Redefining Retirement: God’s Surprise Plan
How do you want to spend your retirement?
Ever think that God might call you to add another child to your family? Would you be willing to open your heart and your home to a foster child or a newly adopted child?
Here at Lifesong, we were overjoyed to receive the following letter from an adoptive family—
Dear Lifesong family,
Roy and I would like to personally thank you from the bottom of our hearts for awarding our family a matching grant for our daughter Rebekah’s adoption from Chongqing, China.
As first-time adoptive parents, our calling came at the ages of 52 and 48, a season when many Americans dream of their upcoming retirement. In obedience to the call, we moved forward, despite little financial reserves and several set-backs.
“God did not call us to build up barns and store up earthly treasures for leisure, but to pour out our lives for Him by bringing the Gospel to the least of these.”
In our case, God called us to bring the Gospel to a little 21-month-old girl with a significant hearing impairment in an orphanage over 7,000 miles away in China. The financial need—before we could travel to adopt Rebekah—was over $12,000. In God’s perfect timing, your grant was awarded, just as a generous donor stepped forward.
The grant was fully matched, and we were able to travel to China within a few weeks.
Rebekah is bonding with us and is transitioning well, and her medical needs are now being addressed.
Thank you for being a significant part of our daughter Rebekah’s life and for being God’s hands and feet in directly helping bring her home.
Thank you for helping Rebekah, not just to receive her needed medical care, but first and foremost, to be able to learn of her Heavenly Father and the saving grace of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Gratefully,
Roy and Sarah
Redefining Retirement
The contemporary, American ideal for retirement is reaching an age where we can kick back and enjoy travel, leisure, and time with family and friends. And while these choices aren’t necessarily bad—and can, in fact, be good gifts from a gracious Father—we can’t ignore the reality that there is still much work to be done for the Kingdom of God.
Children need families. Families need mentoring. Missionaries need assistance.
The opportunities are endless.
And if you talk to people who have given their retirement years in ministry re-employment, you’ll find—as we have—that they don’t regret it. In fact, just the opposite. Investing retirement years for the glory of God can yield dividends that are immeasurable by human standards. Always, our most exciting, fruitful years are spent in total faith and submission to God Who knows best how to use us and our gifts in His service.
And given the needs all around us, why would we settle for a simple life of leisure?