Brandy’s Story

Brandy’s story started like so many other women’s, full of hope and dreams. At seventeen, she was a determined young woman and a good student. She planned to become a doctor with a brilliant career.

But then her dad left. Her family had to move. And her mom grew distracted and disengaged in her own depression. Brandy started searching for someone to soothe her lonely heart, someone who would really care.

What she ended up with instead was an unplanned pregnancy.

Pouring herself into schoolwork, Brandy tried to ignore her new reality. But the questions still swirled inside. What was she going to do? Could she be a parent at seventeen and still have a future as a doctor? Would her baby hate her if she gave her up for adoption? She didn’t even want to consider the guilt, depression, and sleeping disorders she’d heard about as side effects of an abortion.

And in the middle of all the questions, this one thought surfaced above them all: “I needed love. Not a baby. Didn’t God know that?” In the midst of her unplanned pregnancy, her heart still kept longing to be loved.

Eventually, Brandy decided to keep the baby. She gave birth to a baby girl, Brittany, and as she parented her, she also worked hard to finish high school, eventually graduating with honors. As she explained it “It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with my little girl. She was so precious, energetic, and full of love—for me.”

Brandy’s story doesn’t end there, of course. And it isn’t one of perfect mother bliss. Single parenting wasn’t easy. She didn’t get the great career as a doctor. She had many ups and downs, and a failed marriage along the way. But somewhere in the middle of it all, she made the most important decision of them all: She accepted the true, unconditional love of Jesus. And her heart finally found what it had been looking for all along.

Brandy sums up her experience—and her hopes for other women struggling with unwanted pregnancy—like this:

“I know from experience that God can and will do powerful things in your life If you allow him. If you give him your fears, your pain and your future, he will do awesome and beautiful things in and through you and this child…”

“I wish I could hold you, let you cry on my shoulder and walk through this time with you, but I can’t. I do know who can and longs even more than I do, to be at your side… Jesus is more than capable, more than ready, and desires above all things to go with you through this journey. For this is not a crisis, but a journey, one that has a beautiful story in it. And you, Beloved, are the main character.”

*Story adapted from NIV, Hope for the Future, New Testament. Copyright by Biblica.com. Available here.