BILLY HALLOWELL/FAITHWIRE - CHARISMA NEWS
A Virginia pastor believes a miraculous provision from God led his family to adopt, and he's now sharing his insight and inspiration with others.
Dr. Bob Griffith, lead pastor of Christ Chapel in Woodbridge, Virginia, tells his family's incredible story in the book "Fostering Jesus: Answering the Call to Foster Care in the Home and Church."
Like many, at one point Griffith didn't know a great deal about foster care. But he asked a question years ago while serving as a pastor in the Kenosha, Wisconsin, area, that changed everything.
"I went to the county officials that were there and I just simply asked them, 'If you could wave a magic wand and you could ask the church or rally the church in your area to do one thing, what would that one thing be?'" he recently told CBN News.
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Their response? They needed help serving the foster care system. This reaction left Griffith thinking and pondering how his church could step in to assist. So, he went home, spoke with his wife, and decided, as a family, to start fostering kids. At the same time, he looped in his church.
There was a question on the foster care form, though, that stood out to him. The government asked if he and his family would consider adoption if needed.
"I looked at that form and I said to my wife, 'I'm not doing this for adoption. We're just doing foster care,'" he recounted. "And she looked at me and said, 'Well, if God makes it clear to you that, at the end of this, you are supposed to be a foster parent ... would you do it?'"
Griffith said he'd certainly listen to the Lord on the matter, so he and his wife checked the box.
A few years later, the preacher said he and his wife found themselves in that very situation when all three of their foster care children came up for adoption.
"The county representatives called and they said, 'We need to know now, 'Would you like to be an adoptive parent to these children?'" he recalled. "And I will be honest with you; my answer was, 'No.'"
Griffith continued, "I used my brain that God gave me and I did an assessment of how big of a home we had, and how many seats in our car, and just very practical things. And I could not see how we could do this."
With three children already in their home, the family would immediately swell to eight members, expanding well beyond their resources and means.
But, while Griffith couldn't see a path forward, God had a powerful plan. And a simple prayer on the pastor's part opened the floodgates for it to all come together.
"I prayed and I told God, 'My answer is 'No,' unless You really want this to happen. If this is Your plan for my life, then of course I will do it,'" Griffith said, continuing his invocation: "But if that's the case, You're going to have to do something about it.'"
And that's when the miracle happened.
To read the full story, visit our content partners at Faithwire.
Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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