- Baptist Press - https://www.baptistpress.com -

FIRST-PERSON: She was my mom

[1]

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. (BP) — Sadness. Hurt. Brokenness. Tensions. Abortion. Suicide. My heart is heavy.

I know people have many different ideas and I’m not oblivious to think that everyone believes like me. Really, I’m sure many people think I’m crazy about how I live my life. My wife and I quit our six-figure jobs to rely on God to help us start churches in the Northwest part of the country.

I know folks may not agree on everything, but one thing I think we can agree on is that God can cause good things to come from hard and tough situations.

Check this out. In 1985 a woman in Arkansas had to face a big decision. She found out she was pregnant. Her dad was a well-known pastor. Shame, guilt and regret flooded her soul. What to do. She had to decide whether to have the baby.

She didn’t want to bring shame to family members so she considered an abortion. She felt convicted and couldn’t go through with it. She had the baby boy on May 29, 1986, in Forrest City, Ark. She then had another beautiful baby girl a few years later.

Through many struggles, at the age of 36, she committed suicide. Though she took her own life, she gave life to two kids. The woman was my mom. I’m so grateful she chose to let me live.

[2]

My heart hurts for the sad bill that was passed in New York [3] to allow abortions until birth.

Here is the tension for me. I know some of the debate about health issues. I also know of women who didn’t want a child who got abortions and now have to live with indescribable regret. I have also talked with people who used abortion as birth control. My heart hurts all the way around.

Our world is hurting. My soul breaks to the core. Lord Jesus, we need You. We need forgiveness. We need unity. Help us build bridges. Help us have bigger tables to have conversations around and help us care about what You care about.

God knew me when I was in the womb. He can take someone born out of a sinful act and do a miracle. I never knew my biological dad, my mom struggled with drugs and I have felt unwanted many times in my life.

Yet Jesus changes everything. I have had great examples of what it looks like to follow Jesus. Dan and Shirley Minton saved my life by adopting me. I have been a lead pastor for 13 years, and God has allowed us to be part of several church plants in the Northwest. I’m grateful for God’s provision throughout my life and just wanted to share this story. Be kind, show grace and preach the Gospel.

“For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb,” we read in Psalms 139:13-16. “I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.”