Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

Unlike most young Seventh Day Adventist women, I was not ashamed that I got pregnant out of wedlock. In fact, it never really mattered to me whether I got pregnant before or after marriage. I wore my pregnancy proudly and never tried to hide it. I would even get offended; as I should, when people would suggest that I wear bigger shirts to conceal my growing stomach. I always felt and still feel what’s the point in hiding it, it’s not like a tattoo or anything. It’s going to keep growing and eventually my baby will be here. Unfortunately fornication is one of those sins that even though it’s done behind closed doors, it’s going to become known in a matter of time; 9 months to be exact. To this day, I’m still not ashamed of my son or how he got here. In fact, I truly believe that he’s my biggest and greatest blessing and his birth saved my life! See, before him, I was spiritually dead. Yes I was still going to church, yes I was still singing in the choir but I was just going through the motions. I was just doing it because it was what I should be doing. Even though I wasn’t embarrassed about being an unwed mother, I was actually embarrassed that I was going to be a single mother. I would say God, why would you let me fall so far from grace. It’s bad enough that these people are looking at me sideways because I had the nerve to roll up in here pregnant with no ring on my finger, but on top of it, I don’t even have a man by my side. I would think to myself, why would God do me like that? But it’s EXACTLY how he had to do me. See, if he didn’t break me all the way down, I might have thought that I was doing this all on my own. I would’ve thought that I was making it on my own. I would’ve thought that I was doing something right, and that’s the reason why my life was going well. But instead, he had to show me that the only reason why I’m still standing, the only reason why I’m able to go and grow through this was because of his grace! That’s right Grace; God’s unmerited favor. A lot of us go through life thinking that we are making it on our own. That we have the things we have because we somehow earned it. That we are afforded the luxuries we have because we are nice enough or kind enough or smart enough but we got it all twisted. If it wasn’t for God and his covering grace, I don’t know where I would be. The songwriter says, “I could’ve been dead, sleeping in my grave, but the Lord made all my enemies behave”.  That gives me chills when I think about it. It makes me question him sometimes; like God, what did I do to deserve all this goodness. But that just goes to show how much God loves us. Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. There’s nothing you or I can ever do that would ever make him stop loving us. We are not here, alive and thriving on our own. The devil tries to trick us to make us think that we can make it without God. In recent years, you see the term “self made” being used and is popularized by the world. Us Christians know better. We are God made; Kingdom made! If you still think that you’re doing this on your own, really sit and ask yourself, had it not been for the Lord on my side…where would I be? And if the answer is still that you’ve been making it on your own then kudos to you. But I know for me, if it wasn’t for God stepping out and stepping in at the right time; if it wasn’t for him showing up and showing out just when I needed him to, blocking and shielding me from all sorts of evil, I wouldn’t be here today.