FOSTER CARE 20 february 2026 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South florida edition An on-ramp into home Last month, we began to step into a deeper understanding of what home truly means. Not simply a physical place, but the sense of home. The people we feel at home with. The peace of home that settles us, steadies us and reminds us who we belong to. Because the truest home we will ever know isn’t defined by walls or an address. It’s found in being at home with our Creator. There is something sacred about realizing that God doesn’t just invite us into His presence. He chooses to make His home in our hearts. That understanding has stayed with me; it hasn’t left me. As we continue this journey together, I’m finding that home is not something we arrive at all at once. It’s something that forms over time, shaped by what we carry within us and who we allow to dwell there. Home is where the heart is I’m also learning that clichés aren’t just cheesy sayings. Often they’re phrases that have endured because they carry a timeless truth. One that always makes me smile is, “Home is where the heart is.” And as we step into February, that phrase feels especially fitting. This month is full of hearts. We celebrate Valentine’s Day. In my own family, we celebrate my daughter Olivia and my wife’s birthday. We also honor Black History Month, a time to remember, reflect and give thanks for stories of significance and legacies that shape us. Woven through all of it is this truth: heart and home are deeply connected, in the most beautiful of ways. Guard your heart with diligence There’s a Scripture I want to encourage you with because it brings this connection into focus. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life.” Many of us have heard that verse before. But when we read it through the lens of home, and the life we long to create, it takes on fresh meaning. Out of our heart flows a truer sense of home. Out of our heart flows the life we hope to build. Out of our heart flows the environment we bring into every space we enter. Maybe it’s better said this way: Home is often created by the state of our heart. And that means our heart deserves our attention. A gentle heart check So as we move through a month where hearts are everywhere, and as you read an article from 4KIDS that’s all about finding homes, there is a divine connection between the two. This month I want to offer a gentle invitation. Not a heavy challenge, not something meant to overwhelm you, just a heart check. At 4KIDS, a heart check is the practice of slowing down long enough to understand what’s really happening inside of us and then doing something about it. Not just sitting with it but praying. Bringing what’s in our heart to God. That can mean examining the good, the joy, the gratitude, the people who bring us peace and comfort. It can also mean courageously looking at the harder things. The wounds that still ache. The forgiveness that hasn’t yet been given. The traumas that may need to be spoken aloud with a safe friend or therapist. God is not intimidated by what we find there. He is the only One capable of holding all the complexity of our human hearts with care. All heart, all connected Our theme this year at 4KIDS for our internal team is All Heart, drawn from Mark 12:30, loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And Mark 12:31 reminds us what follows. As we give our hearts fully to the Lord, we are then able to give our hearts, our very best, to the people He has called us to serve. There’s a reason these commands are inseparable. When we invite God into the very place He calls home, our hearts, we begin to reflect His love. We’re moved with His compassion. We’re shaped by His care for others. This is how He designed it. As we return to Him again and again, guarding what’s been entrusted to us, we are formed into people who can love well. Home for every child At 4KIDS, we are running toward home for every child. Not just housing, not just placement. But the full expression of home — safety, belonging, identity, and healing. And so much of that isn’t built with square footage. It’s built with presence, with patience, with the steady assurance that says, “You are safe here. You belong.” That kind of home doesn’t begin with perfection. It begins with a heart that has been tended to by God. An invitation for February So here is my encouragement as we move through this month: Pause for a heart check. Invite God into the places you’ve tried to manage alone. Ask Him to guard what’s precious. To heal what’s wounded. To gently remove what no longer serves you. Because the life you long to create flows from your heart, and the home you long to build flows from there too. And when God makes His home in us, we become the kind of people who help others find theirs. Since September 2024, Andrew Holmes has been serving as the President of 4KIDS--a ministry that provides Hope, Homes, and Healing to kids and families in crisis. Learn more and catch the vision of a home for every child at 4KIDS.us. A Heart and A Home - Andrew Holmes - 4KIDS President
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