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Revealing God’s Heart for Adoption, with Anita Keagy
SUMMARY:
*Anita shares her personal journey of facing an unplanned pregnancy at 17, navigating the emotional turmoil of telling her pastor father and the challenges of societal expectations.
*Raised in a loving Christian family, she struggled with feelings of shame and the weight of her decision regarding her pregnancy.
*After much prayer and reflection, she chose to place her child for adoption, believing it was in the best interest of her baby.
*Throughout her experience, she highlights the importance of relationship over rules, the unconditional love of God, and the grace she received from her family and church community.
*Anita emphasizes the significance of seeking God and the transformative power of sharing her story, which ultimately led her to start a ministry focused on helping others connect with God through His Word.
*Her first-hand experience illustrates themes of love, redemption, and the importance of trusting in God's plan during difficult times.
PODCAST INTRO:
Have you ever struggled with God over a problem that is very heavy and even traumatic? Maybe it’s a consequence from a choice you made or maybe it is a problem someone created for you (based on their choices). Either way, you’re faced with a difficult decision. My guest, Anita Keagy shares about her unplanned pregnancy at 17 and the all the different ways that God met her in her circumstance.
Anita’s family had always provided a strong foundation of faith in Christ and they pointed her to Him again when she needed clarity, answers, direction, forgiveness. As you’ll hear in her story, God was ahead of her need beginning with a relocation. God had already stirred her pastor father to look for a church in Lancaster, PA. Her father was offered a pastoral job so they had just recently moved when Anita discovers she’s pregnant. The church that the Lord placed them in welcomed them with kindness and the desire to help them. It was a church family and environment that would be supportive to a new pastor and his family including an unwed 17 year old pregnant daughter.
When Anita asked God what was best for her baby she felt she’d heard clearly that adoption was to be her choice. Even after making the decision she felt God was leading her toward, as her belly grows and she begins to feel the baby move, she second guesses whether it was God she heard or herself. Have you ever been there? Trying to discern whether you heard God right, did He really say that? I think that question is as old as the Garden of Eden. It’s that struggle where we’re asking/wondering, was that your voice God or my internal voice?
As we all know, adoption does not end with a decision. This is an issue of the human heart and there is a lifetime ahead both for the mother and the child. Anita points out her concerns about creating abandonment and rejection issues for her daughter. Even though she had prayed and requested a Christian family for her daughter, Anita still had anxiety wondering if her little girl was safe, loved, protected.
In the delivery room, Anita had only heard her daughter cry, she did not get to see her nor hold her so Anita’s heart ached to meet the baby that had changed her life. She so desired to learn more about her. In our conversation, you can tell that Anita’s heart was broken but she held on to hope that God would one day allow a reunion and Anita would actually meet, touch, hug her daughter, hear her daughter’s voice once again.
There are many precious moments that Anita shares but the one that stood out to me was the exchange that she and God had in a quiet moment together and God speaks into her spirit about His longing for the orphan hearts of the children that He desires to adopt and even those who have professed Him as their Savior but have yet to make Him the Lord of their life through reading His word, talking with Him and creating intimate relationship. As God speaks into Anita’s spirit, the revelation that God shares is a pivotal moment in her life and her ministry is born. She has an incredibly hope filled heart to model and equip, in a simple way, how to engage the heart of God, pursue Him and grow in intimacy.
Listen in to hear how God walked with Anita in the midst of her unplanned pregnancy. Learn what is was like for Anita to finally meet her daughter. And to me, the cherry on top of it all, the beauty of God’s ability to use the pain of Anita’s broken heart yearning for her daughter and exchange it for something far more beautiful than Anita could think to ask for.
That’s our God; to take the pain of this life, dismantle it with His truth and His love, repurpose it and bring beauty! A true beauty for ashes story. Let’s listen in!
Lived Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com
Sherrie Pilk
OTHER PODCASTS AND/OR BLOGS ON THIS TOPIC:
Healing And Blending Families Through A Surprise Adoption X2 with Jennifer Uren: https://alifeofthrive.com/2021/05/26/adoption/
(Blog) A Mother’s Day Wish for You (this includes the precious mommas who chose adoption): https://alifeofthrive.com/2019/05/12/a-mothers-day-wish-for-you/
CONNECT WITH ANITA:
Website: https://www.joyshop.org/
Book Link: https://www.joyshop.org/shop
Free 21 Day Challenge: https://www.joyshop.org/21-day-challenge
BIO (as seen on her website joyshop.org/about)
Anita Keagy founded JoyShop Ministries in 2006 with one simple mission: To inspire people to spend time with God every day through Bible reading and prayer. Since then, she has traveled nationwide and internationally, sharing her message of seeking God first each day as the key to abundant life and joy. Thousands of people have heard and responded to her dynamic message at conferences, retreats, school chapel settings and churches.
With a compelling story of how God used a very difficult situation in her life for His glory, Anita shares candidly how she became pregnant as a teenager – all the more “scandalous” because she was a preacher’s daughter – and made the difficult choice to place her daughter for adoption. Although she never had the privilege to see or hold her child, Anita never stopped yearning to know her first-born daughter, even as she married and had four more children. Through a file of letters and the help of her adoption agency, Anita finally met her firstborn 21 years later. God used Anita’s own desire to know her child to impress upon her how much He wants to know His children – us! With that knowledge, a ministry was born that is now thriving and impacting lives every day.
Anita is the author of, “The File: A Mother and Child’s Life-Changing Reunion.” Her motivational 6 session DVD series, “Seeking God First,” has encouraged and challenged those who long for a deeper relationship with God. Her DVD, “Letters to an Unknown Daughter” is her personal testimony of motherhood, hope, and healing. Her book and DVD series, along with additional supportive materials, can be purchased on her website.
Anita Keagy lives in Washington Boro, Pennsylvania, with her husband Paul. She is the mother of 5 adult children, and 11 grandchildren. She attended Messiah College and received training from both Kay Arthur, of Precept Ministries, and Anne Graham Lotz.
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By Sherrie Pilkington
5
2929 ratings
SUMMARY:
*Anita shares her personal journey of facing an unplanned pregnancy at 17, navigating the emotional turmoil of telling her pastor father and the challenges of societal expectations.
*Raised in a loving Christian family, she struggled with feelings of shame and the weight of her decision regarding her pregnancy.
*After much prayer and reflection, she chose to place her child for adoption, believing it was in the best interest of her baby.
*Throughout her experience, she highlights the importance of relationship over rules, the unconditional love of God, and the grace she received from her family and church community.
*Anita emphasizes the significance of seeking God and the transformative power of sharing her story, which ultimately led her to start a ministry focused on helping others connect with God through His Word.
*Her first-hand experience illustrates themes of love, redemption, and the importance of trusting in God's plan during difficult times.
PODCAST INTRO:
Have you ever struggled with God over a problem that is very heavy and even traumatic? Maybe it’s a consequence from a choice you made or maybe it is a problem someone created for you (based on their choices). Either way, you’re faced with a difficult decision. My guest, Anita Keagy shares about her unplanned pregnancy at 17 and the all the different ways that God met her in her circumstance.
Anita’s family had always provided a strong foundation of faith in Christ and they pointed her to Him again when she needed clarity, answers, direction, forgiveness. As you’ll hear in her story, God was ahead of her need beginning with a relocation. God had already stirred her pastor father to look for a church in Lancaster, PA. Her father was offered a pastoral job so they had just recently moved when Anita discovers she’s pregnant. The church that the Lord placed them in welcomed them with kindness and the desire to help them. It was a church family and environment that would be supportive to a new pastor and his family including an unwed 17 year old pregnant daughter.
When Anita asked God what was best for her baby she felt she’d heard clearly that adoption was to be her choice. Even after making the decision she felt God was leading her toward, as her belly grows and she begins to feel the baby move, she second guesses whether it was God she heard or herself. Have you ever been there? Trying to discern whether you heard God right, did He really say that? I think that question is as old as the Garden of Eden. It’s that struggle where we’re asking/wondering, was that your voice God or my internal voice?
As we all know, adoption does not end with a decision. This is an issue of the human heart and there is a lifetime ahead both for the mother and the child. Anita points out her concerns about creating abandonment and rejection issues for her daughter. Even though she had prayed and requested a Christian family for her daughter, Anita still had anxiety wondering if her little girl was safe, loved, protected.
In the delivery room, Anita had only heard her daughter cry, she did not get to see her nor hold her so Anita’s heart ached to meet the baby that had changed her life. She so desired to learn more about her. In our conversation, you can tell that Anita’s heart was broken but she held on to hope that God would one day allow a reunion and Anita would actually meet, touch, hug her daughter, hear her daughter’s voice once again.
There are many precious moments that Anita shares but the one that stood out to me was the exchange that she and God had in a quiet moment together and God speaks into her spirit about His longing for the orphan hearts of the children that He desires to adopt and even those who have professed Him as their Savior but have yet to make Him the Lord of their life through reading His word, talking with Him and creating intimate relationship. As God speaks into Anita’s spirit, the revelation that God shares is a pivotal moment in her life and her ministry is born. She has an incredibly hope filled heart to model and equip, in a simple way, how to engage the heart of God, pursue Him and grow in intimacy.
Listen in to hear how God walked with Anita in the midst of her unplanned pregnancy. Learn what is was like for Anita to finally meet her daughter. And to me, the cherry on top of it all, the beauty of God’s ability to use the pain of Anita’s broken heart yearning for her daughter and exchange it for something far more beautiful than Anita could think to ask for.
That’s our God; to take the pain of this life, dismantle it with His truth and His love, repurpose it and bring beauty! A true beauty for ashes story. Let’s listen in!
Lived Loved and Thrive! @alifeofthrive.com
Sherrie Pilk
OTHER PODCASTS AND/OR BLOGS ON THIS TOPIC:
Healing And Blending Families Through A Surprise Adoption X2 with Jennifer Uren: https://alifeofthrive.com/2021/05/26/adoption/
(Blog) A Mother’s Day Wish for You (this includes the precious mommas who chose adoption): https://alifeofthrive.com/2019/05/12/a-mothers-day-wish-for-you/
CONNECT WITH ANITA:
Website: https://www.joyshop.org/
Book Link: https://www.joyshop.org/shop
Free 21 Day Challenge: https://www.joyshop.org/21-day-challenge
BIO (as seen on her website joyshop.org/about)
Anita Keagy founded JoyShop Ministries in 2006 with one simple mission: To inspire people to spend time with God every day through Bible reading and prayer. Since then, she has traveled nationwide and internationally, sharing her message of seeking God first each day as the key to abundant life and joy. Thousands of people have heard and responded to her dynamic message at conferences, retreats, school chapel settings and churches.
With a compelling story of how God used a very difficult situation in her life for His glory, Anita shares candidly how she became pregnant as a teenager – all the more “scandalous” because she was a preacher’s daughter – and made the difficult choice to place her daughter for adoption. Although she never had the privilege to see or hold her child, Anita never stopped yearning to know her first-born daughter, even as she married and had four more children. Through a file of letters and the help of her adoption agency, Anita finally met her firstborn 21 years later. God used Anita’s own desire to know her child to impress upon her how much He wants to know His children – us! With that knowledge, a ministry was born that is now thriving and impacting lives every day.
Anita is the author of, “The File: A Mother and Child’s Life-Changing Reunion.” Her motivational 6 session DVD series, “Seeking God First,” has encouraged and challenged those who long for a deeper relationship with God. Her DVD, “Letters to an Unknown Daughter” is her personal testimony of motherhood, hope, and healing. Her book and DVD series, along with additional supportive materials, can be purchased on her website.
Anita Keagy lives in Washington Boro, Pennsylvania, with her husband Paul. She is the mother of 5 adult children, and 11 grandchildren. She attended Messiah College and received training from both Kay Arthur, of Precept Ministries, and Anne Graham Lotz.
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