Unsung Hero

I have a new unsung hero. Normally my heroes are writers throughout time who put themselves out there and make their words known--Tolstoy, you're my homeboy--but they aren't my focus today.

Today my unsung hero is a 17-year-old girl who just gave up her baby for adoption.

Backtrack.

There's a young lady in my life who didn't plan to get pregnant but life happened and she found herself in a tough situation. Halfway through her term she switched to online school and didn't come around youth group so it wasn't until this last week that I saw her for the first time in a while.

I had the privilege of giving her a ride home and we caught up. She spent two days with her healthy baby boy before she handed him over to the adoptive family that she chose.

The more I talked to her the more apparent it became to me that this girl grew up fast. This was not the giggly teenager I knew from months ago, she had matured through this situation.

She told me that her deciding factor in choosing adoption was when she found out that her baby was a boy. She had been told how important it was for a boy to grow up with a father. She couldn't give him that and she wanted to give him his best chance.

I was awestruck. When had this teenage girl grown up and become so sacrificial?

As she told me about this Christian couple that she had chosen for her son, this couple who were unable to have children on their own, I could see how God beautifully orchestrated this open adoption.

So I dropped off this young lady at home, told her how proud I was of her, and I cried the whole way home. I could not believe how selfless this young lady had become, wanting the best for her son, even if it meant she wouldn't be the one to raise him. (Note: I also have some brave young ladies in my life who are choosing to raise their babies and I have nothing but love and respect for them.)

I cried and cried and could not stop, especially when this verse came to mind:

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave up his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

For the first time in a long time I was actually able to feel the weight of this verse. God loved us so he gave. He gave up his only Son so that those who believe in Him could have eternal life.

And I cried and I cried. How could God do that? How could He give us his only Son that we would accuse and beat and crucify. I wept with gratitude and with a lack of understanding thanked God for His sacrifice, for his Son.

And I thanked him for this young lady in my life who showed me what sacrificial love can look like.