“¦and helped her to choose life!
“¦and helped her to choose life!“Oh, no… This isn’t happening,” Evelyn* said, staring at the plus symbol on the pregnancy test in her hands.
She paced back and forth, bare feet thumping the tile floor as reality sunk in. It wasn’t her plan to get pregnant in college. Midterms had been way more stressful than she’d expected, and Mike* was there for her when she needed to relax”¦and that’s where things had gotten out of hand.
She ran her fingers through her hair, taking deep breaths. Still a junior, her grades put her on track to graduate with honors. Having a baby could threaten her plans for graduation and career.
She believed in God””she was raised Baptist””and she felt like her walk with God had really grown this last year. She knew God loved her and wanted what was best for her, but this seemed like too much to handle. She just didn’t feel ready to be responsible for another human being.
She remembered hearing about Pregnancy Decision Line from the church she was attending. She heard it was a good place to get some answers about unplanned pregnancy, so she decided to give them a call.
The conversation with the hotline coach was marked with tears, encouragement, and””surprisingly””even laughter. The coach mentioned that she knew of other moms who had graduated with children and maintained a career, too. She mentioned that Care Net’s own President and CEO, Roland Warren, and his wife, Yvette, had been in her position. Yvette not only graduated, but had gone on to realize her dream of becoming a doctor after getting married and even having a second child.
But then the Life Coach said something that stuck with her: “God sometimes answers our prayers in ways we don’t understand at the time, but His ways are always good.” Evelyn hung up still not knowing what to do, but she felt more like her baby was a part of God’s plans for her.
According to a Care Net survey conducted in 2018, two out of every five mothers who had gotten an abortion admitted they were regularly attending church at the time of their abortion. This means someone sitting in the pew next to you on Sunday might be planning to head to the abortion clinic on Monday.
But, thanks to you, they are changing their minds because you’ve shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ through our hotline and they’ve received compassion, hope, and help through our life affirming network of pregnancy centers. More than that, churches like yours are (or can be) a place they can turn to, to become disciples for Life.