Overcomer's Story
By Jennifer Maggio

As the nurse left the room of the local, free health unit, tears began to roll down my face. My 17-year-old frame began to shake uncontrollably. The nurse confirmed that I was indeed pregnant. I was six months along, homeless, and alone. I had no money, no job, and no future. What would I do with a baby? Just a few months ago, I was Class President, Valedictorian, and on my way to a top-notch university with a full paid scholarship. Now, my life was over. And there was nothing I could do.

As a child, I had already walked through my share of heartache. My mother was killed unexpectedly and I was raised by my dad who went on to marry six times. I was molested for more than 9 years by different relatives and neighbors. I was forced to steal and forced to view pornography. I was physically beaten and malnourished.

Is it any wonder that I fell into sexual promiscuity at the ripe, old age of thirteen? I became desperate for attention, love, and validation. By the time I was 17 years old, I found myself pregnant for the third time. Two miscarriages should have been my clue that my life was quickly spiraling out of control, but here I was, a 17-year-old graduating senior with a third baby in my belly.

It wasn't long after my father found out about the pregnancy that he quickly ushered me from the family home, never inviting me to live with them again. I was on my own. Where would I go? What would I do? I had only the clothes on my back. My future had been flushed away and I was certain I had ruined my life. It was in that moment that I had a choice to make. Would I allow this to defeat me or would I make a way for myself and my soon-coming child?

The future seemed bleak, at first. The best I could do was obtain government housing and used food stamps and welfare to help make ends meet. I landed a full-time job ten days after giving birth and started college full-time during the evenings. I had little furniture, no extra money, and an old clunker of a car that left me roadside weekly. But I was making it. I began to see a glimmer of hope, only to find myself pregnant again!

I was embarrassed and ashamed and was the closest to suicide that I had ever been. Where was my life going? Would I always be a single mom living below the poverty line, unable to give my children the things they needed? I began to toy with the idea of going back to church. Despite my past, I had always been in and out of church. I knew the ways of God and the things of God. But how could I go back? I had two kids outside of marriage and a barrage of other mistakes lingering in my past. They weighed on me like the weight of a thousand years and I was certain the walls of the church would cave in when I walked through the door. But...............I went anyway.

I would like to tell you that I had some life-changing, God-encounter on my first trip back to church, but I didn't. However, I did continue going. Before long, I found myself attending two to three times a week. Slowly, very slowly, I began to have a new outlook on life. I was refreshed, optimistic, and more at peace than I'd ever been. During one of the Sunday services, the pastor began to speak on the principle of tithing-- giving ten percent of your income to the church. This was not the first time I'd heard the concept, but my instant thought was “How can I give the church money when I barely make ends meet?” Over the next several months, I could not stop thinking about tithing and what the pastor had said. I decided to give it a try.

Within six months of writing my first tithe check, I landed a job almost doubling my meager income. Within two years, I landed one of the most coveted jobs in our area and eventually became a highly-recognized corporate executive within one of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the nation. With God's grace and mercy, he had chosen to pull me from the depths of financial poverty and put me on solid ground. I was living the life I had only dreamed about – taking lavish vacations, driving a luxury car, and purchasing a lovely home. I didn't deserve any of this, but my Father in Heaven loved me enough to bless me with those things. He didn't care about my past mistakes, the choices I'd made. He loved me. It wasn't long before he brought me the man of my dreams and we married shortly, thereafter.

I eventually left that Corporate America job and all its lavish amenities to pursue my God-given passion of ministering to single moms. I embarked on a journey of reaching out to the poor and hurting - the widow, the teen mom, the divorcee. Through the generosity and leadership of Healing Place Church, we opened our first single moms ministry, which has grown more than 700% since its inception. The ministry hosts hundreds of women varying in age from teens to women in their fifties. Some are highly educated single moms who need parenting advice or Spiritual growth opportunities, while others do not have their GED. Some are “churched”, while others are “unchurched”. But no matter their background, lives are being radically transformed for the cause of Christ. Atheists have found Christ. Drug addicts have been set free. The broken-hearted are now whole again.

With 17 million single moms in our country, I challenge every church across this country to open a single mothers group or ministry. Sixty-seven percent of all single moms do not actively attend church anywhere, many citing fear, judgement, and shame as reasons. We've been called to minister to the poor and hurting, the widow and the orphan. What better way than to help the single mom? We're in. Are you?

“Used with permission by Jennifer Maggio. Copyright (c) 2010 The Life of a Single Mom. www.thelifeofasinglemom.com. All rights reserved.”

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