Read His Words Before Ours!
Luke 1:26-28
John 4:1-2
John 4:39-41
Psalm 139:13-18

Oh God, please, please, please just give me a baby sister. Please.

This was the pleading of a five-year-old little girl, who continued praying this for 2 years.

This was my prayer.

As much as my five-year-old brain could understand, I knew my mom couldn’t physically have more children, but I also knew God was a God of miracles, which meant I could still have a little sister. So I prayed with everything in me.

Oh the joy when my prayers were answered one evening two years later! My parents gathered my grandparents, brother, and I into our tiny living room, telling us we would be adopting a baby in a few months. They didn’t know whether that baby was a boy or a girl… but I knew. This baby was my answered prayer. This baby was my sister.

As hot tears streamed down my tanned cheeks, I knew, at just eight-years-old, that the Lord hears. He does the impossible, far beyond what we can imagine or dream.
I knew God loved me.

This began my deep passion for adoption, and a softened heart towards women surprised with pregnancy.

Unexpected pregnancies have been a rhythm in my family, including my precious Gamma and her beloved Harald. My Papa passed away right after they celebrated 59 years of marriage, but their marriage began unconventionally. When Gamma was 15 and smitten with a handsome, blonde, German boy, they found out they would become parents much sooner than planned. At 16, they made vows they took seriously and carried out all 59 years of their marriage. However, being pregnant in the 50s at only 15, forever marked my Gamma. So, when other family members found themselves in similar circumstances, her heart ached for the pain they endured from scoffers and judgers; which marked me.

I learned at a very young age the Bible is clear: sex outside of marriage is wrong. Pregnancy is not.
It is not a sin to be pregnant.
Life is never a sin.
Life, because of God’s great redemption, can be the result of sin, but it is not sin.
Period.

So, sisters, how do we go about loving the fellow mamas around us who are expecting a life they weren’t planning to receive? How do we approach the mamas who were planning their pregnancy, but became pregnant outside of marriage?

Well… we love them,
just like the Father loves them.

Jesus was the result of an unplanned pregnancy occurring outside of marriage. Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit as a young teenage girl. (Matthew 1:18)  Motivated by redemption, the Father brought forth LIFE. The Spirit impressed on the hearts of wise-men to search for the King and shower Him with gifts.
We love our fellow sisters, women, image-bearers, by welcoming their miracles with gifts and showering those mamas with love.

The Woman at the Well was a woman living in repeated sexual sin. She’d been married five times, and while we don’t know the reason for each of those marriages, we do know she was with a man who wasn’t her husband at the time she met Jesus. While she didn’t physically bear the evidence of her sin, Jesus saw her and He knew it all. Even still, He loved, accepted, and conversed with her as He offered redemption.
Through her powerful story, many came to know Him.
We love our fellow hurting women by accepting them, conversing with them, and showing them grace and Jesus through our actions. God has not abandoned her or her child. If He will not cast her off, neither can we. He offers redemption and hope to her just as He has for us.

Sisters, Jesus is for life.
He is for all life, which includes the life of the mama with the unplanned pregnancy.
He isn’t just longing for her physical life, but her spiritual life. Despite painful circumstances, shame, and brokenness, He will use all of it to draw her to Him.
How incredible to be a part of that redemption!

I am so thankful my sister’s birth mama chose life.

The Lord used her unplanned pregnancy to answer to my prayers and show me His Love.

God is the creator of life, and all life has a purpose.

Let us, the Church, join together to celebrate life, celebrate redemption, and celebrate motherhood.
Let’s join together to love the mamas who desperately need to experience Jesus’ loving redemption.

Ready for some practical tools to love these mamas?
Below is a list of ministries both international and local to Kansas City (GT headquarters) that do exactly that!
All of these ministries focus on loving women with Jesus’ love while helping prepare them for their future as a birth mama, for a baby being adopted, or a single mama raising her child.

If you are an expecting single mama or already a single mama, these are some awesome resources for you.
Know you are Loved.
You are Valued.
You are Treasured.
You are not the sum of your mistakes,
and we would love to pray for you and love on you – so please reach out to us!

Embrace Grace – A support group for women with an unplanned pregnancy where mamas are showered with love by throwing baby showers for expecting moms. There are groups all around the country and you can find a group near you! There are also support groups for those same mamas after their babes are born.

Rachel’s House – This amazing organization has four locations across the Kansas City metro and is focused on educating parents on all options for their unexpected pregnancies as well as supporting families through pregnancy and adoption or parenting.

The Single Mom KC – A group for soon-to-be single moms and current single moms of all ages, stages, and circumstances. They have a free boutique for moms to “shop” at as well as hosting monthly workshops to help equip mamas and give them a night out (Free childcare! Woohoo!)

Bahamas Godparent Center – This community ministry offers biblical guidance, pregnancy testing, counseling, ultrasound imagery, and, most importantly, HOPE!

The Life of a Single Mom – This ministry works to educate church and community leaders as well as the general public with the challenges faced by single moms. They believe no single mom should walk alone.
​
Heartbeat International – An international ministry that helps 1,500,000 clients every year by offering resources, helping with adoptions, and overall, aiming to help women recognize life and choose life.

This Bible Study is property of Gracefully Truthful, where it was first published. For more studies like this one, check out GracefullyTruthful.com!

Read His Words Before Ours!
Exodus 16:1-20
2 Peter 3:8-13
Joel 2:12-13

“Be patient, be patient,
Don’t be in such a hurry!
When you get,
Impatient,
You only start to worry.
Remember, remember,
God is patient, too!
And think of all the times that others
Had to wait on you!”

My mama is a singer; as such, my entire life has been like one big musical. The little song above was just another little ditty my mom used to sing when impatience filled the scripts of our lives. This song can be found in scenes when we were stuck in Las Vegas traffic in 100-degree weather, or when I was anxiously waiting for my cousins’ arrival to play.

Now, in an entirely new act, I sing this song to my daughters.

But sometimes, even as I sing, I don’t feel so patient. 
Sometimes I sing with gritted teeth, or after biting my cheeks to keep from saying something I shouldn’t. Sometimes, I begrudgingly sing it to my daughters with a cheery smile plastered on my face, my forced enthusiasm convincing my heart to actually be patient.

Patience, I’ve learned, isn’t just “waiting for the pot roast to be done” or “for your nails to dry” (although both have definitely grown my patience massively).

It also means long-suffering.

Excruciating “waiting for your adult child to come to Jesus”, or even
“persevering and fervently praying in the midst of turmoil and grief”.

Patience looks much like waiting on the Lord and His timing.

Maybe He’s called you to do something….
become a missionary,
start a ministry,
find a new job,
adopt,
or move,
and then He told you to wait.
Patience.

Long-suffering, nail-biting, gut-wrenching patience.

Because our God is gracious, never asking us to do what He would not, we find His loving patience everywhere.

The Old Testament speaks often of God being slow to anger like in Exodus 34:6-7 when God reminded Moses of His patience towards stubborn Israel and her disobedience.

Before saying, “Enough!” and nearly wiping out all of humanity with a flood, God literally waited over 4,000 years for hearts to repent!

In Numbers 14:18, Moses recounted again how Israel was saved from utter destruction, even though she clearly deserved it, because of the Lord’s long-suffering patience.

When Israel, freed from slavery in Egypt by the mighty hand of the Lord, grumbled and complained, “But, Yaweh! We’re hungry and starving and it would’ve been better for us to just be slaves!”
God lavishly poured out heaps of patience and love by giving them fresh, flakey bread (manna) and quail (what a delicacy!) every single day! Through the waiting, He taught them dependency on Him, teaching them to trust His daily provision.
They grumbled and complained and His response was gracious patience and provision!

When David, the young boy appointed King of the Israelites was finally made King, he had an affair and then murdered that woman’s husband!
The Lord’s response?
Loving Patience.
God had every just right to kill David, or at least remove him from the throne, for his grievous sin, but because God is lovingly patient, He sent a prophet to come alongside David, reveal his sin to him and allow David to repent! 
God’s patience brought loving discipline to King David, one God called “a man after God’s own heart.”

From the moment sin entered this world through Eve and Adam, God’s great plan for redeeming mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus Christwas already set in place. For its fullness to be completed, the Lord w a i t e d with long-suffering patience.

And Oh!

The patience displayed by our Savior as He allowed Himself to be tortured beyond recognition then hung on a cross to die a long and excruciating death where He slowly suffocated hour by hour.
His shredded back scraped the rough wood of the cross each time He raised Himself up to catch a breath. His head throbbed from the thorns piercing into His skull.

He spent hours dying by the worst form of death in human history, intentionally allowing Himself to fully feel the agony, not hurrying His death sentence as He, the Author of life and death itself, could easily have done. He gave His life for you and me.
Patience even in death.
Astonishing.

I took a nap with my daughters this afternoon, praying as I fell asleep for Lord to speak to me about a situation in my life. Instead, I heard Him talking to me about His patience in a way I’d never considered.

God’s love for me is individualized.
It is a passionate love uniquely for me, just as His love for you is uniquely crafted to meet you. His love cannot be measured, it looks different for every person.

The love I have for my three daughters is special and intimate for each of them. Similarly, God’s love for us is just as individualized and special.

God delights in you and in me and He loves having a personal relationship with us where He loves us each in our own, special way. How great His love for us that He would patiently wait millennia for us to choose to know Him intimately! His heart is for all to choose Him! (2 Peter 3:9)

Love is patient.
Because God is patient.

Patient Love weaves together 4,000 years of events, inspiring 40 different authors to write words that all point to One Redeeming Savior.

Patient Love teaches disciples, followers, curious onlookers, and malicious people about the Father and His redemption while delivering people from sin and disease and performing miraculous wonders along the way.

Patient Love endures grotesque abuse, taking a guilty punishment of death, though innocent, in order to rescue beloved children who rightly deserve wrath.

Patient Love rises from the dead, forever defeating Sin and Death by His victorious life!

Patient Love walks with me in the most dire of circumstances when I’m being pushed, stretched, and pruned, even when it all feels out of my control.
​
Love is patient.
And God is love.

This Bible Study is property of Gracefully Truthful, where it was first published. For more studies like this one, check out GracefullyTruthful.com! 

Read His Words Before Ours!
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 10:38-42
Psalm 46:10-11
Mark 6:30-32

“Being a mama is your most important job right now. It is your great calling and it is a wonderful calling with amazing rewards. It is alright to let other things go and focus on your little girls, it really is.”
With everything in me, I wanted to protest that I knew that and I was able to do that while serving at the same time. But I couldn’t even protest, because I knew it was true. I am walking in a season of saying “no” and of letting go. This is a hard season.

I’ve let go of potential job opportunities, I’ve said no to other opportunities. I’ve let go of ministries I’ve served in, and said no to serving in other capacities. For a woman who loves to say “yes” and loves to go, go, go, this season is a hard one.

So, when an older, wiser mama spoke those words to me, I allowed them to wash over me and settle on my soul, and I cleared another day on my schedule.

As I reread the parable of the Good Samaritan for what felt like the umpteenth time, I was stricken with a resemblance between my life and the lives of two of the characters… and not the ones I would want to resemble either.

Have I been like the Priest and the Levite who were so busy traveling that they couldn’t even stop to help the beaten, dying man on the side of the road? They saw that he was physically broken, and yet they completely avoided him because they were too busy.

They missed out.
And so did the man.

My entire life has been filled with event after appointment after assignment.

I can’t help but wonder how many opportunities I’ve missed because of that full calendar.
Was I too busy rushing from place to place that I missed a chance to love someone?

In that same story, we read of one man, who may have been in a hurry himself, but wasn’t too busy to actually stop. This man, a Samaritan, an outcast from the elite “chosen people of God”, stopped in the middle of his travels, completely halted his plans, and loved a total stranger.

Right after that parable, we read about Martha and Mary, two women who loved the Lord but showed their love in different ways. Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, scampering to and fro, preparing food for Jesus, making sure His water cup was full, attending to all of His needs and serving Him. Her sister, Mary, however, sat near to Jesus, listening intently to everything He had to say. She was so enthralled with Him, that she wouldn’t miss a moment.

Unsurprisingly, Martha got rather annoyed with her sister, who wasn’t helping at all. It was almost as if Mary just expected Martha to serve her!Martha was working hard for Jesus! She was busy and tired from that busyness. So she asked Him if He cared that Mary left her to serve alone. I imagine Jesus answering her in the way men often answer women- we ask a man to fix our problem and he looks at us with amusement and gives us the obvious solution to our problem. Jesus’ answer seems so obvious we almost can’t accept it. Jesus looked at Martha, His eyes slightly bewildered, but full of compassion because He knew her so well. Then He said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary…” going on to tell her it was more important for Mary to sit and spend time with Him, learning and listening, than it was for Martha to serve Him.
Let’s stop there for just a moment.

Jesus said it was more important for Mary to spend time with Him than it was for Martha to serve Him.

Sucker punch.

So many times I allow myself to believe that I need a schedule jam-packed and full of serving in order to prove my love for the Lord.

That isn’t what He asks.
​
He asks for a schedule with space enough to love.
Space enough to not miss out.
Space enough for sitting with Him. ​

This Bible Study is property of Gracefully Truthful, where it was first published. For more studies like this one, check out GracefullyTruthful.com!