Elizabeth was a single woman faced with an unplanned pregnancy. Elizabeth still remembers the window of the pregnancy test stick and the longest two minutes of her life. She used the foolproof test with real words. After praying on her knees, there it was. PREGNANT. She called a friend—not from her church. She couldn’t handle the judgmental stares from her church, or so she thought. She assumed her friend would be supportive. Her friend brought up other “options.” However Elizabeth was confident and resolute this was not a decision to be made. She was carrying a life inside her. She told no one and visited her local OB-GYN the next day, alone.
Her doctor confirmed what she already knew. As she walked out of the cold room, a nurse handed her pamphlets that she trashed on the way out. The least pro-choice action any woman can make is to automatically assume an unmarried woman wants to have an abortion. And the worst pro-life response a mother can make, after learning of her daughter’s unplanned pregnancy, is weep and say, “What will people think of our family?” Which is something Elizabeth will never forget.
Months later, while at work, a customer saw the slight bulge in her abdomen and quietly asked her about it. She smiled and told him she was having a boy. After complimenting her smile and glow, he told her nobody would ever marry her and she should consider other options.
In her third trimester, her church rallied around her. Moms offered advice. Her pastor encouraged her. And the baby shower given by her church family was standing room only, with 200+ present. Elizabeth was given everything she registered for and diapers that lasted two years.
That church support didn’t stop after the birth of Elizabeth’s son. They provided baby clothes for years. They also brought a huge box of food twice a month—fresh produce, groceries, and protein-filled lean meat that filled up her freezer—for the same amount of time. Godly women stopped by often so that Elizabeth could take a shower or a nap. It was the care from her church and those around her that sustained her.
I know because Elizabeth is me. I was Megan Elizabeth Nichols. Most now know me as Megan Lively. This is Joseph Reed Nichols, my gift from God. My firstborn.
