Growing Hearts & Home
Tim and Jennifer Hurd have been married for nearly 20 years. As the proud parents of five: Dylane, Noah, Maleah, Layiana, and Demari, the Hurds have experienced growth in their hearts and home through the ministry of foster care.
“When we started this process, we felt the Lord very clearly tell us to just be open,” said Tim about his family’s journey of fostering. “He told us to have our hearts wide open to what He had for us through this journey and to not make our own plans.”
The Lord first planted the desire of fostering and adopting in Tim’s wife, Jennifer, when she was a just a teenager, and this desire was affirmed while she worked at our Mobile campus several years ago. After they were married and had their two biological boys, Dylane and Noah, they knew that they had other children waiting to be welcomed into their new family.
The Hurds feel God has graciously allowed them to have a vision of expanding their family and led them to answer a calling to foster when this need was shared and encouraged through a sermon at their church, The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham. “How I so want to say that we jumped right on it . . . but it took us ten years . . . before we actually welcomed our first foster child,” said Tim. In that time, God continued to prepare the hearts of each family member, readying them to welcome that first child into their care.
GROWING A HOME
After going through training and certifications, the Hurds took in their first “foster love” in January 2018. Tim says their sons immediately took to becoming big brothers. “Once we welcomed our first foster child, our youngest son stepped up and became the big brother that he had always wanted to be by helping us out and asking how he can serve the younger siblings.”
Through fostering they have seen up-close the Lord work to restore families, particularly in the family of a newborn they were able to foster for the first eleven months of her life. “We were able to be part of the reunification of her coming back to her mother and father. It was bittersweet, saying good-bye, but through all of our training courses, we knew that the ultimate goal was to reunify a child with their family, and we were so thankful to be part of God's plan. We were able to be a part of some pretty special moments throughout, with her birth family,” said Tim. “There were tears of joy as well as tears of grief. The bond was strong, and we prayed that the bond we formed would help the attachment bond be even stronger with her birth parents.”
Tim shares that despite the pain of loving and letting go, it was all worth it, “This family and baby were worth loving for a season even if that meant we had to grieve. We learned that God will be with us in our grief and we can trust Him with it.”
Although reunification to family is the goal of foster care, not all situations allow for that to happen. For some children and families, the court determines that adoption is in their best interest. The Hurds have been blessed to adopt three children that have been in their care and have experienced the fulfillment that comes with seeing their children find healing and growing in the Lord since being a part of their family.
“We see how God is using our 6-year-old in mighty ways and how tender she is to His Spirit’s leading . . . she knows loss, grief, and healing, and knows He is the one that can heal those places and is with us through it all,” says Tim.
Before COVID-19, Tim and Jennifer saw their three youngest children thriving at church, reciting memory verses, singing praise and worship songs, and becoming comfortable and not timid around others. “It became a second home with so many familiar faces that they knew loved them and delighted in them,” said Tim. “It’s important to see them in other environments that desire to heal and nurture them the way Jesus desires. He shows us in His Word that children are important and should be welcomed. We want them to always feel that.”
GROWING HEARTS
Though there have been challenges and changes since becoming a foster family, the Hurds have witnessed God use this process to grow their older sons in special ways. “I have seen God teach them a deeper compassion overall,” said Tim. “I have seen God undo selfish desires within themselves. I have seen God deepen the communication between us all to have open discussions regarding the challenges and the hard.”
Not only has the Lord grown their sons through foster care, but it has shaped Tim and Jennifer as well. “I have seen us not sweat the small things as much as we all did before. It has broadened all of our eyes and our perspectives on what’s really important and what’s not.” The Hurds have also seen the fruit of being obedient to God’s calling on their lives. “He has shown us that our only job is to walk in obedience and that He can be trusted . . . There is truly never any greater joy and fulfillment than walking in His ways and His purpose.”
Tim says they see God’s work in the hearts of their permanent little ones daily, and they have also had the joy of seeing the Lord shape the hearts of children in their care who were only with them for a season. One child who was with them for just a few weeks came in telling them he didn’t want to read the Bible or pray. But in just a few short weeks, he told the Hurds that he loved to pray and read the Bible, and that he loved going to church.
“We told him to never forget that he loves it and told him to always remember that God is with him to listen to and talk with,” said Tim. “We pray those seeds will take a strong root in his life. You never know how or when that might come back to his heart.” Being able to love and nurture God’s children for a season of life and shining His light into their lives during a season of uncertainty is something the Hurds greatly value and have strived to live out with every child in their care.
We are thankful for families like the Hurds who have stepped into the calling the Lord has placed on their lives as foster parents. We are also thankful for church families who wrap around foster families to provide a needed support system for their journey, whether through providing meals, writing notes or sending texts of encouragement, or regularly keeping them in their prayers.
When it comes to taking your next step in caring for children, Tim encourages you to, “Pray. Pray and allow God to move you in ways that you may feel are uncomfortable but remember, your uncomfortable posture is where He wants you to be in order to use you in the way that He wants to use you to take care of His children. Step out in obedience and in faith. Allow Him to do the work in and through your family and in the lives of the kids and families that He allows you to serve. He can be trusted through it all.”
Whether serving, praying, or giving to support those in foster care, learn more about taking your next step here.