What makes a family?

Is it because you share DNA with other people?  Because you are related by blood?

I know many people who have a family and do not share any genetic markers that would make them a biological family.  They didn’t find each other when the “child” was a child, they were older, in their teens or mid-twenties.  However, this did not make the “parent” any less of a parent because they did not raise them, in fact, it usually makes them closer.

Throughout my life, I watched my mother take in other “children” and treat them just as her own.  Sometimes these “brothers and sisters” would live with us, other times they were just close by.  To my mother, they were hers; her children, her babies.  She introduced them as such and when they got older and had children of their own, she was grandma.  This is how I was taught about family.

My mother had wanted a house filled with children, she had six miscarriages (that I know of) and only two children.  One of the scriptures she always quoted to me was Psalms 37:4-5,  

 “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:”

If there is one thing that anyone would say about my mother, it would be she took delight in trusting in Jesus.  She wanted many children, and she was given more than she dreamed. Her family grew, and her heart was filled.  Trust can be a delight when there is love. 

If I can leave you with anything today, remember this:  

Delight my friends, trust the Lord.  Watch and see His mighty works.