God@Work

Sometimes God calls you to obedience and the miracles are as instant as Aaron’s staff turning to a serpent ― the evidence of a powerful God instantly before your eyes. Sometimes God calls you to a path that winds and hurts and feels very much like a dizzying roller coaster, one you are hanging onto by your sheer white knuckled grip alone. As you rocket up and plummet down time after time, your vision begins to blur, your head spins, and you may even begin to question if the ride will ever end and what the purpose in this much turmoil could ever be. These kinds of paths have me thinking of Israelites and Moses.

God worked a big, crazy miracle in our lives this past year, and he is our new son, Crosby Moses Pearson.

About five years ago after having our two older biological children, Ruby and Grady, Jeff and I set out on the adoption journey. We had long dreamed of growing our family through adoption but worried that we would never feel ready enough, financially stable enough, or frankly, brave enough. God used pain in our lives to show us that with Him we were stronger than we ever thought we could be. We set out on a two-year adventure and emotional wait and ended up bringing our Davey home. The miracle of adoption and the profound beauty of how the Father loves His children struck us so hard that we could not wait to adopt again and felt God strongly leading us in that direction. Two and a half years ago, we set out again on what we knew would be a hard, but incredibly worthy, journey.

In the past two plus years, the roller coaster has been more intense than I could ever imagine summing up on paper. Through different agencies, friends, attorneys, and social workers, we were connected with seven different children who needed homes and needed us. Seven times we climbed to the heights of excitement and expectation through the hard work of prayer and discernment, only to fall down a brutal, bumpy mountain. This past January, we even brought home a baby boy whose mother we had come to love. We had him for a short time, only to have to return him to his mother who was deeply stuck in a life of drugs and prostitution. Our souls were left weary and torn and our hearts questioning where God’s mercy was for this baby boy, and, honestly, for our family.

Late one night, this past spring, we got a call from the attorney we had used with our older son, Davey. There was a four-month-old baby boy who needed a home. The birth mom had chosen an adoptive family months ago, but because of this baby’s fragile circumstances and medical complications, the other adoptive family chose to back out at the very last minute. The attorney was elated because since she had met this baby’s birth mom, she had felt that we would be the right parents for this sweet boy. She tempered her excitement with caution because she wanted to make sure we took the time to look into his situation and ask experts for help to evaluate if we could care for his potential needs. This baby would need to be placed in seven days.

At a time when my faith felt more fragile and tested than ever before, God was directly challenging me to walk towards Him on water. The fear was enormous and dizzied our heads, as we questioned how we could say yes when we had three other children to care for and this baby may need more than we could give. Just as we felt all of our reasoning on this side, we questioned how we could ever say no to a baby that desperately needed to be unconditionally loved. More than anything, we begged for mercy from our God whom we felt confused by, but held tightly to, insisting on His faithfulness. We prayed, consulted, talked, questioned, and prayed and prayed some more, and decided that we would say yes to this child. We would bring him home in three days to be ours forever ― with so many medical questions unanswered but a sureness in our hearts that this was what God was calling us to do.

The baby’s birth mom asked that we re-name him. We decided we would name him Crosby, which means dweller at the cross, and his middle name would be Moses. God had given me a song that got me through the past several months that constantly reminded me of my God who could make a “Red Sea Road” when you have chariots chasing behind you and a wild sea in front of you. We held his name close to our hearts and told no one.

The next morning we got the call that the baby had been admitted to the hospital for dehydration and weight loss. He was struggling, and I was invited to spend the day with him there along with his birth mom and birth grandmother. As I sat holding this struggling little boy that I was told would be mine forever in a few days, I felt overwhelmed, listening as the birth grandma told the story of his life so far. I felt afraid of the risks involved and burdened by all the unknowns not just medically, but legally and emotionally. I looked down at his sweet face and felt the Lord speak to my heart so clearly saying, “Julia, this baby is not just Moses because I am parting the seas for you to be together. He is Moses because I am hiding him in the reeds and keeping him safe just like baby Moses was protected by my hand.” My heart filled with peace.

At that moment I looked up to see his birth grandmother looking at me, and she asked if she could tell me a story. She said, “When God brought this baby here into the world, He told me that we do not need to worry about him. God will protect him and hide him in the reeds just like baby Moses.”

In my overwhelmingly joyful tears, I told Crosby’s birth mom and birth grandma that this was, in fact, the name that we were giving him. In that sweet moment from the Lord that He knew I needed so desperately, every fear and concern was washed away, and I looked down at the sweet baby boy I was holding and knew that without a doubt he was our boy. Crosby Moses was our boy no matter his history, his disabilities, his potential, or his delays. I was his mama and he was my precious son.
In the short months that we have had Crosby home, we have seen God heal him in incredible ways through unconditional love and attentive care. I am reminded daily in a new way that I do not understand our God and His ways all the time, but I know that He is good, and that He can redeem things beyond what we can imagine.

Julia & Jeff Pearson serve with Young Life

Young Life Montgomery County has been growing and changing in so many exciting ways, and it is a joy to share with you! In the past three years since starting this Young Life area, Jeff and I have seen God move in order to get the news of Jesus Christ in front of kids who might otherwise never hear it.

When we first moved to Montco to build a Young Life area, we had four volunteer committee members who were barely hanging onto enthusiasm and three semi-trained volunteer leaders. We have seen God fill our family room with 23 committee members and a dozen leaders who are running hard alongside of us, working to build ministries in schools that need the Gospel.

This past year, it has been a blessing to watch our newly started club in Fort Washington flourish and for kids to come to know the Lord and grow in their relationship with Him! We have been encouraged to see leaders invest in kids’ lives and to meet them where they are and show them through relationships how God’s love for them transforms everything.

This past year has also been one of brand new growth as we have had several surrounding communities rally and reach out saying, “We need kids in our high schools to hear about Christ! How can we do this?” We love that question! We have started up three new sender teams in neighboring communities who are meeting monthly to pray for their schools and make plans of action with Young Life Montco on how to build a team of volunteer leaders and get ministries started in those new schools!

We are also excited to be bringing our first Staff Associate into our area. Matt McGonigle is a recent graduate from West Chester University. He will be joining our staff this fall to reach more kids for Christ!

Growing up at FAC certainly was a huge part of forming my heart for the lost, and we are so grateful that my home church has had such a beautiful and vital role in supporting our ministry.