Deneesha recently brought Jeremiah into our office for a visit. Deneesha is often referred to as the “director of first impressions.” Her beautiful smile and encouraging spirit make everyone who enters the Development and Communications office in Thomasville feel welcome and valued. Jeremiah is Deneesha’s precious baby boy born in August. He inherited his mother’s beautiful smile.
I could hardly wait to hold him, snuggle him, and kiss his sweet head. He is a wonderful gift God has given to her and her husband Frank.
This precious little boy was so wanted and he is so loved. I wish every child could feel this same love and experience family like Jeremiah.
But last year 16,796 children in North Carolina were removed from their families and placed in out-of-home care. Everyday children come to Baptist Children’s Homes (BCH) hungry, broken and wearing only the clothes on their backs. Sometimes the scars are so deep it takes years to heal.
Two precious babies came into care because of their parents’ addictions –– which is a story that is repeated far too often.
Five siblings arrived with only the clothes on their backs. They were hungry and dirty. They had lived with a parent that was unstable –– the story was heartbreaking.
Two weeks later the children were placed back in the home –– which concerned us greatly. One week passed and the parent was arrested for cooking meth in the home.
The siblings returned to us where cottage parents received them with open arms, loving hugs and caring hearts. The children could not wait to return to their rooms. Clothing had to be purchased again, but God always provides.
Two children, ages four and six, were found living in a car at the junkyard. The father had been feeding them with food from the local dumpster. He had lost his job and home due to drug abuse. The children came to BCH frazzled, dirty and hungry.
An abandoned eight-day-old baby arrived at the orphanage in Guatemala. A newborn, only a few days old, was found in a gutter along a public street, left to die of exposure. Another baby arrived several months old but weighing only as much as a newborn due to malnutrition.
At the Guatemala orphanage, a two-year-old, who had been beaten and placed in a garbage can to die, is loved and nurtured. Children are given hope. God’s love is being shown in so many ways through the missionaries, caring staff members and the hundreds of volunteers who give time, talent and financial resources.
God’s love and compassion in and through all of BCH’s ministry is a warm soothing balm that brings healing –– covering a child’s pain and easing the cruelty he has endured. Thank you for partnering with us as we offer second chances a reality.
January is “Sanctity of Life” month. The phrase sanctity of life refers to the idea that human life is sacred, holy and precious. Every child that walks through our doors, whether a baby left in a gutter to die, a toddler discarded in a trash can, a teenager that is angry and hurting due to the loss of a parent to the horror of drug use, is loved and shown they matter. Children’s lives are sacred, holy and precious.
Thank you for joining us in this quest to honor God by following His mandate found in James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this –– to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Another year draws to a close and a new year emerges filled with so many opportunities to change precious lives. But with each new opportunity comes challenges –– challenges that will stretch us and force us to grow.
I pray we never allow ourselves to become compla- cent to the challenges and opportunities as we care for the “least of these.” This year, we face our most challenging year financially. We face this challenge with faith and with confidence that God will pro- vide. Every gift you give offers life, new beginnings, second chances, hope, and love. Thank you for helping to meet critical, lifesaving, urgent needs –– “with God all things are possible!”
For more information on how you can help give a child new life, call me at 336-689-4442. And remember, every gift you give between now and January 31, 2020 will be doubled through the $250,000 gift challenge.
Article Written by Brenda B. Gray, Executive Vice President, Development & Communications