God Has Been Leading Me To Start An Orphanage For Years Now - written by Alfred (a short story for kids)

Once upon a time there lived a good Christian man named Dean Bennett. He was married to a beautiful, wonderful, gentle, and generous woman named Margaret. They had the most lovely and obedient little girl named Rose. Everyone called her Rosie. She too was kind hearted and she could always be found with her nose in a book.

The community in which they lived wasn’t a wealthy community. In many ways it looked like the aftermath of a lost civil war.   Thankfully, Dean had a roof over his head and he was able to consistently provide for his family. However, there were a lot of people around him who were suffering and hungry. There were a lot of homeless children around him and the sight of children having to pick food from garbage dumps really got to him. He had a big burden in his heart for them. He felt that God was leading him to start an orphanage. The weight he felt on his heart was too great, he might just die if he did nothing.

Dean decided that he would set out to start an orphanage. He had to answer God’s call. But how would he start an orphanage? Where would he get the money from?

Thus began Dean’s quest to raise funds to start an orphanage.

Dean went to different wealthy people one after another but no one would help him. They would either give him an excuse or give him an outright, No!

Dean traveled to other countries. He visited really large charity organizations and asked them for help but they said they were sorry that they had other pressing matters at hand they had to attend to.

Dean tried schools, museums, and other places that he shouldn’t even be asking for help. He was a desperate man getting even more desperate with each passing day. The months had turned into years. The years where passing by and he hadn’t even begun to fulfill his call. Nobody would give him money to start an orphanage. Dean started to feel like a failure.

Soon 7 years had passed by and Dean still hadn’t started the orphanage that he felt that God was leading him to start.

Dean got on his knees and prayed and prayed and prayed. He wept as he prayed. He had carried this burden on his heart for 7 years. He had carried the pain of not being able to help the poor for 7 years.

One day, Dean heard that a really famous philanthropist would be visiting his country.

Dean had to grab this opportunity, he had tried everything else.

He had tried everybody else and nobody had helped him. Dean felt confident about this particular case because based on the tales of the philanthropist he was about to met, he was just the kind of guy who would do anything to help people in situations like his.

Dean got to where the philanthropist was to arrive but he wasn’t even allowed past the front gate. Dean did all he could to be granted an audience with the philanthropist but they wouldn’t let him met him. Dean knew that this was his last shot to start the orphanage he felt God was leading him to start so he gave it his all. He had to fight to the end. He had to meet the philanthropist and ask for the money.   Dean stirred up so much Drama trying to see the philanthropist that he was thrown in jail. But by the time Dean’s wife could bail him out of prison, the philanthropist had gone back to where he came from. Dean had lost his opportunity.

Dean got home and cried. He wept because he had failed God.

As Dean was crying, his daughter; Rosie who was now a teenager walked up to him and asked him, “Why don’t you just start the orphanage here in our home? We can turn our house into an orphanage, can’t we?”

Dean stopped crying. The idea began registering in his head. Wow! It was a great idea.

Dean sat down with his wife and talked it over with her. She was very happy about it. The plan was set in motion.

The very next day they accepted their first little orphan into their home.By the end of the month they had accepted 20 orphans into their home. Their home started getting too small for the number of orphans that were coming in and it was just about getting difficult to get the food to feed the ever increasing number of mouths.

They were about to stop admitting new orphans into their home just when their first stranger came offering them a huge sum of money saying that they have been watching them and like the work they were doing.

Since then, it has been miracle after miracle for Dean’s family. They never had to ask for money. Someone always showed up with either money or food baskets.

Dean would even be dashed a free and much much bigger house anytime the number of kids he took in out-grew the size of the house. This happened serval times.

Dean and his wife adopted all the children and they all bore Dean’s last name.

His house soon became known as the place for orphans to go to and find a home and loving family that would love them like their own. 

 THE END.