Advice From Teen Mom to Pregnant Teens: “Don’t Let Go of Your Dreams”

For You From The Word

Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18, KJV)

For You To Think About

Dr. Margaret Betts

Dr. Margaret Betts

Margaret was 15 when she had her daughter, Marquita. People expected her to become a statistic – a single, black mom who does not finish her education.

Today she is Dr. Margaret Betts, age 65.

Despite being a mother in high school, Margaret was able to graduate on time with the help of her parents and a babysitter. She wanted to become a doctor, so she went on to Wayne State University. Just three years later, Margaret was accepted to the Medical College of Ohio, now the University of Toledo Medical Center.

While Margaret was in medical school, Marquita lived with her grandmother and traveled 60 miles to Ohio every weekend to be with her mom.

Today, Margaret has been practicing medicine for 25 years and is the medical director of Betts Medical Group LLC in Oak Park, Michigan.

“We deny ourselves our dreams because people talk us out of them,” says Margaret. “(We let them) talk us out of our real purpose for being on this earth.”
Betts says it’s not hard being where she is – but it is hard work.

Her words to young moms and pregnant girls: “Give your kids the first ten years of their lives. Don’t focus on anything but them and your education.”

For You To Pray

Gracious Father,
Thank You for casting vision to motivate us. Allow pregnant teens to grasp a vision for their lives, hang on to that dream, and pursue it.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More Stories of Teens Who Have Chosen Life

Advice from Teen Mom to Pregnant Teens: “You Can Do It!”

Teen College Soccer Star Chooses Life

American Idol Contestant Shares Her Teen Pregnancy Story

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Advice From Teen Moms to Pregnant Teens: “Decide to Be a Good Mom”

For You From The Word

Choose this day whom you will serve … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15, ESV)

For You To Think About

mom with 3 kidsShernette had two children before she finished high school. She dropped out of high school for two years, and then went back and took day and night classes to graduate. Halfway through her second year Shernette became pregnant with a third daughter. Her relationship with the girls’ father disintegrated and she became their sole provider.

“Everyone said that my life was over and that my children weren’t going to amount to anything,” says Shernette.

But she decided to be the best mom she could be. Shernette joined the PTA and went to parent-teacher meetings. She made sure she knew their friends and steered them away from those who lacked direction. Shernette took her children to church, prayed with them, laughed with them, and cried with them. What she didn’t know, she learned along the way.

“Today those same people who said that my children would amount to anything can’t stop complimenting me on what an awesome job I did and how successful my girls are,” says Shernette. She married at age 33 and had two boys with her husband. Her three girls all went to college and today have families of their own.

Her advice to a pregnant teen?  “Make a choice: decide to be a good mom. Engage in their lives. Give your kids the best chance you possibly can at a good future. “

For You To Pray

Gracious Father,
Thank you for the gift of life. Allow pregnant teens to make the choice to be good moms. Guide their thoughts and actions.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More Stories of Teens Who Have Chosen Life

Teen Mom to Pregnant Teens: “Surround Yourself With Positive People”

Teen Mom to Pregnant Teens: “Don’t Let Go of Your Dreams”

Teen Mom to Pregnant Teens: “You Can Do It!”

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Ways Lives Are Saved: License Plates Help Women Choose Life

For You From The Word

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.
(Luke 16:10, KJV)

For You To Think About

As her boyfriend drove to abortion clinic, Miranda prayed silently about her decision. Her parents did not know she was pregnant and her boyfriend insisted that she terminate.

On the way, Miranda needed to use the rest room. She asked her boyfriend to pull into the mall parking lot. As she hurried inside, Miranda noticed a car’s license plate. It said, “Choose Life.”

Miranda found a rest room and then phoned her parents. They pledged their support, agreeing to come to the mall immediately and bring her home.

When Miranda returned to the parking lot, her boyfriend was gone. She waited behind car with the “Choose Life” license plate. “I wanted to meet the owner,” said Miranda. “I wanted to thank her for having that license plate, because God had used it to convict me not to have an abortion.” When the car owner came to the lot, she found Miranda in tears. The story spilled out.

“Choose Life” license plates are the brainchild of a county commissioner in Florida, Randy Harris, who got the idea while stuck in traffic behind a car with a plate promoting another cause.

God uses faithfulness in small things, like license plates, to help women make big decisions.

For You To Pray

Gracious Father,
Thank you for the many ways you save babies’ lives. Use “Choose Life” messages on license plates to help women carry their pregnancies to term.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More Ways Lives Are Saved

Ways Lives Are Saved: Sidewalk Counselors Help Women Choose Life

Ways Lives Are Saved: Pro-Life Bus Helps Women Choose Life

Ways Lives are Saved: Fetal Models Help Women Choose Life

Ways Lives Are Saved: Informed Consent Helps Women Choose Life

Ways Lives Are Saved: Ultrasounds Help Women Choose Life

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Ways Lives Are Saved: Maternity Homes Help Women Choose Life

For You From The Word

Remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. (Isaiah 58:6-7, NLT)

For You To Think About

“My parents will kick me out of the house if I have this baby.”
“I’m pregnant and living in a homeless shelter.”
“I’m in college. I can’t have this baby.”
“The baby’s father has left me and I am all alone.”

pregnant teen moms at maternity homesMany pregnant women consider abortion because they have no place to live if they choose life.

Maternity homes provide a safe and stable place to live for pregnant women who are homeless or who have nowhere to lay their heads. Services differ from facility to facility, but often include access to education, job readiness or job training, and transportation. In this nurturing environment, pregnant women have support and less pressure and stress so they can make informed choices for themselves and their babies.

For Heather, a maternity home was an answer to prayer . “They gave me shelter, food, love and warmth,” she said. “Most of all, they gave me the tools and the confidence to bring a life into this world. If it wasn’t for this (home), my baby would not be here, and I don’t think I would be, either.”

For You To Pray

Gracious Father,
Thank you for the many ways you save babies’ lives. Direct to maternity homes those pregnant women who are homeless or who have no place to live. Stretch Your hand to bless those facilities and those who serve in them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More Ways Lives Are Saved

Ways Lives Are Saved: Prayer Helps Women Choose Life

Ways Lives Are Saved: Pro-Life License Plates Help Women Choose Life

Ways Lives Are Saved: Sidewalk Counselors Help Women Choose Life

Ways Lives Are Saved: Pro-Life Bus Helps Women Choose Life

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An Unborn Baby’s Journey, Part 4: The Unborn Feel Pain

For You From The Word

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
(Philippians 2:4, NIV)

For You To Think About

A woman who has discovered she is pregnant – when she did not plan to be – may be so distracted by her situation that she is unaware that there is one even more defenseless than she is.

unborn baby in uteroHer baby is overwhelmingly sensitive to pain. Surgeons entering the womb to perform corrective procedures on the unborn have seen babies flinch and recoil from sharp objects and incisions. “On occasion we need to administer anesthesia directly to the fetus (during in utero surgery),” said David Birnbach, M.D., president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology. “Even at these early gestational ages the fetus moves away from the pain of the stimulation.”

Further, a baby at 20 weeks development actually feels pain more intensely than an adult. This acute sense of touch means even a single human hair drawn across the unborn’s palm causes him to make a fist.  “The pain system is fully established, yet the higher level pain-modifying system has barely begun to develop,” says Dr. Paul Ranalli, neurologist at the University of Toronto.

Given this information, we cannot fathom an unborn’s pain during termination.

Is a woman you know aware of the pain factor as she makes decisions during an unplanned pregnancy? Perhaps she has not considered the baby’s interests. Tell her. You might be the very means God uses to help prevent untold pain – for both the woman and her child.

For You To Pray

Heavenly Father,
Pregnancy is a uniquely vulnerable time. Allow pregnant women and expectant men to understand how their babies rely on them for protection from the pain of abortion. Assure them of Your strength to provide what they need to choose life.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More on  The Unborn

An Unborn Baby’s Journey, Part 1: Weeks 1-8

An Unborn Baby’s Fingerprints Are Unique

An Unborn Baby: She Can Hear You

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An Unborn Baby’s Journey, Part 2: Fingerprints

For You From The Word

You knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13, NIV)

For You To Think About

FingerprintsAn unborn baby’s fingerprints are set in place by the end of the first trimester (13 weeks.) No two sets are alike, even in identical twins or multiples.

God allows fingerprint ridges to form uniquely through the baby’s genetics, her activity, and the environment provided by the mother. That’s why each set is unique.

It happens as the middle layer of skin on finger pads – the basal layer – grows faster than inner and outer layers, thereby folding, crumpling, and bulging the finger pads in several directions.

Simultaneously, baby’s position, her activity while bumping and moving in utero, and the content of the surrounding amniotic fluid swirling around the finger pads at any given moment determine how every individual fingerprint ridge forms, according to Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic. Since patterns are formed beneath the outer skin layer, they cannot be altered by superficial injuries.

Because the baby’s genetic wiring, his activity, and the makeup of the mother are all different, “There is virtually no chance of the same exact pattern forming twice,” says Dr. Roizen. Each person’s unique set of fingerprints make them one of our most reliable means of individual identification.

By the time the unborn is six months old her fingerprints and footprints are fully developed.

For You To Pray

Heavenly Father,
I praise You for the uniqueness of each baby. By looking at our fingerprints we see how You knit each individual together in a one-of-a-kind way. Remind each mother of that uniqueness … and her irreplaceable contribution to that new life.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More about the Unborn

An Unborn Baby’s Journey, Part 1: Weeks 1-8

An Unborn Baby’s Milestones

Human Babies: the Most Dependent Species at Birth

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An Independence Day Prayer

For You From The Word

You give life to everything. (Nehemiah 9:6)

For You To Think About

Heavenly Father,

baby-in flag bucket

Image: Pinterest

We give you thanks for the truth you showered on us through our nation’s founders. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed 13 colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire. Today, it is acknowledged worldwide as a powerful statement of human rights.

We praise you for the self-evident truths put forth in that document. We are endowed by you, our Creator, with certain unalienable rights. Those rights include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We do not take these rights for granted, but rather acknowledge they come only through your grace. In particular, we know that life comes only from you. It is a right because you have given it to us.

On behalf of a grateful nation, and our unborn who do not yet have a voice, we thank you for the sacrifices made so that we can have the right to life. Allow us to have the boldness to pursue and preserve that right as courageously demonstrated by our nation’s founders.

In Jesus’ name we ask this. Amen

For You to Pray

Gracious Father,
Forgive our nation when we have squandered the right to life. Move our hearts to understand the sacrifices of so many given for us to have this precious, inalienable right.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More about Our Right to Life

On July 4th, You Can Defend Unalienable Rights

Fourth of July Baby Brings Healing to Birth Mom

7 Ways to Pray for Our Nation to Choose Life

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An Unborn Baby’s Journey, Part 3: She Can Hear You

For You From The Word

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together. (Psalm 139:15, NIV)

For You To Think About

baby holding ear: she can hear you!God’s hand moves in secret to create an unborn baby’s ears and hearing mechanism.  Structural parts of the baby’s ears develop in the first 20 weeks in utero. Along the way – as early as 8 weeks, most often around 15 weeks – the baby first becomes able to recognize specific sounds. She can hear you!

But unlike other systems in the body, in order to develop properly the auditory system also requires outside stimulation. Your baby’s hearing sharpens when she is exposed to speech, music, and meaningful sounds from the environment – throughout the rest of pregnancy and up to 18 months of age. Inner ear hair cells become tuned to different frequencies, allowing the auditory system to distinguish pitch. Her hearing hones further when she is protected from continuous, loud background noise (especially low frequencies.)

In other words, a baby’s ability to hear does not develop passively, but rather interactively. God allows mothers and fathers the privilege of partnering with Him to build this ability in their children with stimulation, nurture, and protection.

For You To Pray

Heavenly Father,
You allow babies the ability to hear before they are born. Thank You for that miracle! Move in parents to care for their unborn and born children to ensure their healthy development.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More about the Unborn

An Unborn Baby’s Journey, Part 1: Weeks 1-8

An Unborn Baby’s Fingerprints: Each Set Is Unique

An Unborn Baby’s Milestones

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Fourth of July Baby Brings Healing to Birth Mom

For You From The Word

Who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:12, NIV)

For You To Think About

Anna and her baby just after birth on Independence Day

Anna and her baby just after birth on Independence Day

When Anna Mather became pregnant with her first child out of wedlock, she was asked to apologize to her congregation and leave the choir.

“Being judged was hard,” says Anna. Those wounds opened up again when Anna became pregnant with her second child. She is not married to her baby’s father. Anna’s friends turned their backs on her when they discovered she was pregnant. Her daughter was mocked at school.

When Anna opted for a home birth the second time around, supportive midwives provided encouragement she needed.

Her son was born early in the morning of July 4, 2011.

“I’ve lost many friends and my family is still uncomfortable, but I’m looking at this birth as a healing,” said Anna, of her son’s arrival on Independence Day. “Part of my progress through life is to listen to myself and give myself value.”

For You To Pray

Loving Father,
Forgive us for passing judgement on women who face an unplanned pregnancy. Move our hearts to show compassion and support.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.


More about Freedom

An Independence Day Prayer 

On July 4th, You Can Defend Unalienable Rights 

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On July 4th, How You Can Defend Our Unalienable Rights

For You From The Word

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. (Psalm 82:3)

For You To Think About

pregnant-woman-black-outfitOn July 4, 1776, the thirteen American colonies unanimously adopted a Declaration of Independence. In its opening are these words:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (emphasis added).

The dictionary tells us that “unalienable” means “not transferable.”

In other words, each American has the right to life that’s not transferable to another person. It remains the individual’s alone.

When you support a woman who faces an unplanned pregnancy and encourage her to choose life, you’re helping uphold her rights and the rights for the child she carries.

For You To Pray

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for our country and the rights given to us. Help our nation to preserve and defend the right to life for women and their children.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

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