Orphans Find Love and Hope
Jadesh Kour followed the Lord's leading and now cares for 25 orphans in his home.
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Jadesh Kour had a dream that changed his life—and tripled the size of his family.
In the dream, Jadesh saw Jesus, who commanded him very plainly to do to others what had been done for him.
"The Lord reminded me that once, I was left all alone. My mother left me; my wife and my children left me, and it was Jesus who saved me," Jadesh recalls. In the dream, Jesus quoted Isaiah 49:15-16:
Can a woman forget her nursing child;
and not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
yet I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;
your walls are ever before Me.
Jadesh, a Gospel for Asia missionary in Chhattisgarh, India, tried to brush it off as just a dream, and went back to sleep. When he slumbered again, the same dream woke him two more times. He then began to see that this was more than a dream—it was a calling.
"I began to have a burden to serve those who are parentless, who are left alone and forsaken. I told the Lord that I would do what He asked me to do," Jadesh recalled.
However, this task was also a frightening one.
Jadesh told only his wife, Bavya, about the dream and the commitment. But he did not tell his congregation. The task seemed impossible, and he feared that it might not actually come to fruition. He wondered how he would find the time, space and resources to care for orphans.
"People are turned down four and five times, but my permission had been granted."By now, he had an active ministry serving as pastor of one church and leading several other smaller Christian fellowships. His home was barely large enough to house his own family. He was already raising his own four children, and his parents and his mother-in-law lived with him. Where, he wondered, would he get the money to feed, clothe and care for these children?
"I was very eager to tell the believers in the church that I was going to start an orphanage, but I was afraid that if I announced it and, for some reason, was not able to follow through, what would people think about me? I feared I would lose their respect," he admitted.
Starting an orphanage in India is not easy. One must obtain permission from the government and prove that there are adequate resources available to care for the children. Indian law does not allow foreign money to be used to fund the work of an orphanage, nor is a church allowed to operate an orphanage. Jadesh knew these restrictions prevented him from registering the orphanage as an official work of the ministry of GFA. His orphanage would have to be self-sustaining.
The children in Jadesh's orphanage range in age from infants to 12 years old.
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In spite of his concern, Jadesh faithfully moved forward and obtained a meeting with the government authorities. The authorities were surprised to hear he was not going to receive any foreign aid to care for the children. They were even more surprised when he told them his plan.
"I explained that I was going to rely on the Lord to provide all the needs for the orphans," Jadesh said.
The officials refused to even give him the paperwork to apply for a permit. But he prayed, and soon he was filling out the forms. Shortly after submitting the paperwork, Jadesh got some unexpected news from the government.
"The official told me that usually it is not easy to get permission to start an orphanage. People are turned down four and five times, but my permission had been granted."
This proved to be just the first of many ways that Jadesh and his family saw the Lord's hand at work, providing everything they needed to do what He had called them to do.
During the next few months, the orphanage filled up with children who found themselves without parents. Today, four years later, Jadesh and his family are caring for 25 children from all over the state of Chhattisgarh.
"The Lord has increased our faith in Him through all this." Jadesh said. "We have come to know that the Lord gives us more than what we ask."