Colorado /Christian News/ — There is a knock on the door. It is the stork leaving a basket containing a precious baby; sweet-scented, with a delightful smile on his face. Do you remember that from the cartoons? That is what you first think when becoming a foster parent. You imagine the caseworker knocking on your door, handing you a rosy-cheeked baby. A baby so happy to be in your presence that he coos from the moment he is in your arms. However, life is not a cartoon.

Instead, you open the door to find frightened, dirty, wounded kids. Kids who at the age of 3 already have had to take care of themselves. Kids who feel like they need to run the show in order to survive. Kids who sleep with their shoes on, just in case. Kids who are scarred.

I took a lot of notes. I read a lot of books. However, some things you can only learn through experience. Feeling as if already I haven’t handled every situation correctly, sometimes I would ask myself, “What were we thinking? I wonder if these kids would be better off with another foster family, instead of ‘newbies’ like us.”

Yet, deep in my heart, I knew these little ones needed to be here. My family and I have something that these kids cannot be without. We have a relationship with our Heavenly Father; the God who knows each child by name. As I thought about it, I realized how similar Christians are to these kids. As sinners, when we first come to Jesus, we are frightened, dirty, and wounded. If a holy, perfect God can take a broken sinner and heal his heart, I know that I can open up my home to share that Power and Love with a hurting child. It isn’t my training that qualifies me to be a foster mom; it is the fact that God can use willing vessels to change the life of a child.

So, in my cartoon world, when the stork knocks on my door, handing me a mangled, smudged up package containing a new child; I take that package in my arms and lay it at the feet of Jesus. I know that He has the power to perfectly love and heal every inch of that baby’s heart.

To read about this foster family’s journey to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a child’s life visit www.drivesideways.blogspot.com.