When an Adoption Impacts Both Orphans & Widows
Widows & orphans.
On the surface, they seem like an odd pair. But take a deeper look, and you’ll notice that in the Bible, the two words are often found side-by-side.
From the Old Testament…
Psalm 68:5
“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.”
Isaiah 1:17
“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
…to the New Testament.
James 1:27
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Obviously, God’s heart is for both orphans and widows. So it’s a beautiful thing when adoption—the beautiful process by which an orphan becomes a son or daughter—impacts a widow, too.
This is the mission of Both Hands, an organization we get to partner with here at Lifesong. They help families fundraise for adoption by connecting them with a widow who needs help and support. A number of families we support with adoption financial assistance also have the opportunity to organize a Both Hands fundraiser.
We recently received a note from a family we partnered with who were also impacted by Both Hands.
In their words—
“We saw God’s hand in so many ways through our whole adoption. One is the way we were able to find a widow out of the blue to help for the Both Hands project. Brad, my husband, was calling local places and asking questions to see if anyone knew someone. And then on one call he made, the lady who answered on the other end said, “Well, I’m a widow.”
She had been asked by a couple of her friends to make a list of house repairs that needed to be done, and they had been in prayer for those things to get done. Little did she know that God had orchestrated it all. She was shocked when we started describing everything to her. That is just one minor thing where we really felt God leading and directing the entire situation.
It was great working with Lifesong.
We are so grateful we were able to be awarded a $2500 matching grant. It helped us so much with our expenses! We were then able to use Both Hands and funnel the money raised from there to our Lifesong account which gave us well over the matching amount.
Lifesong provided us with a legitimate trustworthy place people could feel confident sending their money on behalf of our family. The process was very easy and well organized. We tell everyone who is adopting to definitely use Lifesong for whatever they can!”