I’ve been hit hard this week by the weight of adoption, and more significantly the love between a parent and a child. It’s not hard thing to search for when I go looking, especially as I work a job that I eat, sleep and breathe the plight of the world’s most vulnerable children, but this week was on a new level. This week, I looked through photos of some of our kiddos waiting for families and I also saw someone close to me accept their family’s first foster placement. This week, I did not leave my job at the door, and instead carried it around with me, praying and wondering how else God would help me meet needs.

Early in the week I read an article of a sweet kiddo who the system failed. He went from foster family to foster family, never having the opportunity to land in a solid family setting long term. By the end of his short life, he got caught up with the wrong crowd and died at an early age. The author of the article did an excellent job, and the line that has stuck in my head and is breaking my heart is, “A child should never have to prove that he is worthy of love.” Amen. Each child is a gift, is special, is worthy of love. Yes, they are a sinner in desperate need of a savior, but no more than another.

As I’ve been processing through the different situations that I’ve encountered this week, the truth of the Gospel has gone to a deeper place in my heart. If I had to prove that I was worthy of God’s love five years ago, I would have failed. If I had to prove that I was worth of God’s love five days ago, I would have failed. Today I would fail at proving that I was worth God’s love. Thankfully, I do not have to prove a thing. Because of God’s grace, I do not have to prove a thing.

This special truth does not mean that my heart does not break for the over a million children in the foster care system throughout the United States tonight who are in the midst of feeling like they are unlovable. It does not mean that my heart does not break for the 163,000,000 children globally in need of families, it simply deepens my gratitude for Jesus’ work on the cross two thousand years ago, and affirms my greater belief in missions. I want to share the testimony of God’s grace with the world, and with those who feel unlovable.

Because of Christ’s work on the cross, none of us have to prove ourselves worthy of love.