Recently our client services director and I were invited to attend a lovely women of faith luncheon. We were asked to say a few words about The Pregnancy and Parenting Center, and they blessed us with a significant collection of items for our ministry. What we didn’t know was there was another presenter booked as well.
After we gave a brief overview, “Beth” (we’ll call her for the purpose of this story) stepped up to the lectern clutching a tissue and with eyes filled with tears ready to spill over. In a shaky voice she began saying that she had no idea He would call her that day, at that very minute, to tell her story to a room full of people she didn’t know.
Beth went on to say as a young college student she found herself pregnant. By now the tears were rolling down her face. She explained she had made plans for her friend to take her to abort the child the next day. She came from a good family and didn’t want to tell her parents. Little did she know that someone had anonymously called her mother and told her that her daughter was pregnant. When Beth came home that evening after work, her mother was sitting at the kitchen table. Their eyes met and all her mom said was “I know.” She stood up, embraced her daughter and said, “We’ll get through this.” Beth chose to give birth to the baby boy and placed him for adoption.
The story she came to tell was to be about how the Lord led her through a challenging medical situation. She had no intention of saying what the issue was in that it was not significant to the story. Upon seeing our ministry on the agenda, then hearing what we do, Jesus called her to unburden her heart by giving her testimony right then and there. You see only four people in her life, her mother, husband, best friend and her daughter, knew she got pregnant as a young woman and gave the baby up. For more than 30 years she had been carrying the pain of a child lost. That day was the day her testimony started the healing. Throughout her talk she kept saying “God is so good. He is leading me forward.” As you might imagine, she wasn’t the only one in tears at that point. After she finished, she was surrounded by complete strangers loving on her and providing their support.
Jesus does indeed have His plan. Beth was supposed to speak later in the year, but at the last minute was asked to do the March luncheon where we were the ministry focus. Don’t think for one minute this was a coincidence. He did this. He put us there to help Beth face her secret and begin the healing. She was in distress…and He set her free.
Yours in Christ,
Paula