It's confession time. My neglect of my blog in the past many days has been shameful. I've spent too much time studying to be an adoption advocate someday and too little time being one right now! So, now it's Saturday, and I've put the Psych and Soc books aside for the weekend and attempted to have a life beyond school. In light of the fact that the days of armchair reading by a fire are quickly approaching, I thought it would be an appropriate time to introduce you to one of my very favorite books on the subject of orphan care and adoption. Saving Levi: Left to Die...Destined to Live is truly an inspiring tale of love and healing. Written by Lisa Misraje Bentley, this story chronicles the amazing life of a little Chinese boy named Levi, who was abandoned in a field as a infant. With over 70 percent of his body badly burned, Levi looked to have few chances of survival. The persistant care and attention of a few American orphan workers in China (including Mrs. Bentley and her family), however, transformed the life of this small baby. They fought to give him the major surgeries he so desperately needed, even traveling with him to the United States several times when his needs were beyond the abilities of Chinese surgeons. His story is drenched in the mercy and goodness of God and full of chapters which so cleary show God's miraculous provision and care. I couldn't put this book down, and was constantly sharing with my family the amazing works of the Lord which Mrs. Bentley shared in its pages. Never have I been so inspired by the change brought to an orphan's life through the compassionate efforts of just a few people. They dared to believe that God could work a miracle in healing a child that everyone else left for dead, and He so wondrously answered their prayers. Levi's story is made all the more incredible when I begin to see myself in him. Was not I a wounded creature full of woe because of sin? And yet, God stepped in when no one else could, and rescued me from my broken state. He stitched me back together and healed my burns (even though His "surgery" of having me die to myself was often painful), restoring me and making me new again. As I consider the parallels between Levi's story and God's adoption of His children, I am reminded that no soul is beyond His reach. No person can be too "burned" by sin to be beyond the healing reach of God if He so chose. Whether it's an abandoned baby with third and fourth degree burns, or a person who's spent his whole life blaspheming and rebelling against God, my precious Savior has the power to reach down and heal and call His children to Himself. May that truth be fuel to the fires of both our orphan care work and evangelism efforts!
15 comments:
That is one of my favorite books too!! I LOVED it. I would smile and cry and smile and cry all over again!! Such an incredible story!
Oh and forgot to say that I think it's awesome you are going to be an adoption advocate. I feel very called to elementary education but I've often doubted that and wanted to go into something with adoption. In however many years when I'm married and ready to adopt I'll let you know! lol!! :)
Thank you so much for sharing this book, I am going to find it somewhere and I can't wait to read it. I don't really know what an adoption advocate is, but it sounds like something great. I am in Early Care and Education at a local college now but I was wondering if there were any careers that had to do with orphans. So maybe when I find out more about an adoption advocate I will go for that instead or just get both since I am only 3 semesters away from getting my 2 year degree. And are there any more books on the subject of orphans or adoption? I would love to read them!!!!
Sharon:
Basically, in my definition, an adoption advocate is one who speaks for and engages in orphan care and/or adoption promotion. It's kind of my broad term to encompass many of the potential careers I would love to do someday! There are definitely many jobs which deal directly with adoption and orphan care, such as working in an adoption agency or orphanage, or being a social worker. I've often joked that even if all I can find to do is clean floors in an adoption agency someday, it'll still be my dream job because I'm contributing to children finding families, even in a small way!
So, there are many jobs directly related to orphan care and adoption, but God can certainly use someone to care for orphans even if they're not "in the field." An elementary educator might have opportunities to teach foster or adopted children and promote adoption in her classroom. She might also engage her class in caring for orphans through a special project, or be able to minister to orphans herself on her long summer vacations! Serving orphans definitely does not depend on being in a certain job. God can provide all sorts of opportunities for you. I'll pray that God gives you wisdom to choose the field that's right for you, and passion to live out His call to care for orphans no matter what you end up doing.
About books...yes, there are quite a few resources on adoption and orphan care out there. I had intended to post regularly about books and materials on the subject that have blessed me, but since school started up again, I've had little time for pleasure reading or blogging! I hope to get back to some book reviews on Winter Break!
For now, here are a few titles to get you started:
-Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis
-The Waiting Child by Cindy Champnella
-A Treasury of Adoption Miracles by Karen Kingsbury
On my list to read:
-Small Town, Big Miracle by Bishop W.C. Martin
-The Strength of Mercy by Jan Beazely
Also, almost anything on George Muller, Amy Carmichael, or Gladys Aylward is very inspiring about this topic!
Try a search at your local library for books on orphans or adoption. You may find many more that I haven't gotten to yet!
Thanks for writing! I'm so thrilled that you're excited about ministry to orphans!
First of all thanks for more book titles, as you are I am busy with school so not much extra time to read, but I really and going to make an effort to read these and many more! Thanks for posting so fast as well, I was surprised! Yeah, I am defiantly going to look into an adoption agency around here (in SC.) and see what I can find, and the careers that are possible. My Grandmother was a Social Worker before she retired, so maybe I can get some more info from her. Thanks again for replying, It is a pleasure to meet you. It's awesome to talk with others who share the same hopes and dreams as you.
I looked for these books at the Library and could not find any that you mentioned or even anything by the authors, so are these all christian books? Maybe the library doesn't have christian books. So I just typed in adoption in the library catalog and found "Home Before Dark" by Susan Wigs. I don't know if it will be any good but I wanted to have something to read until I find some of the other ones. Do you know where I can get these books? Or maybe I should look for them on ebay or half.com. Thanks!
Hi Sharon!
Yes, most of the books I listed are from Christian authors or publishing houses. Sorry that your library doesn't seem to carry any of these wonderful titles. Shame on them! We are very blessed to live near a fantastic library with a rich collection of books on every subject, so I forget that not everyone has that same situation! If your library has an interlibrary lending system, you may be able to find some of the titles to borrow from other libraries (talk to your librarian for sure). If not, I suppose your best bet would be Ebay or another books site like Amazon. Sorry you're having trouble finding them. Hopefully a good source will pop up soon!
Thank you! I am going to search the library site and see if I can find some for and interlibrary loan. And if I don't I wouldn't mind buying them so I have them forever! :) Have a great week at school!
Does anyone know of any good movies about adoption or orphans? I did see one it is called Martian Child I had to watch it twice cause it was so good.
Hi Sharon:
I haven't heard of Martian Child. I might have to look it up, though, since you enjoyed it so much. Unfortunately, I haven't seen or heard of many videos on adoption or orphan care. The only one I can think of is called "China's Lost Girls," which discusses the specific problems in China of baby girls being abandoned or aborted because of the cultural preference for sons. It's done from a secular perspective, but I did learn a lot from watching it. Other than that, the only videos I can think of are online--YouTube, etc. There are hundreds of adoption and orphan care videos on sites like that. Some YouTube channels I would recommend would be Shaohannah's Hope, Bethany Christian Services, Holt International, or the Philip Hayden Foundation. You can also do a search for "adoption stories" or something like that and probably come up with a ton of results. Sorry that that's the best advice I can give!
Thanks for telling me what you know, I will check out "China's Lost Girls", I heard of it as a book, I didn't know they had a movie. I look forward to watching it. So do you work for Bethany Christian Services? I was thinking of volunteering there, but it seems like the one here doesn't really have much contact with the orphans themselves but more the mothers thinking of abortion. Maybe you could tell me a little about it, to see if I would want to volunteer there.
Hi Sharon!
No, I actually don't work for Bethany, though I would love to someday! I have only volunteered there once, since we don't have one close to our house. They definitely are very involved in both domestic and international adoption efforts, and much of their work is done helping counsel birthparents to choose Life for their children. It may not be working with orphans directly, but it IS a huge ministry! There's a great message by John Piper which relates orphan care to sanctity of human life here: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1999/1067_Visiting_Orphans_in_a_World_of_AIDS_and_Abortion/. I would definitely encourage you to volunteer with Bethany if you are so fortunate to have one in your community. You may not be directly ministering to orphans, but you are definitely Showing Hope by working on little tasks and helping out an agency that definitely does have an amazing ministry to orphans, both here and abroad. If you're interested in learning more about Bethany's ministry, look them up on the web at www.bethany.org.
It's so exciting to see the opportunities God brings in our lives to care for orphans, isn't it?
Ooops..that web address for the John Piper sermon doesn't look like it'll fit. To see the resource, just go to his website at desiringgod.org and type in "Visiting Orphans in a World of Aids and Abortion" in the search box. It should pop right up.
Sorry about that!
I listed to the message by John Piper, it was good. It made me even more passionate about the subject of adoption. And I don't know if you remember when he was talking about the church he grew up in and it was in Greenville, South Carolina, I just thought that was cool because that is were I live.
I just started reading "Saving Levi", I am only on the 2nd chapter and it is so interesting and filled with info, I cant wait to read more! I don't want to read it too fast though. I love it!
This book is so great I just can't put it down. I was so surprized when it talked about SCC and MBC visiting the children's village to get Maria. I was just wondreing before I read that part if Lisa Bently even know the Chapman's. I am going to buy a copy of this book, it is so good, thanks again for sharing it with me. It is really making me realize how improtant it is to help orphans and I am really motivated. It was so awesome to see all the mericles that God preformed through Levi's story. It really proves that you must trust God in everything and he will provide no matter what! I am so excited and can't wait to finish the book. I am even having thoughts of starting my own blog to encorage others about orphan care and adoption and most improtantly God and his love for us.
PS-sorry about spelling errors, I am not good in that area.
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