United States of America
God helped me through a hard time when I got pregnant at 14 and had no one in my corner to help me. I didn’t have my mom, my dad, not a baby father, just me, a group home, and the four walls. I felt so alone, and I was going through the worst pregnancy symptoms. I threw up everything – water, all my food, and all my fluids in my body. I was so sick that I had to be placed in the hospital so they could put fluids back into my body.
Going through all those emotions left me not wanting my baby. I had multiple conversations about adoption and abortion. I just wanted to give up on life. But once I got to my three months, I just felt that God wanted me to have my baby girl, so that I would have someone who loves me forever. That was the best thing I ever did! I am amazed at how much I love her. Thank you, Jesus.
United States of America
It was in the spacious confines of the Target family bathroom, alone, where my world was knocked off its axis. It was 2011, and I found out that sunny morning in early April that I was pregnant with my fourth child…nine years after my husband’s vasectomy.
I had just received the beautifully printed invitations for our eldest daughter’s high school graduation; our second daughter was 15 and in the throes of adolescence, and our youngest was 10 years old. My husband and I had only recently begun going out on dates again.
After three stick tests and a blood test, a very long walk around the block with my husband, we were forced to accept it-we were going back to the starting line of parenting. We would be parenting for a total of 36 years.
I was reminded of the old Yiddish adage, “Man plans, and God laughs.”
After our baby came, Skye Lynn, the adjustment was very difficult. I endured a horrible postpartum depression and left behind my music career for a season. I began writing in the late hours of the night when I couldn’t sleep, which led to a blog and then a book of family stories, “The Secret Life of a Doctor’s Wife.”
Over time, I recovered, and Skye became the joy of our home; our older kids gave her a thousand nicknames, songs were written for and about her, and we all continue to delight in her as she has become a talented visual artist and animal enthusiast.
How do we handle the unexpecteds that come to us in life? We may struggle during the adjustment, but in the end, we trust that God knows what is best for us.
Rebekah McLeod, author, musician, storyteller
