What I Want You to Know is a series of reader submissions. It is an attempt to allow people to tell their personal stories, in the hopes of bringing greater compassion to the unique issues each of us face. If you would like to submit a story to this series, click here. This guest post is by On the Journey of Love. 
I’m a single mom of a beautiful 5 month old baby girl. She’s my foster daughter but hopefully soon I will be able to adopt her. It’s interesting because when I started out my journey of adoption I thought I would never actually be accepted. I’m single, younger, and had a job that made barely $1,500 a month. While I wanted to jump with faith into the journey I didn’t think that it would actually happen. Now I hold my daughter in my arms and weep with joy. She’s not fully mine yet but everyday I get to spend with her seems like a day I’m radically blessed. She’s changed my life in a way I never knew possible. I just unexpectedly lost my job so the last month has been interesting. I really believe in being a stay at home mother and spending as much time with my child as possible but now I’m stuck with a conflict of what to do. I’ve volunteered as a pastor for the last 5 or so years and have come to a place where I’m at a cross roads. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God is a good Father and He makes a way but I feel like I’m living out the story of many women all over the world. I’ve traveled a lot in my lifetime and have seen the widows and orphans in other nations. Even if I get to relate on a very small scale to their plight I think what an opportunity to be able to help be a voice for the poor and orphaned. While I don’t live in a dirt hut and compared the the majority of the world I’m wealthy I in some small way get to feel the story of being a single unemployed mother. I’m sure that I’m not going to be unemployed for long but I just sit here thinking that someday I get to look back and see how God brought us through and was truly the Father to the fatherless. My daughters birth mother is pregnant again and my heart to rescue this other little one is overwhelming. Though I have no idea if it will happen I know that Gods heart is for the orphans and widows is always radical love. If I can advocate in anyway for adoption I will. Knowing the situation that my daughter came out of my heart breaks for the little ones in the system who aren’t as fortunate. I want to put it out there: being a foster to adopt parent is so rewarding and yes it comes with challenges. Risking your heart is a hard thing to ask of anyone but as I walk through this season in my life I realize the love that I can give my daughter is way beyond worth it. The fact that while she is with me I know she’s going to be fed, taken care of, loved on, nurtured, and over all radically adored helps me know whatever happens in the end I gave her all I had. I’m taking one day at a time while I wake up exhausted from the lack of sleep I find joy in just seeing this little one grow and change everyday into a little person with and opinion, giftings and talents. I’m one blessed momma. For all you single mothers out there I want to encourage you keep it up you all amazing me your perseverance and strength and I pray God would radically bless you by being the Father and Husband in your lives. Thank you for reading my story!
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