God Provides

Psalm 68:6a “God sets the lonely in families...”

God is a loving God. Some us don’t have the luxury of natural families. Sometimes death, distance or family squabbles cause us to feel alone.

I have always been a bit of a loner.  I’ve had some friendships, but I also have had many betrayals and after a while it is just easier to keep people at a distance. I’ve lost both my parents and my only biological family lives in Puerto Rico. Not exactly close.

At one time I dreamt of having children only to discover that because of many x-rays that were taken while I was in-utero parts of my reproductive system did not develop and as a result I couldn’t father children. Many people felt sorry for my wife at the time because this impacted her ability to bear children. Somehow, no one stopped to think how I felt about it. I felt emasculated, defeated and less than a man. No children would be flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood.

God provided and we were able to adopt Aaron and Amanda who couldn’t have been any more my children. I raised them from the age of 4 and now I have 2 grandchildren and a third on the way in a couple of weeks.

God again provided when Charlene and I got married.  I now had two more sons. Granted they were older (7 and 10) when we got married, but after a rocky start we became a family. I am very proud of both the boys. I don’t look at Aaron and Amanda as my adopted children, they’re my children. Justin and Ryan aren’t my step-sons, they are my sons.

In time, some kids from church have adopted us as their grandparents and we cherish them as well. I have the privilege on mentoring some men and they mean an awful lot again.

More recently, God has again provided and has brought some wonderful people into our life that are like family. We do things together, have fun together and can be ourselves in front of them. So much of the time I feel like I’m “on” as a pastor, but with them I’m just Jay. This is such a blessing.

I’ve gone from being a loner, to a man rich in family.

We all have choices to make. If we allow it, God provides and He brings people into our lives at just the right time to be a family for us when we most need them.

The Psalmist goes on to say that He leads out the prisoners with singing. Our aloneness can be a prison of our own making. Mine seemed to have huge impenetrable walls. If we trust in Him, He frees us to the point that we feel like singing and praising Him.

You have to take a chance. Will people end up hurting us and betraying us? Life is made up of imperfect human beings so it is quite likely, but don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Jesus had one betray Him. But He also had 11 that went on to change the world. It is worth the risk.


If we walk alone it is by choice because God provides.

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