A Life Changed

A Grandmother’s story of transitioning from fear & frustration to hope & grace.

Have you heard that saying, “When you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on”? Well, my rope had a lot of knots. Our daughter was raised in a loving, Christ-centered home, was a good student, involved in sports, music, and the youth group at church. It was not until her senior year of high school that my husband and I noticed changes in her behavior. She started making one bad choice after another and we spent a great deal of time worrying about how those choices would impact her future. She seemed to only care about partying, boys, and reckless living and I can remember feeling hopeless and out of answers.

Right around the time our daughter was 21, she suspected she was pregnant, so she called her sister for support and off they went to Planned Parenthood for a pregnancy test. When the test came back positive, she feared what to do next. In her heart and mind, neither Planned Parenthood or an abortion was the answer. She ended up walking into Agape and from the moment she arrived she was welcomed with love and compassion. She talked with a patient advocate and broke down letting them know all her fears: how we, as her parents, would react, how would she support a baby and what should she do now that she is pregnant. The patient advocate gave her advice, resources, and options other than abortion. To this day, she still talks about how compassionate they were in her time of need.

Then came the day she met with us to tell us she was pregnant. It was obvious that she was afraid and ashamed to tell us. She genuinely believed that we were going to disown her, but she would say it was the talk at Agape that gave her the courage to take things one step at a time. I wish I could say this was a happy moment for my husband and I, but it was not. We were disappointed, frustrated, irritated and downright scared. However, over the next few months, God softened my heart and opened my eyes to the responsibility I had in this situation going forward, which was to be supportive, positive and trust that He was still in control. My questions changed from “Where did we go wrong” to “God, what is Your plan for our daughter and her child?” We turned it over to God and he did the rest.

Fast forward to today, 13 years later. Our grandson is the light of our life. Every year of his life has been a gift beyond measure. He brings us absolute joy. We are so glad our daughter made the important decision to choose life. Even though Satan tried to distract us, God had a different plan and Agape was part of that plan. Together they provided us with two of His greatest promises… HOPE and GRACE.