Faith & Finance - The Life-Changing Generosity of Adoption & Foster Care with John & Megan Cortines

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Sometimes becoming more generous means giving away less money.That may sound contradictory, especially when we often measure generosity by how much we give. But biblical generosity is about far more than a percentage on a spreadsheet. It involves surrendering everything God has entrusted to us—including our money, time, homes, relationships, and even our plans for the future.For John and Megan Cortines, that lesson became deeply personal when their journey of financial generosity led them somewhere unexpected: foster care and adoption.Their story reminds us that generosity isn't simply about what we're willing to give away. It's about what we're willing to surrender to God.From Financial Stewardship to Financial SurrenderEarly in their marriage, John and Megan considered themselves faithful stewards. They lived frugally, saved diligently, and gave approximately 10% of their income to their church and other ministries.Both had grown up in Christian homes where responsible financial stewardship was modeled well. But their understanding of generosity began to deepen during John's time at Harvard Business School.Facing the possibility of earning a significant income, they began asking important questions about what it meant to follow Christ with their finances.They came to recognize that Christ's generosity toward them should shape their generosity toward others. Giving was no longer simply an obligation to fulfill. It became an opportunity to experience the joy of participating in God's work.As their perspective changed, so did their giving.Eventually, John and Megan were giving 23% of their gross income. Rather than feeling burdened by their generosity, they found it increasingly exciting. Their willingness to surrender financially was strengthening their trust in God's provision. But they soon discovered that surrendering their money was preparing them for something much greater.When God Opened the Door to a Different Kind of GenerosityOver the next five years, something surprising happened: John and Megan's financial giving rate dropped from 23% to 12%. On paper, it might have appeared that they were becoming less generous. In reality, their lives were becoming increasingly shaped by sacrificial love.Already parents to three biological children, they began wrestling with whether God was inviting them to expand their family through foster care or adoption. Scripture played an important role in that decision.Job 29:16 says, "I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know." Isaiah 58:7 also describes faithful care for vulnerable people, including the call to "bring the homeless poor into your house."John and Megan began considering how their own experience of being welcomed into God's family through Christ might shape their willingness to welcome a child into theirs.They didn't describe their decision as a unique calling that exempted other Christians from involvement. Instead, they believed Scripture calls all believers to care for vulnerable children, even though that responsibility may look different from one family to another.Eventually, they welcomed premature newborn twins into their home through foster care. The babies arrived from the neonatal intensive care unit weighing approximately five pounds each.What began as a foster placement became a two-and-a-half-year journey toward permanent adoption. And along the way, their understanding of generosity changed forever.The Sacrifices That Don't Appear on a Giving StatementWelcoming two medically vulnerable infants into a family of five brought tremendous joy, but it also required significant sacrifice. There were sleepless nights, medical appointments, court dates, meetings with caseworkers, and the emotional uncertainty of navigating the foster care system.Their grocery, diaper, and c

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