Divine Intervention

There was nothing miraculous about this birth, we all know that it happens every day. Sometimes it occurs in the happiest of circumstances, other times into lives of strife and hardship. Sometimes to single mothers filled with anxieties of how she can possibly cope with this new responsibility.

Bad choices have consequences, just as good choices have consequences. Either way we have to live with our decisions. If we've made a bad decision somewhere along the way, it doesn't mean that the consequences can't be reversed by a good decision made later.

In the fall of 1983 just such an decision impacted our lives and changed our family forever. My wife and I were struggling. We had one child, and like all young parents just assumed that another would be on the way soon. It didn't happen and seemed to be unlikely that it would. It was a test of faith, so we prayed for guidance. As we prayed and waited, hoping against all odds for a pregnancy, another door was opened. A pregnancy occurred, just not at our home.

Somewhere in the city a young girl and her boyfriend made a poor decision resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. Divine intervention? She was sixteen years old, scared to death, still in high school, with big plans for the future. Of course we don't know what thoughts were going through her mind, or what led her to make the decision she did - the one that changed all of our lives. Divine intervention?

What we do know is that we received a call from an acquaintance at a clinic, "We have a patient who wants to put up a baby for adoption". Divine intervention? "Are you interested"? Divine intervention? "We need to know right now, the baby is due in December".  Without hesitation we replied, "Of course we're interested, let's do it". There was never a doubt that it was the right decision for us, and that it was "meant to be". The details are unimportant, just suffice it to say that every aspect of the event was guided by God's hand, and we welcomed him as our own.

Sometimes the circumstances are much different, the new addition is welcomed by two sets of doting grandparents, a warm and loving family, and plans for a bright future. But somewhere out there is a frightened young woman who's made a poor choice, but still has the opportunity to reverse the consequences for not only herself, but for a family anxiously awaiting the chance to be parents. I would like to think that it's the first option, however, 3000 times each day the decision is to end the pregnancy by snuffing out a life. It's a sad ending for what could have been a storybook ending....but what do I know...