When God Says GO
"In early June I found out that a young woman, "Charity," who is part of my extended family, was pregnant and did not want to keep her baby. There was talk of abortion. Two women in my family were helping her to think through her situation. One of those women, my mom, serves in a crisis pregnancy center in GA so quickly gave Charity the names of a few places to go in her hometown.
Meanwhile I could not stop thinking that I wanted to help her but did not know how she would respond and as far as I knew she did not know that I had been told of the situation. I wanted to help her think through her decision and was pretty sure I could help her find a Christian family for her baby should she choose to adopt. The thought nagged and nagged at me. At this point Charity had decided to give her baby for adoption. I told my mom that if it seemed appropriate she could share my story of giving a son for adoption and let Charity know that I knew of families that would love to adopt her baby.
Not long after I talked to my mom the subject came up with Charity. She took my number and seemed interested in talking with me. She called the week of July 4th. After talking with her about her decision, people she had met up to that point to consider adopting her baby and telling her about my story she said she wanted me to “introduce” her to families. After we hung up I was overwhelmed with questions. I thought “how do I do this? Who do I ask? What have I done????” I stopped to pray about it and the name of a CFC pastor and co-laborer in the counseling ministry came to my mind. I emailed him about the situation and my thoughts of how to proceed. I wanted his wisdom. He emailed back to say he would help me with something I had in mind and casually mentioned a couple he was friends with that were trying to adopt. After a few more conversations about the situation he again mentioned the couple he knew in case I wanted to talk to them.
I prayed about it and talked with my husband. We decided to contact this couple so I let him know. He contacted them and they were very interested so I called them. We sent the couple's profile to Charity on July 26th, and she immediately told me she really liked them. She said she had a really good feeling about them and that she was choosing them.
On Friday Aug. 3 Charity woke one morning not feeling well. She texted to say she may not go to work because she felt yucky. Later I received a call from my mom saying she was taking Charity to the hospital. This would be her first time with a medical professional during her pregnancy. I let the family know she was headed to the hospital. Turned out to be an easily treated infection but in the process she received some care, was established with a dr. and set her next appt., and an ultrasound showed the baby would be a boy and a due date of Sept 16th was given. I called the family with the “medical report” and said “do you want to know?” the answer was yes so I let them know he is a boy. They were relieved that this was not labor as they were in the process of raising money to cover the adoption.
The family had attempted to adopt another baby but it failed to go through and in that process they used up their funds for adoption. They had a lot of money to raise in a short time. Little did they know how short, but God did, and He provided $30K in 9 days!! The family held a fund raiser, and the response was overwhelming.
On Monday Aug. 20, at 12:53 am, we received a call from Charity saying she was on her way to the hospital to have the baby. She wanted me to tell the family. A text with a photo arrived at 5:22 am -a photo of a precious baby boy. Now the family had to scramble because he arrived, in God’s perfect timing, 3.5 weeks earlier than expected. They were together and in the car by noon that day.
Charity gave her son a name because she did not want him to go for a couple days in the hospital without a name. Later that day the family called from SC, on their way to OH, to give an update on their progress and then ask if I had told Charity what they planned to name the baby. I said “no”. They wondered because they had learned that Charity named him the same middle name they chose!
The couple arrived and were nervous about meeting Charity and having her blessing to proceed with adopting. They had two previous adoptions fall through because the moms changed their minds.
At this point I want to say that Charity listed herself as an atheist on her paperwork and the family listed themselves as Christian and their profile, which Charity loved, was very Christian. Charity was excited that her baby would be in a loving home with other kids. The couple had sent Charity flowers the day of the birth and had put together a basket for her and one for her 2-year-old son. Both baskets had Bibles in them. The next text said they were there, and I continued praying. Later I got a text from the couple saying “it could not have gone better.” But the most amazing thing was a later text from Charity that said “I really cannot thank you enough.” I texted back that she is a hero in my mind.
I then called Charity and she gushed with excitement and gratitude she really loved this couple and said when the “mom” picked up the baby she looked so natural with him, “it was perfect” she said. In all the conversations I had with her up to this point I had never heard that kind of joy, peace and gratitude. God was truly glorified in all these moments.
The next day a text came saying the couple had spent time with Charity and read Romans 8 to her. My mom later told me that Charity told her about the Bible reading and how God adopts children into His family. Reports of time spent in the hospital room laughing and crying were heartwarming and it seemed the couple spent as much, if not more, time loving on Charity than they did the baby. The kind of love poured on her was very impactful. I don’t think she has ever experienced the love of God that is in Christ Jesus before and she seems very taken by it. She was amazed at reports of people all over the world praying for her (because of the family’s blog) and her baby, fund raising efforts, and people she would probably never know loving her and her baby.
Today, Aug. 23, 2012, she signed away her rights and the family is officially the parents of a baby boy that God had determined from the beginning of time would be their son!
Psalm 139:15-16
My continued prayer is that God would use the love lavished on her to glorify Himself and draw Charity unto Himself through Jesus. I spoke to Charity yesterday and before we hung up I said “I love you” to which she replied “I love you too”. This is remarkable due to all the previous conversations which have been down, hard and focused on the negative things going on in her life. God continues to grow my awe of Him.
What a privilege to go when He says to go!"
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