A single mother knew she would regret it if she chose to abort her baby. Everyone was telling her to do it, but she did otherwise.
Single Mother, Whitney McCluskey
Though Whitney met God earlier in her life, she was introduced to drugs when she was a teenager and started using at the age of 14. Sometimes, she would even attend church while high on drugs.
“My drug of choice was everything. The older I got, the worse the drug got,” she said. “Towards the end of my addiction was meth and heroine, and I was on the needle. That was towards the end. It got to that point.”
Having experienced firsthand how drugs couldn’t fill and mend her heart and soul, she started seeking and pleading to God for deliverance.
“I remember telling God I’m tired of looking left and right. I’m tired of seeking validation from drugs, and from men, and from everything but You,” Whitney recalled. “I knew that people could be set free because I’d seen it around me. I knew people could do it but it hadn’t happened for me. And so I was mad. I was angry. Why hadn’t this happened for me?
“Why hadn’t I been set free?”
“That’s when God, He spoke to me, and He said, “Whitney you are so beautiful, and I have always been in pursuit of your heart.” And I put my hands over my heart and I felt these vibrations. I said, “God what are you doing?” And He said, “I’m mending your broken heart and I’m making you whole again.” I just knew that I felt loved, and I felt special and I felt, I just felt different. It was that one moment that changed everything for me.””
READ ALSO: HALF-COURT SHOT MADE BY A 7TH GRADER “THROUGH THE POWER OF GOD” CLAIMED THE $10,000 PRIZE MONEY
Josiah
A new life in Christ with her firstborn son, Ashton, was all Whitney could ask for. She thrived as a single mother. She became sober during her fourth stint at a residential Christian drug treatment center, where she also obtained a master’s degree in biblical counseling.
Whitney’s two kids [Baptist Press]. Website, 27 January 2023, https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/single-mother-knew-life-was-the-choice/
Her ex got her pregnant.
“I was doing exactly what I wanted to do. Doing what I had prayed for. I was helping women get their children back who had lost them from a drug addiction. And so I was doing everything I wanted,” Whitney told Baptist Press. “Then one night, out of the blue, I called an ex and well, ended up pregnant.
“I was so depressed when I found out, because I felt I had let so many people down. Here I am. I’m sober, sharing my testimony. I’m living for God. And then I make one mistake,” Whitney said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a mistake now, because obviously we got Josiah out of it and I wouldn’t change anything for the world. But the way I was thinking in that moment was I messed up.”
Whitney didn’t know if she could be a single mother to two kids. Many people were telling her to abort her baby, but she said, “No matter what decision I made, life was the choice.”
Josiah’s Adoption
Whitney made the decision to place her infant for adoption via Lifeline Children’s Services, a Christian adoption and foster care organization with a history of defending human life both domestically and abroad.
Whitney believes that her choice of adoptive parents, Mike and Tabitha, was guided by God. Normally, Lifeline selects the adoptive family.
“It was funny because when I first started looking at Lifeline and looking at families, I saw this one family and I said, ‘If I choose to adopt, this is who I’m going to go with,’” Whitney said. “Nine months later, not knowing they were still going to be available, they were. The way God just worked it all out, it was all in His hands. The whole thing was just God.”
Header image: Whitney with her two kids and Josiah’s adoptive parents [Baptist Press]. Website, 27 January 2023, https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/single-mother-knew-life-was-the-choice/
Reference: Baptist Press
