Unexpected Ministries

The Lie of Shame Shame has a way of sticking to you like glue. It lingers in the looks people give, the words they speak, and even the silence they keep. For a long time, I believed its lie—that because I was a pregnant teenager, I was less than, unworthy, and already disqualified. Back in 1999, being a teen mom wasn’t something you could hide. My belly made my story visible, and people didn’t hold back their judgments. I’ll never forget sitting in a college classroom, determined to keep chasing my education. My professor looked straight at me, belly round with life, and told me I didn’t belong there. Her exact words were, “Go home and knit some booties.” Then she kicked me out of class. Just like that, my hopes of being seen as a student, as a young woman with dreams, vanished under the label of “teen mom.” I thought maybe work would be different. I got a job as a nanny, caring for a sweet toddler. But every time I showed up for work, the child’s mom would corner me in her living room...