Throughout scripture, God, who calls Himself a “father to the fatherless,” pulls no punches about His heart toward orphans: They are to be cared for.
Many faithful believers choose to live out this holy commandment through the adoption of a child. But while the redemption of a broken situation is a beautiful and joyful thing to behold, few talk about the pain that often accompanies adoption.
On this episode of “Unashamed,” the Robertsons speak with bestselling author and podcaster Lisa Harper about her adoption story.
After hearing a sermon on the passage in James about the importance of widow and orphan care, Lisa, a single woman in her 40s at the time, felt convicted to act.
After several years of wrestling, Lisa found herself prepared to adopt a baby from Haiti. “I got written into a story of a precious little girl who was a crack addict and had gotten pregnant,” says Lisa, noting that she “spent Christmas that year in a crack house.”
Right before she was set to bring her baby home, however, the adoption “fell apart at the 11th hour.”
Lisa returned home utterly crushed.
But two weeks later, something miraculous happened. Lisa received a phone call from a friend who was in Haiti working on building a communal kitchen to help feed children in a particular village. While she was there, a young mother in the village died of AIDS, leaving behind a sickly daughter with no one to care for her.
She told Lisa that the Lord spoke to her “clear as a bell in that ER room … ’Lisa Harper’s supposed to be that little girl’s mama.’”
Lisa, still mourning the loss of the first child, boldly and faithfully said, “Sign me up.”
“Missy’s 16 now, healthy as a horse,” Lisa says through tears. “She’s not my hope. Jesus is my hope, but she is tangible grace.”
“Missy does not have an orphan spirit. I had an orphan’s spirit,” she says, recalling her years of wrestling with feeling undeserving of God’s invitation to be part of his eternal family.
By the end of Lisa’s story, Jase, Al, and Zach Dasher are all wiping tears from their eyes. To hear it in full, watch the episode above.
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