Both/and. This phrase is thrown around a lot in foster and adoption world. And it should also be a familiar concept to those of us connected to the ways of Jesus. Our very faith is one of both/and. We are both saved and being sanctified. We are both in the world and not of it. We are both suffering and victorious.
We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.
2 Corinthians 4:10-11
Foster care is BOTH a dying to self (over and over again) for Jesus’ sake AND simultaneously coming to life in our inmost being. Over the years I have often felt the most alive and closest to Jesus when our cases are the most insane. I certainly don’t wish for those moments, but I am so grateful they are not wasted. God is BOTH working in the lives of our children AND using this journey as a crucible for our own mature faith. He is always up to something. Always.
God can be trusted to be doing both/and in the most magnificent way, even if we don’t quite see it yet.
Foster care.
Both beautiful And broken.
Both good And hard.
Both a joy And deep sorrow.
Both hope And despair.
Both dying And yet living.
