Get It Together Girl!

I grew up going to church with my mom and little sister. My parents provided a wonderful upbringing. Still, I was a rebellious teenager because my parents were strict and, well, because that’s just the way the devil works. Needless to say, my self-guided choices lead me to pregnancy at 15 years old.

The harsh reality was that choice to terminated or continued with the pregnancy, my life would have changed forever. I was always a pro-life advocate, until I became the pregnant one. I contemplated terminating my pregnancy because of all the misguided counsel I received from those my age and family who “wanted better for my future.” Thank God for my mom, my God-fearing and praying mom. She was my rock and encouraged me to go through with the pregnancy. It was so hard. I lost “friends” and people everywhere knew and were talking about me. I felt lonely and out of place for a while. To make matters even worse, I attended a catholic high school so to try and hide my growing belly grew tougher as the months progressed. I grew up overnight.

Fast forward to around 2010. My son was three when he was diagnosed with autism. Not only was I a 19 year old single-mom, but I was a mother of a child with special needs. I cried and cried and wondered why that was happening.

For the first 7 years of my son’s life, I was in and out of church, enjoying temporary relationships and happiness. I was honestly an emotional wreck, but too prideful to admit I needed change. I was too consumed with being a mom, a full-time worker, and a full-time student to fit God into my life.

I was 23 when I met my now-husband through a mutual friend. Our relationship was great according to worldly standards, but I was missing something. I had a void in my life that needed to be filled. Shortly after we started dating, I dedicated my life back to the Lord. That proposed some issues in my relationship because he was not a Christ Follower. But, I knew that I wanted to grow with someone in the ways God intended and to raise my son up to be a Godly man. So, I consistently prayed for his salvation and told the Lord that if he wasn’t the man for me to remove him from my life. A harsh prayer, I know, but I was honest with God.

Now, over three years later, I feel so blessed to say that God is number one in both of our lives. He is the center of our marriage, parenting, relationships, finances, decision-making and everything else. Don’t get me wrong, it is challenging as a young couple to keep focus when there are so many distraction-so many questions, worries, and doubts. But I remind myself that following Christ is counter-culture, not a sub-culture. One of my favorite versus when I’m struggling to keep afloat is, “And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” –Matthew 6:30