A teenager becoming pregnant is much more common this generation compared to the last, largely as a result of the free-love-free-sex mindset that many individuals have bought into. While the Lord is not a party pooper in wanting sex to be enjoyed in the context of marriage, many believe that He is just out to spoil their fun and decide to get a little fun themselves.

Unfortunately, the fun usually ends when an unplanned pregnancy comes about. From there, it seems that the teenager’s life has been catapulted into something for which she is not really ready: is she really ready to give up her entire life just to raise a baby, particularly a baby that she did not intend to have in the first place?

If you are a teenager caught in an unplanned pregnancy, first off, I want to assure you that God does not condemn you. Many people claiming to be Christians are quick to point the finger at a pregnant young lady, blaming her for her wrong choices, and refusing to help her because they believe she brought it on herself. Do you know that Jesus is not like that? The Bible says that God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him, the world might be saved (John 3:17).

Being saved does not only refer to being free from the place of hellfire and brimstone. Rather, it also includes being saved from destruction, from ruin, from afflictions. If you are a teenager who feels like your entire life has been ripped out from you because you got pregnant, remember that it is not God who wants to rob you of happiness; it’s the enemy’s work, it’s he who wants to rob you of life and then blames it on God. Jesus wants to give you abundant life, and He means it.

So what are your options now? I’m guessing there are a myriad of choices, although not all of them may seem plausible to you at the moment. First, you probably already got in touch with the dad, and whether he decided to marry you or ditch you obviously will factor into your decision about what to do with the child. Perhaps you’re considering raising the child by yourself, but you really can’t see a way you can do that, seeing how you may not yet be out of school yet, or how impossible it is to get a job. Maybe you’ve thought about moving back with your folks (as long as they don’t kill you first, you probably think!) and having them help you take care of the baby (as if things weren’t bad enough, you probably don’t want to go crawling back for help!). Surely, parents would freak out initially, but most of them thaw out after a few months, and they likely will not be able to refuse their daughter.

There’s another option you may have thought about but could not really stomach: abortion. If you could just get rid of the baby, maybe things can go back to normal. But I wonder how “normal” things would be if you wound up lamenting what might have been, if you had only carried the baby full-term, and turned to one more option: putting him up for adoption.

Putting a baby up for adoption is really scary: you may be worried about how the baby would grow up, if he would have loving parents to take care of him, or if he would grow up resenting you for giving him away. But the Lord promises to set the lonely in families, and He has moved the hearts of many people across the world to have a heart for children whose parents could not bring them up themselves. Non-profit organizations like The Zoe Foundation are run by people who have received the love of Jesus and who understand His heart for the fatherless; they can help you find prospective adoptive parents who will extend His love and grace to your child, as well as to you.

Could it be that the prospect of having a loving couple serve as the parents of your unborn child causes a flicker of hope inside of you? Remember, you are loved by the King of kings, and He cares about the things that concern you, more than you can know.