She found hope during her unplanned pregnancy through God’s unconditional love, community support, and a journey of healing that led her back to grace.

Unexpectedly pregnant, 23-year-old Laurie found herself weeping inside a church, praying to God and asking for guidance. 

Laurie had always been pro-life and grew up in a conservative Christian family. She had been working as a youth counselor for a Catholic ministry when she became unexpectedly pregnant. She knew abortion was wrong and never considered it as an option. Still, she felt ashamed as she grappled with the reality of being a single mom.

“Having been a person who was walking with the Lord in such a strong and public way, I had to wrestle a lot … with just this enormous weight of shame and disappointment in myself,” Laurie says.

But the Lord, in His goodness, was so gracious and met Laurie in her moment of brokenness.

She says, “I felt this overshadowing of the Holy Spirit [at the church], and it was almost like I literally heard Jesus whispering into my ear, ‘You should name the baby Grace.’”

Because of her Christian upbringing, Laurie knew that grace meant “undeserved favor.” She believed that God was reassuring her that her baby was a gift from Him.

“That really helped me to embrace the call to motherhood at that time and to just embrace this child that was growing inside of me,” Laurie explains.

As Laurie navigated her unplanned pregnancy, she found love and support from her family and her baby’s father’s family. She also stayed in several maternity homes for mothers in crisis pregnancies, then moved back home with her grandmother. 

Driven to be independent, Laurie worked hard as a single mom for seven years and found ways to balance motherhood with her job. She worked as a nanny for about five years and brought her daughter, Grace, with her to work.

“That meant I was with children all day long, and then when I came home, I was with my child all day long, like the whole time, and also at night. I got no help, had very little help for a really long time, so it was very difficult,” Laurie recalls.

Life was challenging and sometimes lonely as a single mom. However, Laurie didn’t allow single motherhood to rob her joy. She didn’t want to live in a state of anger, bitterness and hopelessness, so she focused on healthy strategies to help her be more resilient. Laurie would put her baby in a stroller and go for long walks or runs often. She also saw a counselor, journaled a lot and rebuilt her walk with the Lord.

As Laurie grew closer to God, she overcame her shame and found forgiveness.

“I felt like the Lord truly consistently pursued me, reminded me of who I was and told me, ‘I love you just the way you are.’ Through the whole process of having fallen and going through this whole traumatic thing, I felt like I became more of who I was, more strongly than before because you have to embrace your broken pieces … When you fall like that in a public sort of way, it’s like you either reject your whole self or you have to get on your knees and accept yourself … and forgive yourself,” she explains.

One of the most important factors that helped Laurie thrive in her single motherhood was finding her community within the Catholic church and surrounding herself with people who inspired her to be the best version of herself. 

“I feel like that was a saving grace for me and those people who embraced me and loved on me and just treated me like I was a normal person,” Laurie says.

God stayed faithful to Laurie as she navigated her single motherhood journey. She has seen God provide for her and her daughter, caring for them in every season. Laurie has now been married to her husband for almost three years, and she is a mom to a 9-year-old girl and a 15-month-old boy.

Laurie’s encouragement to women facing an unplanned pregnancy:

“Oftentimes, it feels like what we’re experiencing right now is something that we’re going to experience forever … but it’s not going to feel like that forever. You’re going to feel panicked. You’re going to feel like the world is ending. You’re going to feel scared. Your hormones are going crazy. But you’re only going to feel this way for a period of time, and then you’re going to feel the joys of motherhood. Your baby is going to bless you in so many ways that you will never truly be able to understand.”

Written by Loren Ward.