Isaiah 55:9

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So many times in our work, the women will tell us that they want a child eventually but just not right now. "I'm not ready," plays in our counseling rooms on a near-constant loop. This is also an argument often evoked politically by those who call themselves pro-choice.

As a Christian, of course I believe every life has a purpose, a plan, unlimited potential and promise. If the woman is pregnant, if the child is here, then this is the right time. God's ways are higher than ours. This child is a blessing, given to this woman to enrich her life in ways unimagined.

I do understand that sometimes this could look like tension here, the difficulty in certain situations [and we see these worst-case scenarios on a regular basis] in reconciling these two concepts -- how could a child possibly make this woman's life better, some might reason, when she's so young, or when she needs to finish school, or when her family situation is so volatile? Often we need to remind ourselves that God is in control, that He can see ahead and inside hearts in ways we never will.

But occasionally He allows us to see a bit of His workings and greater plan as well.

A few weeks ago I met a young woman, abortion bound. She left her family in Virginia when she was 16 and came to New York. The father of the child, she admitted, is a complete loser -- unemployed, sleeps with her but does not love her, immediately told her to get an abortion upon hearing news of his fatherhood. She makes her money working as a stripper in Long Island.

Liz and I spoke with her, not just about her pregnancy but also about the other things going on in her life -- her family, the boyfriend, her job. And as we talked, I watched this amazing change come over her attitude and her outlook. At first she had been proudly defiant of working as a stripper, but then she admitted she was ashamed and wanted to do something else. At first she had said she didn't care about the father, but she it become clear she wished she had chosen a better man to share herself with. At first she wanted an abortion, but when she left she was happily clutching a sonogram appointment and promising to keep in touch with Liz and me as she gave us parting hugs.

Yesterday I got an email from her, and she's seven weeks along, and so excited about this pregnancy and this new phase of her life. This baby will be more than her first child; it will reorient her entire life. She dumped that guy. She has thought about moving back to Virginia to be near her family. And of course no pregnant woman can be a stripper. This so-called crisis pregnancy, instead of weighing her down even more, has liberated her from a damaging lifestyle and jolted her into a better future.

God never makes mistakes. Each pregnancy, each child conceived, is here for a reason. And who knows but that this child is the answer to a woman's problems, not the cause?