The Time God Disagreed With My Pastor

Since I already shared with you how a personal “prophecy” destroyed my first crush, here, I think it is only fair to share a story where a personal “prophecy” saved it.

19 years-old, alone and pregnant, I went to live with some relatives of my stepfather’s, many, many miles away from my family. Being a very religious lot, we went to church every time the doors opened, and Jesus was very much the central focus in their household. Fun times for an unmarried pregnant girl.

Almost immediately, it would seem that God was telling several of the church members that I should give my baby up for adoption. Some of these people were church authorities, and others were the very family I was living with and depending on at that moment; I found myself really struggling with a hard decision. I prayed and prayed, and tried to keep my head up as I went to church, knowing that judgments about what kind of person I really was, were being played out in many of the minds all around me.

But, the decision was pretty much made the minute I felt my baby kick for the very first time. I was amazed and excited all at once. I ran into the living room, exclaiming that I could feel the baby kick. The reaction. Cold. Indifferent. One of them cautioned me to not get excited or try to bond with the baby, as this would hurt me more later when I gave it away.

So, I thought to myself, you assume that I’ve agreed to give it away. How incredibly arrogant! God hasn’t told me himself that I have to, and forgive me if I don’t just take your word for it….

I said nothing, walking dejectedly back to my room. All night, I tossed and turned, prayed, dreamed, worried. The next morning, I called my mother, who was living far away, and told her I wanted to obey God, but unless He came down from heaven and ordered me to do it Himself, I wasn’t giving my baby away. She understood and advised me to write in my bible the decision I had made and ask God to verify it to me. For once, I took her advice. I wrote on the opening cover the date with the sentence “I have decided to keep my baby on this day. Please verify it is your Will.” And then I proceeded to become extremely involved in planning the future of my baby….in my life, not someone else’s.

Flash Forward: Our church had invited a couple —Charles and Paula Slagle  — to minister to our church. I’d never heard of them before, nor had I had a lot of positive experiences with prophetic ministries in general, so I can’t say that I was all that enthusiastic about this event. But, hey. Whatever.

I was six months pregnant, but a stranger wouldn’t have been able to tell. My pregnancies don’t really show physically until about the seventh month anyways. The service began, and almost immediately, Paula stopped the music and asked “the girl in the blue dress” to stand up, The Lord had a Word for her…

The first one? Wow. So, I stood up, bracing for the worst, but hoping for the best. This is what she said:

“I have no idea what this means, and it doesn’t seem that I’m going to get an explanation from Him either. The Lord wants you to know that the decision you made 6 weeks and 4 days ago was the right decision. He is going to heal all the personal parts of you.”

That was it. I knew immediately what that meant, and I pulled out my Bible, frantically counting the days that had elapsed and yes — I had written that little sentence 6 weeks and 4 days earlier. I had told no one about it. My mother was the only one that could have maybe orchestrated anything, but she was far away, and busy with other things that were more important to her. In a nutshell, only God could have known. Mom had no knowledge whatsoever of who Charles and Paula Slagle were.

The minute that service was over, I started showing every single person who had advised me of God’s Will in the matter of my baby — all of them incorrectly, it would seem. The reactions made me sad.

I was told by some that Charles/Paula weren’t a part of our church, so they could have gotten the word wrong. In fact, they had, because God had been clear to show our pastor and church authority that I was indeed to give the child up.

One person told me that if I broke through the hedge, I would get bitten by a snake…????

And others nodded a little sickly and refused to say anything at all.

Only one person besides myself was happy for me. And she had been the only one to not be sure everyone else was hearing God. The pastor’s wife.

I find that when God deems it necessary, He will use His servants in a miraculous way. So, to the questions that were asked, yes. I do believe that prophecy and miracles still exist in this day and age. I just don’t think you are going to force God into anything, no matter how much you think He should reveal Himself. But when He needed to make a point to me, and probably those in authority over me, He did it in a miraculous, prophetic way.

— Bird