romans10seventeen

According to http://www.biblestudy.org the number 33 in the Bible is connected to the Promises of God.  Also, Jesus was 33 years old when He was crucified.  On that site, they list many of the promises that correlate with the number 33 but His crucifixion was the best promise ever.  He died so that we can live.  He restored our relationship with God the Father…we are now part of His family…the children of God!

Thirty-three years ago today my 1^st son was born and I placed him for adoption. I was a senior in HS and my boyfriend and my first true love was in the Army. At first he said I was going to ruin his life…then he decided he would marry me…then I decided I would not marry him. It was the hardest decision I had ever had to make to date and I was scared but I wanted to do what was best for my baby.  I believed that was to place him for adoption.   Others told me that was the loving thing to do. They told me I was brave; I was doing the “right” thing; I was doing the loving thing; I was being generous. It didn’t feel loving to me…I felt selfish. Despite receiving what I truly believed was confirmation from God that I was doing the right thing (his adoptive parents named him the same 1^st name I had given him) I felt empty…and alone. I mourned the loss of my son and even the loss of his father. My life, as I continue to blog will reveal, began to unravel and was out of control. But GOD…God is good and faithful and merciful and He found me in the middle of my mess 30 years later and changed EVERYTHING! That’s how I ended up at Maggie’s Place and that’s where the rest of this blog post came from. The following is my post from September 28, 2016. Jonathan’s Birthday last year.

Merriam-Webster’s simple definition of generosity:

The quality of being kind, understanding, and not selfish: the quality of being generous; especially: willingness to give money and other valuable things to others.

One of the most wonderful things to me about Maggie’s Place is the generosity of our donors and volunteers. I continue to be blown away by the love and kindness shown to our moms, their babies and even the Corps by the people in our community.

The Bible says in Acts 20:35, “In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort we must help the weak, and keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus who himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

I’d like to give a shout out to a local business that really is very generous to Maggie’s Place…

Local business owners, John, Mike and Claudia, and all the staff of M&J Trophies in Glendale, make celebrating new life at our home a truly special event that will be remembered throughout the years. The Michael house opened in 2007 and we have over 60 leaves on our Tree of Life. The leaves are all made with love and donated to our house by M&J Trophies. Each leaf commemorates the birth of a new child born to one of the moms at The Michael House and contains the name and date of birth of the baby as well as the first name of the mom.

One time when I went to pick up a leaf, I realized I had given them the wrong spelling for the mom’s name (how embarrassing!), but they didn’t even bat an eye. They made a new leaf while I waited and even sent me home with a box full of extra baby wraps they had. That’s generosity! That’s being kind, understanding and willing to give! All generosity reminds me of our Heavenly Father…

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3: 16-17)

I came to Maggie’s Place because I believed the Lord was calling me to be generous too. I believe He continues calling me to share my story. I give all the glory to my Savior, Jesus Christ, who has been so generous to forgive my sins and call me out of darkness and into the light of His amazing grace and love.

I want to unite with other women and help them to experience the extraordinary generosity of our Heavenly Father and His unfailing love for each one of them.

I dedicate this blog post to Jonathan Michael (Jonathan Mark). On September 28, 1984, when I was 18 years old, I gave birth to my first born son, who I gave for adoption.

Happy Birthday Jonathan, I’ve always loved you, Mom.

By Jackie Jennings, a MissionCorps member