Called to Love: An Adoption Podcast for Christian Parents
October 31, 2023
Parenting Your Foster and Adoptive Kids With Confidence
Welcome back friends – today I am talking about Parenting Your Foster and Adoptive Kids with Confidence
Have you ever struggled with the feeling of not being qualified to parent your adopted or foster child?
Do you struggle with the fears that you are irrevocably messing up your child because there were and are things you simply didn’t know…until you learned them – sometimes through messy trial and error?
I think all parents feel that way to some degree, even with their biological kids -but there can be a heavier weight to that term adopted in front of your child’s description that leaves you wrestling with whether you are either qualified to say yes or qualified to keep going.
In this episode I am going to talk about 5 responsibilities of parenting based on scripture and talk about why you are qualified to parent the child or children God has called you to love.
Scriptures mentioned:
Psalm 4:8 – In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Col. 3:20-21 – Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
Ephesians 6:4 – Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Proverbs 1:8 – Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Proverbs 22:6 – Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
Proverbs 13:24 – the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
Deuteronomy 6: 5-9 –
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
FAVORITE TAKEAWAYS:
Our children receive a birthright when they become a part of our families – and even if you are fostering right now, they are still under your umbrella protection, guidance and spiritual authority.
God has given you the children, He’s given you the how-to manual and He has given you full access to Him through the Holy Spirit to seek Him every step of the way as you parent these unique and beautiful lives He has entrusted to your stewardship.
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About Called to Love: An Adoption Podcast for Christian Parents
Whether you seek to add to your family through foster care, private domestic adoption or you are called to travel internationally, every adoption story is uniquely beautiful. Yet, each shares a common language of calling, loss, and hardship.
As Christian parents we have a deep desire to love and shepherd our children well, but it can be challenging to navigate loss, trauma and how to best love and guide our adopted children. One thing is for sure, adoption is more than a process, it is an invitation to go on a holy journey with the Lord and with your family. Like any journey, there will be valleys along with mountain tops and battles along with the beauty. The good news is, what the Lord calls you to, He will equip you for.
Wherever you are in your journey, Called to Love is here to bring you a weekly dose of encouragement from the practical, clinical, and Biblical perspective along with personal stories from adoptive parents, adult adoptees and advice from various experts to help your family thrive in your journey and continue to say “yes” to your own call to love.
About Somer Colbert
Somer Colbert is a writer, speaker and host of the Love Where You Are podcast. She is the Director of Adoption and Foster Care Ministry at Crosschurch and Connected Champion with the Arkansas Baptist Children and Family Ministries where she creates support, awareness and advocacy for families seeking to serve in the areas of adoption and foster care. She creates weekly podcast episodes and resources to equip and empower Christian families to identify their influence for the gospel in every season, live life on mission and share Jesus right where they are. Somer is passionate about equipping spiritually healthy families and seeing a movement of God's people step into confidence in their ability to change the world around them through the way they love!
She resides in Arkansas with her husband, three kids and three dogs. She's obsessed with British docudramas and cooking shows and can always be found with a cup of hot tea in hand. Her life has been forever changed by the love of Jesus, marriage to her favorite person, parenting her crazy crew and walking multiple adoption journeys.
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