Who is the"real" Royal Family?

Yesterday, while at the hair salon waiting on my hair to change colors, I flipped through several magazines trying to decide what I would look at while I waited. I saw an issue of a very popular magazine that had the royal wedding couple on the cover. I knew this wedding had taken place already but I hadn't seen any of the photos or heard about any of the hoopla; so I decided I'd give this one a shot. As I strolled through the pages, I was intrigued by the beauty of the couple, well her anyway. The dresses were amazing, (I thought you only wore one dress on your wedding day, apparently not, she had like 3 different dresses for that one day) and the suits of armor on the men were interesting to say the least. So impressive were the carriage rides, the castles, gorgeous dresses and weird hats on the guest, and the gazillion onlookers with cameras as the wedding party entered and exited every destination.

As I took in all these details I couldn't help but wonder how this young lady must feel now to be a part of "the royal family"..... to be a princess. I dreamed for a minute about my own girl's future weddings and how they would be a bit scaled down from this extravagant event :). Then, thoughts flooded my mind that I actually know how it feels to be part of the "the royal family"... and to be a princess... because I am one. My daughters ARE princesses.... not because of who their earthly father is but because of who their Heavenly Father IS! He is the King of Kings and the LORD of Lords.

I smiled as I closed the magazine and focused my thoughts on how shabby this wedding party was compared to the one that awaits all believers when our KING returns. These 50 or so pages had just given me a visual to remind my mind and heart of how all the preparations for this earthly wedding was nothing compared to what our King is preparing for HIS bride.

THEN.... this morning I'm reading from a book with stories compiled by several of the people that run the organization, Show Hope, when I come across this quote:

"Orphans truly are members of God's royal family, and He has a plan for each of His princes and princesses."

WOW! Is that the picture we see in our minds when we see pictures of the orphans of the world or when we look into their faces on the mission field and in orphanages? Do we see them as royalty? As princes and princesses?Do they resemble the images I saw yesterday in the magazine? Better yet, do they see themselves as royalty? How might we treat orphans differently if we saw them as God's royalty? What lengths would we go to, to make sure they know they are royalty? Would we travel hundreds or thousands of miles to visit them? Would we bring them into our homes and be a family to them?

I believe that if we are convinced that EVERY SINGLE orphan in this world is a member of the King's Royal family, our lives will look radically different from this world. I believe that instead of dreaming of being guests at celebrity and royal events.... we won't rest until we are "doing life" with our royal brothers and sisters with the temporary name "orphan".

"A father to the fatherless.... is God in his holy dwelling."