Dashed Dreams, No Answers

“Do you feel like you’re seeing—living—‘Same Kind of Different than Me’ every Monday?” the pregnancy center director asked me. “We have the same deal here as that story … and it could be you.”

Yes, it could be.

I fill out the forms and follow protocol. But notes on the form tell facts, not the story of a life. I hear the stories of dashed dreams. I talk with many girls my age and younger who have already experienced a divorce. Eyes speak what could never be told with words: fear. Rejection. Disillusionment. Sometimes the nonchalant gestures and confident explanations try to stretch a band-aid over the raw wound. Unbidden tears spill as they tell pieces of their brokenness.

Today, it was my tears … at hearing how this song verbalized the prayer of my heart.

Little girl twenty-one, the things that you've already done

Anything to get ahead

And you say you've got a man, but he's got another plan

Only wants what you will do instead

Well little girl twenty-one, you never thought that this would come

You starve yourself to play the part

But I can promise you there's a man whose love is true

And he'll treat you like the jewel you are

So turn around, you're not too far

To back away, be who you are

To change your path, go another way

It's not too late, you can be saved

If you feel depressed with past regrets

The shameful nights hope to forget

Can disappear they can all be washed away

By the One who's strong can right your wrongs

Can rid your fears, dry all your tears

And change the way you look at this big world

He will take your dark distorted view

And with His light He will show you truth

And again you'll see through the eyes of a little girl

There could never be a more beautiful you

Don't buy the lies, disguises and hoops they make you jump through

You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do

So there could never be a more beautiful you

“With His light He will show you truth.” There is no single answer to the 15-year-old reeling, at seeing those double pink lines. There is no single answer for the 17-year-old who thinks the next man will fulfill her dreams. There is no single answer for the 21-year-old, overwhelmed with the responsibility of supporting her two toddlers alone. There is no single answer for the 23-year-old who sees abortion as the only option.

The stories—the hurt, the complications, the fear—are beyond me. What I saw and heard last week, sitting across from beautiful girls, overwhelmed me. Their need does not overwhelm our Father, though. And while there are no single answers to the years of decisions, the myriad factors and the built up pain, there is ultimately hope only through Christ.

I pray that my few words can express Christ’s compassion. I pray that His truth would be spoken in love here, even when it’s rejected. I pray that “little girl twenty-one” can experience the same forgiveness I have, and someday testify to the power of God transforming her heart and life. I pray that our Father would be glorified here by the compassion, listening ears, truth spoken, needs met—His love reaching out.