to visit the Christian Fellowship Hospital at Amblikkai where I had planned to spend time with known friends and relatives. As I walked into the hospital, I got a shock of my life. There were two children whose faces were very similar to the faces of the kids I saw in my dream. The challenge came very powerfully to me. Luke 7:44 to 47: ” I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven her – for she loved me much” The Lord seemed to be telling me’’ prove your selfless true love”. I was to nurture these less fortunate children who needed people to surround them with love and care. ‘Lord are you really telling me to take up this task? What will I say to my husband….? Lord I’ve got my own three children to bring up…Lord is it really you who is leading me… will we be able to provide for these kids…?’ My mind had so many such questions. It’s not very easy always to accept the challenges. It is easy to preach but to practise and be a practical person is very difficult!! Why…? Often we are full of self….me…..mine !! Finally l shared about my dreams and the subsequent events to a dear child of God who prayed along with me and for me. The Lord asked me to accept the challenge wholeheartedly. The Lord asked me’, Can you grow these little angels for me…?” I said “yes Lord, but with your grace’”, In faith and obedience with God’s peace engulfing me, I brought home the two children. God had worked beautifully among my family members that the children were accepted with love by my husband and my two daughters and son.
We as a family felt that nurture involves taking care of the loved ones tenderly. God’s special grace enabled us to love these children. God gave us the wisdom to understand our roles in nurturing them. We realised early in their lives that God has endowed them with tremendous potentials and gifts. They need to be nurtured so that they would grow to the fullness of their potentials and realise God’s purpose for their lives. We are to enable these children to grow. So we took time to teach them the scriptures and encouraged them to memorise the scripture verses. We sang number of songs in our family worships in the morning and they learnt to sing them along with us. We prayed with them, prayed for them and encouraged them to pray for themselves and others right from their young age.
We showed them thro’ numerous ways that they are precious to us. At the appropriate time, we shared with them that we are not their biological parents and explained to them how the Lord had led us to provide them a home. We felt that there should be no ambiguity about it and they should know about this important aspect.
We also understood that nurturing involves patience to tackle with different kinds of characteristics. But we also learnt that we can win any soul by pouring out our love. “Love beareth all’. Patience is the willingness to generously give another person time and space to grow. Patience doesn’t demand growth or change but waits for growth and change. By no means patience is compliance. It is not that we simply ignored their irresponsible behaviours. We disciplined and corrected them whenever and wherever needed. We realised that patience is waiting for our children to become mature and more God-like. God gently taught us to be patient with them without giving up hope or without giving into discouragement but keep loving them unconditionally.
Values of life were inculcated to them not only by our teaching but by our own examples. We taught them to place God before all their needs, struggles, doubts, disappointments and longings and totally rely on the all sufficent Lord. Also, we taught them to see the good in everything and be content with what they have. We encouraged them to thank God for everything.
When they started schooling, we prayed that the Lord would provide for their education. God’s provisions are miraculous. God had prepared the heart of one of our friends who came forward to pay for the expenses of one child. The other child was given a scholarship from school. They got admission in one of the good schools and started their schooling. It has been amazing to see the way God has been guiding us and supplying all our needs.
We encouraged them to share the household responsibilities like cleaning, washing, sweeping etc. Each child was given certain specific responsibilities and we instructed and guided them to do these small tasks. We could not bring up our children in luxury or comfort but we could bring them up in love, care, tenderness and understanding.
We are thankful to God for our lovely girls. The Lord used them to transform ourselves. We thank God for choosing us, unworthy as we are, as his tools to pass on His love to these needy little ones. (Both our girls have completed their Plus two exams. We are waiting on the Lord for their future.)
-Mrs. Jessie Simon
