How do you know he loves you?

We didn't have any ultrasounds scheduled the day I went to the center this past week. But as always, there were clients who came for other needs. A nineteen year old came in with the hope that she would find out she'd be pregnant. She actually was hoping to be pregnant even though she felt like she wasn't ready for something like this. Her boyfriend of 2 months wanted her to get a pregnancy test because she was "having symptoms." She said if she found out she was pregnant she would keep the baby because she felt abortion was wrong. Okay, that was good to hear. The next question I asked was, "If you're test is positive, does the father of the baby think abortion is wrong too or will you be pressured into a choice you believe is wrong?" She was eager to let me know that he loves her and that he would want the baby too. "How do you know he loves you?" I asked. "Oh, I just think he does," was her response.

While I counseled with her in one of the counseling rooms, her boyfriend waited in the waiting area. Unbeknownst to me one of the other volunteers began a conversation with him and found out he was not ready for another kid. He already had two kids, but never sees them. He was hoping for a negative test.

I was able to talk to her about the human's heart need for love. We all want to be loved and sometimes we will make choices and decisions without thinking about the consequences that may follow if we think it will bring us love. I talked about the God-shaped hole in the human heart and how we try and fill it with many things - a relationship, a baby, drugs, alcohol, money, sex. But yet none of these will ever satisfy our need for love until we fill it with Jesus Christ. After I shared the gospel with her, I asked her if she wanted to pray to receive Jesus into her life. She said her mom talked to her about God all the time too. I said, "Now that's love. Your mom must really love you. She wants your heart to be filled with Christ." Unfortunately, she did not pray with me to accept Christ. Fortunately, her pregnancy test was negative. I encouraged her to save sex for the day she may marry. I was able to tell her that if her boyfriend truly loves her then he would understand and wait. She would then really know he loved her.

God blesses those who honor His Word. Sex was created by God for a married man and woman. In those bounds and with Christ at the center, blessings overflow and love is truly understood and known in the covenant of marriage.

I don't know what this nineteen year old will do. I do pray she thinks about the things I was able to share with her.