{"id":9677,"date":"2015-02-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.familylife.com\/flministries\/?p=9677"},"modified":"2015-02-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T00:00:00","slug":"why-would-god-let-me-get-pregnant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/faith\/essentials-faith\/repentance\/why-would-god-let-me-get-pregnant\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Would God Let Me Get Pregnant?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Cathy clutched the steering wheel as she rounded the curve near her parents\u2019 home. She had driven down that same road countless times, but this time was different. She didn\u2019t want to go home\u2014to see her mom and dad face-to-face.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t want to look into their eyes after she had told her mom on the phone, \u201cI\u2019m pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t want to see the tears.<\/p>\n

As Cathy peered down from the top of the last hill, she caught a glimpse of her childhood home. She smiled when she saw the front porch swing. But then she remembered the hard conversation with her mom just a few days earlier.<\/p>\n

Cathy had put her parents through a lot over the past two years. In her mind, being pregnant would be the \u201clast straw\u201d for them. \u00a0She wished she could be like her other friends and just end her problems with an abortion. Oh, she had considered it, but decided that she just couldn\u2019t go through with the procedure.<\/p>\n

Her roommates said if she decided to keep the baby they would help her raise the child. They even told her they would arrange their school schedules so someone could always be home.<\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t sound realistic to Cathy.<\/p>\n

Cathy was about to face reality. She would see her parents for the first time in months. She wondered why she had accepted her mother\u2019s invitation to come home for the weekend.<\/p>\n

The least likely to stray<\/h2>\n

As Cathy describes herself, she was pretty straight-laced in high school. \u201cNever partied or drank,\u201d she says. \u201cI never had to face consequences because I never did anything bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her high school friends would have described her as popular \u2026 active in church \u2026 an athlete \u2026 the least likely to stray from her faith. She had been raised in a tight-knit family that went to church every Sunday.<\/p>\n

But that all changed when she went to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt kind of lost,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t really sure who I was and who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

No longer surrounded by a loving family and Christian friends, Cathy wanted to be accepted with the college crowd. She started drinking, skipping classes, and having sex with her boyfriend.\u00a0At first, she sensed a \u201cheart-pounding, \u2018this isn\u2019t right\u2019 feeling\u201d when she experimented with this new behavior.\u00a0Over time, the feeling became very distant and faint. \u201cBut it was still there,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was always there.\u201d<\/p>\n

During finals week at the end of her sophomore year, Cathy and her roommates went to breakfast together and quizzed each other for their upcoming exams. As they were sitting around a restaurant table, Cathy told her friends that she thought she was pregnant. They responded, \u201cOh, Cathy, you say that every month. If you\u2019re so scared of being pregnant, then stop having sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the girls said that she had an extra pregnancy testing kit at the house, and later that day Cathy took the test. \u201cIt showed two pink lines, just as clear as a bell,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Why would God let me get pregnant?<\/em> she asked herself.<\/p>\n

Facing her parents<\/h2>\n

When Cathy pulled into her parents\u2019 driveway that day, she wondered if they would reject her for getting pregnant.\u00a0She looked for stacked boxes on the front porch, filled with all of her earthly possessions.\u00a0But there were none.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom and Dad walked out the front door and just grabbed me and hugged me and started crying,\u201d she says. \u201cIt really felt like the prodigal returning. They didn\u2019t have anything but love for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy\u2019s mother had sensed that Cathy\u2019s infrequent visits were a way of distancing herself from the family. \u201cShe was hanging around a wilder crowd and doing only what I could imagine,\u201d she says. \u201cSo when that phone call came that night Josh [Cathy\u2019s dad] was shocked but I wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Cathy\u2019s parents had a couple of days to consider the situation before their daughter came home. They prayed and sought counsel. \u201cPeople helped us see that her sin was no greater than ours, and that was a transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy\u2019s mom imagined how she would feel when her youngest daughter came home. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if she was going to bristle,\u201d she says. But when Cathy walked through the door, \u201cit was real easy to put our arms around her and cry a little bit, and sit down and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy\u2019s parents told her that they would continue to love her and support her emotionally and spiritually. \u201cBut,\u201d they said, \u201cyou are going to have to accept the physical and financial consequences of your choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believed with all of our hearts that God wanted Cathy to be reconciled with Him and with us,\u201d Cathy\u2019s mom says, \u201cAnd part of that was her assuming all of the consequences and us not taking them for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Cathy visited with her parents, she began to understand what her future as a single mom might look like. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be a babysitter so you can finish school,\u201d her parents said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue paying for college, but we won\u2019t give you any other money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy thought it was unfair that God would allow her to suffer the consequences for her lifestyle while many of her friends would not suffer similar consequences. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to be able to drink with them,\u201d she says. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t all sit on the front porch and smoke cigarettes anymore because I was pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Cathy had no idea how she could raise a child alone.<\/p>\n

Trusting God<\/h2>\n

As she considered her options with her parents, Cathy\u2019s mother asked, \u201cHave you considered adoption?\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy\u2019s best friend had been adopted and told her that she did not feel adopted\u2014that her adopted parents were<\/em> her parents. Cathy\u2019s mother knew an adoption attorney, and she agreed to see him.<\/p>\n

After visiting with the attorney, Cathy decided that adoption would be the best decision for her. The attorney advised that she cut off contact with the baby\u2019s father and move away.\u00a0Heeding his advice, Cathy withdrew from college when she was about three months pregnant. She told her boyfriend that she was going to put the baby up for adoption. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever see one another again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She moved in with her sister, and began working at a department store near the apartment. During this time she grew closer to her mom and dad. \u201cShe needed us,\u201d her mother says, \u201cbecause she didn\u2019t have anyone else to help her walk through this.\u201d\u00a0Every day during Cathy\u2019s pregnancy provided new opportunities for the entire family to trust God.<\/p>\n

While living with her sister, Cathy would often put her hands on her stomach and cry out to God. \u201cI remember being totally broken,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember reading a lot of Psalms about David feeling defeated and his enemies that triumphed over him and asking God for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baby Joshua<\/h2>\n

Some friends knew of a couple living in another state who desperately wanted to adopt a child. This couple invited Cathy to visit their home for a week.\u00a0\u201cI was able to be a fly on the wall and see how they did family life,\u201d Cathy says. \u201cWhile I was in their home, I told them that I wanted them to be my son\u2019s adoptive parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple asked Cathy to help them choose a biblical name for the baby, and Joshua was an option. \u201cI liked that,\u201d Cathy says, \u201cbecause Joshua is my dad\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she told her dad that the baby would be named after him, he just bit his bottom lip and nodded.<\/p>\n

Her dad was in the delivery room for his namesake\u2019s birth, along with Cathy\u2019s mom, sister, and the adoptive parents. The adoptive father cut the umbilical cord and handed the baby to Cathy.<\/p>\n

A few days later, when Cathy and Joshua were alone in the hospital room, she cradled her son in her arms. \u201cI love you,\u201d she whispered into his ear. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons learned<\/h2>\n

Cathy is grateful for the lessons God taught her through her pregnancy. \u201cHad I not gotten pregnant,\u201d she says, \u201cI don\u2019t know what would have happened with the relationship with my family \u2026 Satan meant to destroy me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although her parents forgave her, it was hard for Cathy to forgive herself. From time to time she still recalls specific memories of hurtful conversations that she had with her mom and dad. \u201cIt\u2019s appalling that I could have said those things and could have acted that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The invisible wall that once existed between Cathy and her parents has been shattered. \u201cI started to understand the environment that they had tried to put me in to keep me safe,\u201d Cathy says. Today she realizes what her parents had wanted for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to go out and face the consequences,\u201d she says, \u201cto understand why you follow God\u2019s rules. Not because He wants to keep you from having fun but because He wants to protect you from things that were not meant for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Copyright \u00a9 2008 by FamilyLife. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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