This week we saw Mary DeBoer VandenBosch, 93, reach the end of her race.  Mary co-founded Bethany Christian Services.   Her life embodies an incredible example of the ripple effect of an ordinary woman responding to the nudging of God to show compassion to a child.  It was 63 years ago when Mary DeBoer and Marguerite Bonnema took in a three-month old baby that a single mother was unable to care for.   The story of how this “pebble tossed in the pond” rippled outward is remarkable, ultimately leading to the official formation of Bethany Christian Services thirty years later.   Today, Bethany is the largest adoption agency in the country, both enabling adoption and serving orphans and vulnerable children in over five continents.   What a powerful reminder of what remarkable things God can do with even the smallest acts of obedience.

By Jedd Medefind