Matthew Chapter 25

On Sunday during church, I had a moment that changed my whole perspective on fostering. Steven ended his sermon with Matthew 25.

Here are the verses:

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

The part that stuck out to me was: in prison.

Both of J's parents are now in prison. Maybe our job is not to fight for them to stay with us. Our job is to love and care for them while we have them. Our job is to make sure that we help the next home as much as possible. Maybe we are supposed to show them Christ's love. I had such a sense of peace about it all. I can't change anything about where they go next, but I can help their transition go really well. I can help their grandmother with clothes and diapers and birthday gifts. Maybe she will allow us to stay in their lives and we can still impact them in some way.

Today, we had a great visit with their grandmother. It was so interesting to get her perspective on everything and I mentioned being a part of their lives. At first, I didn't get much of a response, but then she said that she would invite us to J's birthday party.

She also talked to J about coming for a visit to her house. J said, "will you take me to church?". That is J's favorite thing to do. She loves church. Maybe her grandmother will keep taking her because J asks her about going to church.