From Saddest to Steadied
The young mom sitting in front of our director was set on having an abortion. She wasn’t sure if she was pregnant from her boyfriend or from a recent assault. She blamed herself for the assault and was sure her boyfriend would think it was her fault, too.
She was homeless and living out of her car, then she lost her car. She was on food stamps, then someone stole her food stamp card. She was practicing the Wicca religion, but didn’t have peace. She felt all alone, had no home and no food. My colleague said it was the saddest client situation she had encountered so far. The young mom wasn’t looking for sympathy. She was earnestly trying to figure out when conception had happened and wondered if we could help her.
We looked at the pregnancy dating wheel with her and told her about our free services. We gave her a few referrals for housing and a gift card for food. Then our director asked the client, “May I pray for you?”
The young mom shrugged her shoulders and said, “It can’t hurt.”
My colleague prayed, acknowledging out loud that we don’t always know what God does or why, but He always has a purpose and He meant for this baby to exist. Although the prayer moved the young mom to tears, when she left, we weren’t sure if we’d ever hear from her again.
When we followed up a few days later, the young mom replied, “I decided to keep the baby…because it’s meant to happen.”
She had also reached out to a local women’s shelter for housing help. Praise Jesus!! It seemed to us that—as it says in — the Lord was starting to “[lift this woman]… out of the mud and the mire… set [her] feet on solid ground and [steady her] as [she] walked along.” That’s what God is able to do for the crisis pregnancy clients we serve and for all people—through the power of His gospel and His Church.