One of our most foundational scriptures at Mercy Multiplied is from Deuteronomy 30:19 that says for us to “Choose life!” The young women who come into our residential program have made the decision that their lives matter, and that they want to experience the kind of life that God has created them to have. However, for many of those young women, they haven’t just chosen life for themselves; they’ve also chosen life for their unborn babies. With the overturning of Roe V. Wade on June 24th of this year, it is more imperative than ever that we get the word out that we have a way we can take care of all these young women who want to choose life.
The History of our Pregnancy Services
When God led me to begin Mercy back in 1983, He gave me an overwhelming desire to minister to unwed mothers. However, in those early days, we didn’t have the space and weren’t equipped to handle the needs of an expectant mother…or so I thought.
You could hear the fear in their voices when they would call us. They had no place to turn. I would sadly respond, “I’m sorry, we would like to help you, but we aren’t equipped to help pregnant women at this time. We hope to establish an unwed mothers’ home someday, but until then. . .”. For a young woman on a tight, 9-month timeline, the word “someday” is not at all helpful. I desperately wanted to help them, but until God provided us land and a building, I felt like I had no other way to respond.
At that time, in 1985, some people were marching in front of abortion clinics, laying their bodies across the clinic doors to block people from walking in. It was like watching a war as each side shouted at one another, fighting and even getting thrown in jail for violence and trespassing. As passionately as I felt against taking an unborn baby’s life, I didn’t believe that protesting and fighting was the answer. That didn’t look like the heart of God to me, and I knew He was calling me to something different.
When I would speak in front of churches and civic groups, I would passionately speak out against abortion, but I will never forget the day that God told me I was a hypocrite. (Trust me, you don’t easily forget a moment like that!) He showed me the hypocrisy in speaking out against abortion on one hand yet turning away pregnant girls on the other. I was speaking out against something that I wasn’t doing anything about. That day, God showed me that I had to stop speaking out against abortion unless I was ready to begin taking in unwed mothers!
God also showed me that my thinking had been backward. I had expected Him to provide us another home so we could accept unwed mothers. But He wanted me to step out in faith by first accepting unwed mothers and then He would provide the home. I asked God to forgive me, and I promised Him that I would never again turn away a pregnant girl that reached out to us for help.
The very next day, I got a call from a pastor who was desperate. He told me about a 13-year-old girl in his congregation that was pregnant by her mother’s 37-year-old boyfriend. That girl became our first pregnant resident. Since that day, we have helped hundreds of young women choose life for their unborn babies because they had a free and practical way to do so.
Basic Decision-Making
One of the things that God was very clear about from the beginning was that the job of the Mercy staff was not to try and tell expectant mothers what to do with their baby once they were born. Our job was to introduce these young women to Christ, take them through what we now call a series of “Basic Decision-Making” classes, and let God lead them in their decision to either parent their baby or place the baby for adoption.
It soon became clear to me that we needed to start a licensed adoption agency for those women making the choice to place their child for adoption and bless another family with the gift of life. We tried to work with other agencies, but they were not willing to honor what these girls had in their hearts for an adoptive couple. So out of necessity, we started an adoption agency of our own that would honor what the expectant mothers desired for their babies.
For those young women who have chosen to keep their babies, God has promised to be a father to the fatherless and a husband to the husbandless. He is always so faithful to make up for anything that might be lacking.
In addition, we have worked with many young women who have already had abortions prior to coming to Mercy. Many of those women have been walking in pain, grief and shame because of their choice. However, we want them to know that God isn’t out to condemn them, and He’s not mad at them. He loves them, and He even understands where they were during that point in their life. If you are reading this and you’ve had an abortion, God is not angry at you. He wants you to forgive yourself and wants your heart to be healed. He wants you to know that you are going to see that child again and hold them in Heaven one day.
Women Who Chose Life
Sara and Kathryne are graduates who both came to Mercy facing unplanned pregnancies. One decided to keep her baby; one decided to place her baby for adoption. Neither choice was wrong, because they both chose life!
Sara came to Mercy in 1997 at the age of 16. She was so young, yet so courageous to leave her family to come into the program. When Sara came to Mercy, she intended to place her baby for adoption, but God ended up leading her to keep and raise her baby girl. Today Sara’s beautiful daughter is 24 years old and is working full-time for their family business. Sara is married to an amazing man, has started an extremely successful business, and now has more children!
Kathryne came to Mercy at the age of 19. Kathryne had just completed her freshman year college when she discovered that she was pregnant. Needless to say, her dreams about college had never included an unplanned pregnancy. She made the difficult decision to leave her college and all of her friends to come to Mercy. As opposed to Sara, Kathryne came to Mercy intending to keep her baby, but God led her to place for adoption. Mercy prepared Kathryne for making her adoption plan, and she blessed a family with a precious baby boy. Today Kathryne is married, and she and her husband have three beautiful little girls. She is close with the adoptive family and has been blessed to watch her baby boy grow into a young man over the past 20 years.
Today, Sara and Kathryne are both incredible wives and moms, successful businesswomen, and living Godly lives. They both, along with their husbands, are generous monthly partners with Mercy, because they want to give back so that other young women can find the help that they received so many years ago. What’s even more exciting is that these two phenomenal women currently serve on Mercy’s Board of Directors.
I never want a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy to think that abortion is her only choice. She can choose life! There are places like Mercy where people will love them and walk alongside them. If you or someone you know is pregnant and thinking about having an abortion, please let them know about our free-of-charge program at Mercy. To learn more about our pregnancy services, visit https://l2z.997.myftpupload.com/pregnancy/services/
If you have had an abortion and have unresolved feelings about that decision, we want you to know that God loves you and that He understood exactly where you were when you made that decision. He has a great plan for your life, and we want to help you heal from those hurts. If you are struggling, Mercy is here to help. To learn more about our residential program, visit https://l2z.997.myftpupload.com/residential-program/
Mercy Multiplied exists to provide opportunities for all to experience God’s unconditional love, forgiveness, and life-transforming power. We offer multiple programs and resources online and onsite designed to equip people to live free and stay free in Christ. For more information about the services we offer, click here.
Want more resources? Check out our MercyTalk podcast episode, “Guilt, Shame, and Regret with Evan Owens”. For daily inspiration, follow us @MercyMultiplied on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!