A friend posted these verses to my page yesterday. I am so thankful for this Gospel reminder of how God loves the prayers of His people, loves justice, and loves answering the plight of the widow.
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Today's post is difficult to write. Not because it is so emotional--although it is extremely pivotal--but because it is just difficult to write what happened clearly and objectively. I hope I am able to capture what happened well.
On the day that I traveled to the DRC, allegations had begun to fly about who was responsible for what happened in JP's case. Along with other people, our in-country representative was named as one of the parties responsible. I don't want to make judgments here. I later learned that was best handled by the in-country court, anyway. Regardless, he felt he had done nothing wrong, so he brought a civil suit against the mother on the day that I met with him. He was accusing her of ruining his reputation, and it was important that the truth come out in court.
I did not truly understand the nature of the suit until a month later. I thought the courts were debating the correct placement for JP. All I knew was that JP's future was tied up in Congolese courts, and we would have no idea the length of that process. In August, I received a frantic email from Esther: the family had received notice that they were to appear at court to answer our in-country representative's claims against JP's mom. The result could be a fine that they could not pay.
My first instinct was to get really, really mad. Why was he suing the mother? What would this accomplish? I think I was mad for two reasons. The first, obvious reason was that I did not feel this was necessary or fair to the mother, who I had learned was a widow. I knew that the Bible instructs us to care for the orphan and the widow, and I was concerned that our actions (by simply agreeing to adopt) had brought this upon the family. The second, more subtle reason was that I could tell this was straining Esther's trust. But, I could not offer any promises. I have no control over a person, who feels he has been slighted and lives on the other side of the world. So all I could say in response was, I am so sorry to hear what has happened. I hope they do not have to pay anything. I will pray for the family.
And, I just prayed. And, I asked others to pray. And, they did. We just nagged God, and I hope He was pleased by it.
I know that He answered that prayer. Two weeks later, I received another email. A gentleman who is an advocate in the DRC, and who knows JP's family, stood up to represent JP's mom in court. He did not seek any payment, because he knew that she and her family were suffering. And, it appears, at this time, that he represented her well. Based on the oral reports through several levels of retelling, much like the telephone game I am sure, it appears that the court recognized our in-country representative's claim, but essentially said there is someone else to bring the claim against (the woman who offered to help JP in the first place), not JP's mom. They would contact JP's mom again if they saw the need, and they have not yet done so.
The widow received justice. I hope our in-country representative feels his voice was heard. And, then something unexpected happened from this story. Something that took me a bit to figure out. JP's mother now had an advocate, a third-party representative, who was not related to--and in fact was somewhat adversarial toward--anyone I knew working on the adoption.
That was huge. Even though the family had told me over and over again they wanted us to adopt him, I did not have a way to get that information in writing in a way that seemed objective. If I got the family's relinquishment, or someone I knew in the DRC got the family's relinquishment, the validity of that relinquishment would always be questioned. My hands were tied. But, now, I knew the mother had someone who was willing to represent her wishes, who had been tenacious in doing so.
And, he helped us answer the third prayer. But, one more thing needed to happen . . .
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