Perfect Timing

“The perfect time to foster or adopt isn’t ever going to come” is a quote I saw on an Instagram post and instantly thought about our own experience with fostering.

Jeff and I were approved to be foster parents days before Covid 19 hit our community. Social Services had a little girl in mind for us and we were ready to go. There could not have been a worst time to become foster parents. Jeff and I were very confused as to why God had called us to foster when He did. God totally knew there would be a pandemic days after we got approved.

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Why would he approve us, and then days later place every road block in our way?

Now that we have the gift of hindsight we can see more of the puzzle. The perfect time didn’t exist, but the child that was waiting for us did. Had the pandemic not happened when it did, we would have accepted the placement of a little girl and we would not have met our little guy. The experience with our little guy is something I consider a major blessing by God. T

here were times when I thought his behaviours would break us, but with time and patience we were able to see the little boy underneath all the fear and hurt he was showing us. The amount of love he had was huge and I savoured each and every hug. We would not have met him, his oldest brother and then the family he is with right now. We would not have experienced the reunification of his beautiful family and although that week in Toronto was crazy hard it also had beautiful moments.

There will not be a perfect time to start fostering. Guaranteed. As followers, God doesn’t promise us things will align perfectly so we can do the things he has lead us to. Take Moses for example. (Exodus 3) He was clearly told by God what He should do and God even told Moses when to do it. A burning bush spoke to Moses and told him exactly what he needed to do. Moses for sure questioned the timing. Moses said he was "slow to speech and slow of tongue" Exodus 4:10. I imagine Moses was thinking, something a

long the lines of 'wait until I am more confident and my words are more eloquent, I am not ready'. If you know Moses story, you’ll know it was anything but easy to fulfil what God had clearly told him to do and I don’t think Moses thought it was perfect timing. Although God doesn’t promise He will make things easy to do the things He calls us to, He promises many other things;

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Pslam 73:23-24

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own underst

anding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3.5-6

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Psalm 32:8

Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you. Psalm 37:5

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33

These are promises directly from God’s word. I don’t expect everyone reading this to be wondering if they should be fostering but I do suspect a lot of people are in a stage right now that God is leading them somewhere or calling them to something, but you are waiting for the right time. The right time is when God has called you. If H

e has called you, now is the time. He will guide you through whatever he has asked you to do. It may actually be the worst timing ever (hello global pandemic), but God has the whole picture. We get to hold one piece of the puzzle, not having any clue what the rest of the puzzle looks like. God is holding the whole thing and he will slowly reveal the rest of the pieces to you and you will slowly get to see the whole picture. You will then get to look back (as Jeff and I now get to) and see what his plan for you was when he called you to do whatever it was during that really inconvenient time and you’ll get to say “Wow, look what He did there. Praise God”.