I first met this small package of dynamite back in 2002, when my then-fiance was introducing me to “his people”. With a smile that lights up the room, and the most delightful freckles, this gal immediately caught my eye.
Her commitment to allow her broken-heart-made-whole story to fuel her passion to unconditionally love the lost and lonely, through foster care, is both astonishingly beautiful and incredibly convicting.
Meet Carol…
What’s your story, morning glory?
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to teach children about the unfathomable love of God and to introduce them to Him. To say that I had a rough start in life would be putting it mildly. I’ve experienced it all, from terminal illness the Lord decided to heal, abandonment, abuse. It’s all written in my particular story. I think my passion to reach children with the love of God welled up from the deepest places of my heart. The place where I’d experienced the radical and life changing love of God.
Around my tween years, one particular desire grabbed my heart and did not let go. On the cover of a Last Days Ministries magazine, there was a crayon drawing of a big house, and in each window was a photograph of a smiling little child. The article was celebrating an orphanage recently opened in a destitute area in Mexico and I was overwhelmed by this desire to immediately hop a plane and go serve there. And by overwhelmed, I mean obsessed. I wanted to go work with those children more desperately than I had ever wanted anything. But I was ten or eleven years old.
That intense desire never left me. I’ve been involved in some form of ministry or another to the tiny humans ever since. But last September, after a twisty, turny journey and many moments of “ok, Lord, NOW what are You doing?”, I became a licensed foster parent and two days later, my first little foster baby arrived! In the last nine months, I’ve opened my home to a total of seven different little ones, and currently I have a gorgeous seven month old baby girl, as well as a set of two small brothers, ages two and three!! I still find it all a bit surreal. I anticipated it for so long, and now that I’m in it up to my ears, I am still like “is this for real or am I dreaming a really good dream?”
What did you discover about yourself?
Two things, specifically – I knew I would love these tiny humans. I just didn’t expect to fall head over heels. I didn’t realize how completely they would steal my heart!
Also… I have discovered that I have the capacity – and tenacity – to keep mommying long after I feel I’ve reached my limit. That moment when you finally get to lay your head on the pillow, and someone’s nightmare wakes you up with a blood curdling scream… or you hear the baby spit up half her bottle, or a fire truck drives by, sirens blaring and wakes up ALL the tiny humans… in that moment, I dig deep and take hold of the strength my all-knowing Father hardwired into me before the dawn of time.
What did you discover about God’s character?
I am discovering the Fatherly-ness of the Father. I receive these children in their most vulnerable moments… terrified, confused, broken. Well, until I experienced that overwhelming desire to just scoop up that child and shield them from ever being mistreated again, I had NO IDEA how the Father felt about me, His child.
What helped you or served you most effectively in this season?
I process out loud, whether verbally or with the written word. I also tend to over think to the enth degree. Essential to my life are a few key friends who can help me process and get out of my own head.
And let’s not underestimate the power of a good cup of coffee!
If you could sum up my story in a single sentence, what would it be?
Don’t give up on your dreams if you are absolutely sure those dreams came from your Heavenly Father. He is always, at every twist and turn, working for your good. Always and forever.
Is there a passage of scripture or a quote you’ve clung to?
So many!
• Romans 8:28 | “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
• Philippians 1:6 | “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
• II Corinthians 4:6-7 | “For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
• “Never, never, never give up.” Winston Churchill
• “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Dale Carnegie
• “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” Elisabeth Elliot
• “Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.” Elisabeth Elliot
What does the word “resilience” mean to you, and what does it look like in everyday life?
If you are planted deeply, if your root system is strong, if you are daily drawing up strength from the streams of living water, when the storms come – and they WILL come – you will bend but you will not break. To me, that elasticity is the very definition of resilience.
What are two things you’re loving right now?
Revive Our Hearts radio podcasts! I can listen while I feed babies and make lunch, etc. in order to feed my soul. As a mom, you need your nutrition on the go!!
I am absolutely falling head over heels with Charlotte Mason‘s methods of raising up children to love learning and to love the Lord. I highly recommend you check her out, whether you home school or not. Her methods will change the way you view your home and family.
Thank you, sweet Carol! Where can we find you online?
My fostering adventures can be followed by requesting to join my FB group ‘A Haven of Hope‘. It’s where I share my heart.
I do have a very neglected blog which I really need to stop neglecting!! But the tiny humans… you know. Anyway, you can read me there at www.apocketfullofplans.
