The Bible says,
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"The Lord will give
you beauty from ashes."
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We wondered
about this statement.
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How is God gonna
turn something beautiful
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when our 19-year-old
daughter became pregnant?
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Join us on Life After Choice
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and see the amazing journey
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that God took us
through this difficult time.
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Welcome to Life After Choice.
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This is Pastor Todd Parker.
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And I'm Gina Parker.
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And we're dealing
with a 19-year-old daughter
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that's unwed and pregnant.
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And what do we do
with this situation?
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I'd lived in
Idaho for many years
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and I became a pastor.
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And when we found out,
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and we were
living in Mississippi,
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that she was
pregnant, it was devastating.
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But in our life, we
moved forward, right?
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And in the fact
that we moved forward,
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it's been quite a journey.
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But I want you to
talk about the young lady
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and the other lady that you met.
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Well, I was at the
ministerial meetings,
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I believe, in Austin, Texas.
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And it was just very
interesting how that...
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I'm the type of person, I
like to look at the booths.
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There were a lot of booths.
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And I think there was
like maybe 300 booths there.
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And walking around
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and going from
booth to booth to booth
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and I found this lady
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and I saw her
banner on her booth,
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and it said something
about abortion and stuff,
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and I started talking to her.
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And she just started opening up
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about what this whole thing was.
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And I told her
about our situation,
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how it just affected us
deeply, and how it hurt so hard,
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but, you know,
God is what's good.
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And so he quickly
called us and he said,
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"Gina, I want you to come.
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I want you to meet these ladies.
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And they've got a
really powerful testimony."
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Our daughter
Jessica, she was with us.
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And we were glad
that we brought her
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because we went
and we met a young lady
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by the name of
Antoinette Doug and Diana.
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And they were such a blessing
to me and to my daughter.
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And as Antoinette was talking
and telling us her story,
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I was sitting there
thinking it's gonna be okay
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because as I said before,
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you know, I grew up
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with having to live
the dos and the don'ts
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and to walk the tight line.
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And here was a situation
that was in my mind a don't.
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I had a daughter,
a single daughter,
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who was pregnant,
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and that's not the way
life is supposed to be.
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Life is supposed to be,
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you get married, you
have kids, you have grandkids.
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That's the way
life's supposed to be.
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But that's not reality.
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Life doesn't
always turn out that way.
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And that was our situation.
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And as Antoinette was talking,
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in my mind I was
getting what I needed,
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peace and joy
for the first time.
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And I was realizing that
I was going to be a grandma
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and that my daughter
was going to be a Mom.
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And as I was watching her talk,
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my mind started
wandering and I thought,
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"You know what,
this little baby inside
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can be this young lady
and can be this ministry
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and can be a light for God."
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And so all the negativeness,
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all the what would people say,
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what would people
think, I finally realized.
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But what is God going to
say, what is God going to think,
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what has God got
planned for this unborn baby.
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And my world changed.
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And I was watching my daughter
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who I know that she was
going through a lot in her life.
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She was struggling
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with the whole idea
of being a single mom,
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how is she gonna do it,
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again, what will people think.
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But as Antoinette was talking,
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I could see peace
coming over her face.
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And I knew right then and
there she was gonna be okay,
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and that she was gonna make it,
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and that God was
gonna take care of her,
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and that God was
gonna be with her.
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And so I praise God for that.
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And because of
that, we moved forward.
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You know, I think too
it helped us understand...
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Antoinette helped us
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be able to know how
to speak of the church,
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how to do all those things
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because it was the
unknown in that situation.
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We've already talked at
the conference about it,
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but now we're gonna
be talking to the church
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and everything else.
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And I just think,
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sorry, it was
just very reassuring
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and helping us to be
able to know what to do.
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It was. Yes.
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Yeah, I took away that
fear and it helped us realize
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that God was in control.
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And as I said before,
this amazing Godly woman,
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who I just adore,
she was a church member,
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and she noticed
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that Jessica
wasn't feeling well,
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and she came up to me
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and she asked me
if she was pregnant,
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and I said yes.
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You know, she
wrapped her arms around me
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and we cried together.
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And you know what,
that amazing church
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gave my baby girl a baby shower.
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They wrapped her in love,
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they let her know
that it was gonna be okay,
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that everything was
gonna turn out okay,
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that God was gonna be with us.
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And we couldn't have asked
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for a better
outpouring of love, could we?
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No.
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I mean, the
church was just amazing.
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Everybody was supporting,
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our family was
supporting and loving.
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And all through the way,
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we could see where
God was leading us.
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And because of that,
what do we have right now?
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We have a young boy
named Logan Isaiah Parker,
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and he is a...
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You know, it's interesting,
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you can go into a room
with him and it just lights up.
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I mean, he is
just incredible kid
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and he is our grandson.
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And he is almost
three years old now.
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It's been a few years.
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But it's just watching him
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and being able to
grow and everything...
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'cause we FaceTime,
we don't live next door
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like I wish we would.
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That's the hardest part for us.
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We FaceTime a lot.
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And I mean, last night,
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it was just
incredible watching him.
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He's very thrilled with things.
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But, you know, it's interesting,
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he's swimming now.
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He is jumping off
the dock into the lake
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with his arm things
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so he can just...
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But, you know,
thinking about it,
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abortion is an
end, and this is life.
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And giving him the opportunity
to have life is incredible.
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It really is. I agree.
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And also the fact that.
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You know, we worry so
much about what people think,
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you know, and
what they will say.
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And we don't
worry what God thinks.
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We don't worry
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what is God gonna
say about all this.
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And I think we have a
habit of living in fear,
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you know, because I
mean, for us, right?
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I mean, the moment
that we heard about it,
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I had fear, I was scared.
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I was scared for us,
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you know, as parents.
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But, you know,
thinking about it,
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when we move back into the story
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and talk about the fact that
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when your daughter
first heard the ultra sound,
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and you heard that ultra
sound, it was incredible.
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But then when you went to the...
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I wasn't able to go,
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but you went to go
to see the baby born,
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that was an incredible part.
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Maybe you should talk
a little bit about that.
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I will.
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I remember it.
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Again, you know,
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it's hard to
break from tradition.
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It's hard to break
from the way you grew up.
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But I remember going...
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My daughter invited us to go...
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invited me to go to
hear the baby's heartbeat.
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And I remember thinking,
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"Okay, I can do this."
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And they put the
ultrasound on her stomach,
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and I heard that
heartbeat so loud, so clear.
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And it finally,
just really became real.
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This was a baby.
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I mean we aw, ooh,
and aw over babies,
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and this was a baby.
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But this wasn't just a baby.
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This was my baby, my grandson.
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At the time, I thought
it was gonna be a girl, so.
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But this was for real.
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And you know what,
Antoinette had given us
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this little pen
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and it had these
two tiny little feet.
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And I've kept that pen
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'cause it reminded me that
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that is life.
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That is life.
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Those two little
feet, two little hands,
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a little heartbeat.
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And I thought about that
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when I was
listening to that heartbeat.
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Later on, I got to hear
and see this little baby,
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and I got to see,
again, the toes, the fingers,
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the nose, the mouth, everything.
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And at that moment,
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I realized that that
was a part of my husband,
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that was a part of me,
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that was going to be a new life.
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And it just changed.
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I didn't care what
people thought anymore.
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I only cared what God thought.
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And God said, "This is life.
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This is a gift
that I have given you.
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Take this gift and
make it a blessing."
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I know that right now
there is someone out there
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who is going through
what we went through.
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I know there are
parents out there
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who just found out...
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your daughter is
pregnant or has just found out
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that your son has
gotten someone pregnant.
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And all of a sudden,
now fear is taking over.
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And you're thinking,
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"What are people
gonna say about me?
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How can I get rid of this?
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How can I make
this problem go away?"
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I'm asking you to stop.
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Get on your knees right now
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and don't worry what people say.
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People will talk. I don't care.
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You could live a perfect life
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and someone is
still gonna find something
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to talk about.
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But get on your
knees right now and say,
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"God, what do You want me to do?
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I don't know what to do."
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But you know what, God does.
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I'm not saying that
God wanted your life
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to be this way.
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I'm not saying that God said,
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"Okay, this is the
way it's gonna be."
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But God, like I said before,
God can take a crooked arrow,
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a situation that
was not meant to be
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and He can turn
it into a blessing.
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He can still
help you hit the mark.
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You right now, as a parent,
have a child that needs you,
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the child that's in crisis,
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and the child that can
only see God through you.
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And you have the responsibility
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to show them God.
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Amen.
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And the way to do that
00:12:11.56\00:12:13.56
is by giving them encouragement,
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giving them love, and
giving them the strength
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to help them get through this.
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And you know what,
God's gonna give you
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all of that.
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He's gonna give you strength,
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He's gonna give
you encouragement.
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And along the way,
00:12:30.21\00:12:32.25
He is going to show
you what you need to do.
00:12:32.28\00:12:37.85
I'd like to say one
more thing and that is this.
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If there's a pastor out
there that's just found out,
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maybe his daughter...
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It's strange because of the fact
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that he has just found
out that she is pregnant.
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I want you to get on your knees
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and ask God to work in your life
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because don't
neglect your daughter,
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don't be
embarrassed of your daughter,
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but know that she
may have made a mistake,
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but that doesn't mean
you don't still love her
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because she is asking,
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she is crying out
for love I'm sure,
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and she needs
you to be a support.
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I know that church may say
why, the conference may say why,
00:13:14.89\00:13:19.06
but your daughter has a baby,
00:13:19.09\00:13:21.33
and it needs to
be first in your life
00:13:21.36\00:13:23.77
and put her first
00:13:23.80\00:13:25.13
because I think that's
so important, don't you?
00:13:25.17\00:13:26.50
Oh, I totally agree.
00:13:26.53\00:13:28.24
You know, and I also think that
00:13:28.27\00:13:31.01
as a couple to
support each other,
00:13:31.04\00:13:35.01
I mean, honestly and truthfully
00:13:35.04\00:13:36.61
because of the way I was raised,
00:13:36.64\00:13:39.05
you know and because you
were raised so different,
00:13:39.08\00:13:42.95
you became my rock.
00:13:42.98\00:13:45.19
And I knew that
00:13:45.22\00:13:46.55
if everything was okay with you,
00:13:46.59\00:13:49.82
that everything
was gonna be all right.
00:13:49.86\00:13:51.46
But God gave you the
insight to know what to say.
00:13:51.49\00:13:56.20
And so I'm
awfully grateful for that.
00:13:56.23\00:14:01.54
But I say, as a couple
00:14:01.57\00:14:02.97
we need to support each
other in this situation.
00:14:03.00\00:14:06.81
And as a family, yes.
00:14:06.84\00:14:08.18
And as a family, we
need to support each other.
00:14:08.21\00:14:09.54
They maybe in a mistake,
they may be in situations,
00:14:09.58\00:14:11.88
but that doesn't
mean you still don't trust
00:14:11.91\00:14:14.58
and work with God
00:14:14.62\00:14:16.15
cause God doesn't
create junk, He creates life.
00:14:16.18\00:14:19.72
That's right.
00:14:19.75\00:14:21.09
And when He makes
life, He makes it precious.
00:14:21.12\00:14:23.29
He says you are a
jewel, you are a fine gold,
00:14:23.32\00:14:26.86
and so He is
creating that in your life.
00:14:26.90\00:14:29.63
And I would
also like to say that
00:14:29.66\00:14:32.73
that beautiful baby,
00:14:32.77\00:14:34.10
that tiny unborn
child is not a curse.
00:14:34.14\00:14:37.57
It's a blessing. Amen.
00:14:37.61\00:14:39.27
And God's gonna turn
your ashes into beauty.
00:14:39.31\00:14:42.98