Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

It may be of specific interest to know how to pray over the hearts of the members of your immediate family who are bonding with and loving on your foster children. For many families, the parents already have adoptive or biological children when they begin fostering. The willingness to step out in faith and to allow an at-risk child to experience a whole, healthy, and God-centered family is a true miracle in itself. Please note that I didn’t describe a God-centered family as perfect. Nobody comes from or creates a “perfect” family, but you are perfect for every child’s heart that you steward. You really are!

As you pray for your foster child, remember to pray for your other children as well. Pray that God opens their heart to His heart for the orphan. Pray that they recognize that blood relations are not the be-all-end-all for a family, but that as Christians, we are all God’s adopted kids. Pray specifically that the Holy Spirit takes everything this season offers: the hard, the good, and the boring everyday family stuff like homework, doctors appointments, bedtimes, and play dates, and bores His love deeply into their souls.

And pray that if the children you are fostering have had difficult pasts, God would protect your other children’s hearts. Pray that instead of protecting and shielding your other children from the realities of a broken world, God would use their wholeness and prayed-up-little-lives to pour back into a wounded soul by sharing their strength. In turn, their faiths will be strengthened as they see their family living missionally for Jesus. Praise the Lord!