The Carey's: A Family of Faith

The following story is about my good friends Brian and Shelly Carey from Katy, Texas. I have known Brian and Shelly for over 11 years and to this day Brian is one of my best friends and dearest brothers in Christ (despite throwing a dart into my head). Over eight years ago, after several years of trying to conceive a child, Brian and Shelly were told by doctors they would most likely never have any biological children. This is where their journey of becoming the parents of three children would begin. This also became an opportunity for Brian and Shelly to exercise their faith. As long as I have known Brian, he has lived what he believes and has constantly inspired me with his fire and passion to proclaim to gospel and make Christ known to anyone and everyone. Through obedience, faith, conviction, love, and compassion, Brian and Shelly were led to pursue the adoption of a child in Russia. After multiple trips to Russia and a mountain of paperwork, they would adopt their first child Matthew in 2006. Matthew was no ordinary child, Matthew was born with a severe cleft palate and a heart condition. But after numerous surgeries and operations, Matthew has been transformed in ways that would have never been possible if God had not divinely arranged for Brian and Shelly to adopt him in that small Russian town thousands of miles away from Texas. Only God! A few years later, Brian and Shelly took another bold step in faith and became foster parents. Since that time they have fostered several children and have adopted two of these precious little ones. As you can imagine, these children came to them from very difficult backgrounds, some with physical challenges and others with behavioral and emotional challenges. But when you live by faith and not by sight, God will carry you, bless you, and sustain you, and this is exactly what occurred in Brian and Shelly's life. This is not to say they didn't experience challenges, because they did. But you don't foster children without expecting challenges. Brian and Shelly love the Lord and thus they love orphans. In Psalm 82:3-4, the psalmist wrote to "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Brian and Shelly answered the call and the biblical mandate to care for orphans and I for one couldn't be more proud of them. Because of their submission, God rescued three children through the yielded and willing hearts of Brian and Shelly. In conclusion, Brian and Shelly's lives are a testimony of faith in action. Faith without works is dead and without putting our faith into action, we deny the Lord and possibly give proof that we have never truly believed. I would encourage every Christian reading this story to be convicted and inspired by Brian and Shelly's faith. It has for Ashley and I as we have recently contacted the Social Services in our home county to begin the fostering process. If you are a married couple and have no children, don't resort to unethical fertility treatments or selfishness. Embrace the biblical concept of marriage by being fruitful and multiplying your family, whether through adoption or fostering. God doesn't bring a couple together for selfish purposes, he brings them together so that His Will can be done.
I love Brian and Shelly and hold them in high regard for their bold faith in Christ and for not being afraid to step out into our fallen world to honor God. This was not a risk, its was faith.

Below is the Carey family just after their official adoption of the little boy Brian is holding. The little boy's mother was incarcerated in Galveston when Brian and Shelly received the call to provide foster care. The Carey family has been blessed and God has been glorified.