How God’s work in a child’s heart can flourish long after they leave our Home

Most children who come to El Sauzal Home for Children stay with us only for a season. Some are here for a few days, while others remain for years. It is natural to wonder what difference we can make in such a short time.

Over the years, God has shown us again and again that the impact of love, faith, and stability cannot always be measured in days, months, or even years. Sometimes the seeds planted during a brief season continue growing long after a child leaves our care. We may never see the full harvest, but God does.

This truth became deeply personal to me through the story of my foster sister, Angelenna.

When Angelenna was six months old, she came to live with my family in Washington. We loved her dearly and hoped to adopt her. For two and a half years she was part of our family, but when she was three years old, the courts returned her to her birth parents. We lost contact and had no idea what became of her.

Then, nearly four decades later, God brought our lives back together.

As we reconnected, I learned something remarkable. Even though Angelenna had been very young when she lived with us, she remembered being loved, wanted, and safe. More importantly, she remembered feeling drawn to God. The seeds planted during those early years had never disappeared.

This is her story.

Faith rarely begins loudly

Adoption is a beautiful story, but it is not the only story God writes. I believe deeply in the power of seeds planted early because my own life is evidence of it.

When I was three months old, I was removed from my birth family because of abuse. At six months old, I went to live with a family whose last name was Cherry. For a short season of my childhood, they became a place of safety, stability, and love. During those years, they also planted and watered the seeds of Christ in my life.

When I was three years old, the courts returned me to my birth family, and our lives moved in different directions for nearly four decades. From the outside, it may have appeared that those early years were simply a brief chapter that had ended. But seeds planted in love do not disappear simply because time passes.

Thirty-seven years later, God brought our lives back together again. What once seemed like a small and temporary moment in infancy and early childhood became part of a much larger story. The family who had cared for me welcomed me once again, and what had begun decades earlier was finally completed. As an adult, I was adopted into the Cherry family.

Looking back now, I can see something I could not see then: God was present in every moment. The love, safety, and faith that surrounded me in those early years had been planted more deeply than anyone realized. The seed remained.

Faith rarely begins loudly. More often, it is planted quietly, like a seed pressed into the soil, unseen and seemingly small. When we plant faith in the life of a child, we do not always know what will become of it. We may never witness the full fruit. But God does.

Sacred ground

That is why places like El Sauzal matter so much.

A Home for children is not simply a place of shelter. It is sacred ground. Every prayer spoken over a child, every Scripture shared, every act of consistent love becomes a seed planted into a life that is still growing. At the time, these moments may seem ordinary. They are woven into daily routines, bedtime prayers, schoolwork, meals, and conversations. Yet in God’s Kingdom, nothing planted in faith is ever ordinary.

Every child who comes to El Sauzal is seen by God, known by name, and created with a purpose that no circumstance can erase. Their value is not determined by whether a family wants them or by the hardships they have experienced. Their worth was established the moment God created them. They are already chosen, already known, and already deeply loved.

Scripture reminds us, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Our role is not to control the harvest. Our role is simply to plant faithfully and trust God with what comes next.

God never loses sight of a seed

In many ways, my own life reflects that truth. A seed was planted in the heart of a small child during a brief season. For years it seemed hidden beneath the soil of time. Yet God never lost sight of it. He continued working in ways that no one could see.

Decades later, He brought my story full circle. The family who first welcomed me into their home welcomed me once again. The seeds planted so long ago had not been forgotten. They had been growing.

At El Sauzal, children may stay for only a season, but God’s work in their lives does not end when they leave. Long after they move on, He continues nurturing the seeds of faith, love, and purpose planted during their time here.

We plant the seeds. God gives the growth.

Foreword by Patty Meadows, El Sauzal Foundation board member and sibling to two amazing adopted sisters

Story by Angelenna Cherry