When God Redeems the Hardest Choices, with Jordan Daugherty

Join me as Jordan Daugherty opens up about the moment her life took an unexpected turn—an unplanned pregnancy in the middle of broken relationships and a search for worth in all the wrong places. What felt like the end quickly became the beginning of a story only God could write.

In this moving conversation, Jordan shares how the hardest decision of her life—choosing adoption—led to the most life-changing encounter with Jesus. From heartbreak to healing, from shame to purpose, she reveals how God transformed her pain into a ministry that now brings hope to countless others.

If you’ve ever wondered whether God can redeem the messiest parts of your story, this episode will remind you: He can, and He will.

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Ways to connect with Jordan:

Instagram

The Journey After Podcast

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Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:04

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I'm grateful for your support and for being part of this community. If you've been enjoying the podcast so far, I'd love it if you could take a minute to leave a review. Your feedback helps me reach more people and share these inspiring stories with others. Let's spread the word. Please share this podcast with your friends and family. And if you haven't already, be sure to like and subscribe for new episodes. To stay connected and up to date on all the latest news, updates, and exclusive content, head over to my Facebook page, Living Testimonies. While you're there, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. The link is on the page. Thanks again for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope that everyone is listening is blessed and doing well. Today I have the honor of having my sister in Christ here, and her name is Jordan Daugherty. Can you introduce yourself to everybody, Jordan?

Jordan Daugherty: 1:27

Hi, I'm Jordan. I am a 22-year-old birth mom from North Carolina. And I'm really excited to be on here today. Thank you so much for letting me get to share and let God just speak.

Israel Caminero: 1:43

And as always, she's here to share her testimony. As always, I want to hear everyone's testimony and how God came to be in their life. But before we do that, I want to pray over us. And I want to say, Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts, thanking you for the incredible work you've done in Jordan's life. Lord, you have walked her through the valleys and lifted her to the mountaintops. Her story is a testimony of your faithfulness, your power, and your unfailing love. Right now we lift Jordan up to you as she prepares to share her testimony. We ask that you fill her with your Holy Spirit, give her peace that calms every fear and boldness that silences every doubt. Let every word that comes from her mouth be guided by you. Let her speak with clarity, confidence, and compassion. Father, we pray that her story would pierce hearts, bring light to dark places, and lead others closer to you. Protect her from any attacks of the enemy that would try to bring confusion, fear, or shame. She's covered by the blood of Jesus and her voice is anointed for such a time as this. May your name be glorified through every moment of this testimony, and may those who hear it experience the hope, healing, and freedom that only you can give. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Jordan Daugherty: 2:58

Amen. Thank you for that. That was amazing.

Israel Caminero: 3:01

No problem at all. So I'm sure everyone's eager to hear your testimony. So can you take us in a day of Jordan as she was growing up before she knew Christ?

Jordan Daugherty: 3:15

Yeah. Um, so I grew up in a beautiful home. I grew up with parents that loved Jesus, that loved each other, um, that honored each other and lived a beautiful example of what godly parents should look like. Um, was raised in the church, was there every Sunday, every Wednesday, went to summer camps, BBS, all the things. I grew up knowing Jesus. I grew up loving Jesus. I grew up putting my faith in him. And as a child, I was kind of underneath the umbrella faith of my parents for a really long time and kind of just leaned off them for what I thought my own salvation was. And growing up going through middle school and high school, I started to get exposed to a lot more. I kind of felt like I was in a bubble for a while. I went to a private Christian school for my middle school and some of my high school years. And so, you know, I was in Bible class, I was around people in chapel and constantly around godly people. And so I hadn't really experienced the outside world yet of you know what happened in day-to-day lives. I hadn't gone to a party, I never drank alcohol, I hadn't had a boyfriend. Um, and so I was still very much in a bubble growing up. When I turned around 17, I started going to a community college outside of um doing high school to finish my degree early. And I was starting to get exposed to a lot more. I was around a lot of older people, you know, not having as many strict guidelines of being a high schooler. I had my first boyfriend that opened a lot of doors for me. I went to my first party. I was around a lot of different types of girls that I had never been around before. Doors were just opening for me that I had never experienced before. And during those times, I still would say I loved Jesus. I would occasionally still go to church with my family, but around those years is when it started to kind of trickle out. And after that year of doing school, I finished high school through the community college and I went straight to hair school. And that's kind of when the rushing waves just pushed me through that next door that really just opened up everything for me. Um, I was around a lot of older women in hair school that had very different views, weren't religious, or, you know, wanted to do things that I had never done before, and encouraged me to do it. And I kind of just went full force with it. You know, I was getting attention and had people like me that had never liked me before, and my selfishness of my flesh liked that. And so less and less was I going to church and I didn't want it to go. I didn't feel like I had time to go. I wanted to spend my time doing other things. And I just poured right into that. And thing after thing started to happen that I was getting exposed to. I, you know, started drinking more, I started partying more, I started hanging out with more guys, I started exposing myself to a lot of different situations and people that I didn't even know really existed in reality. You know, it's things that I might have watched growing up in a movie that I didn't think it was real. And I was very naive to the world for that. And when it was happening, it was exciting. The adrenaline rush that it gave me, I loved it. And I started to feed off of that. And as I was going through the industry of doing hair, you know, that was a huge thing. Like, you know, we would finish at night and we would want to go out. We would want to party. We would want to, we were already all dressed up and dolled up. Like, you know, let's let's go out and meet some guys. Let's go out and do this, let's go to this place and meet these people. And, you know, I just ran with it. I wanted to be accepted. I wanted to be liked. I wanted people to think that I was pretty. I wanted all the guys' attention. And that just kind of started to spiral. And eventually I ended up getting into a relationship with somebody that I fell for very fast. And ultimately, that relationship caused me a tremendous amount of heartache. There was a lot of emotional, verbal, and a little bit of physical abuse. And I clung to that. I lost my identity in that. I felt like I was not worth anything, that I was never going to be enough, that this is what I deserved. And so I stuck around. I was too scared to leave. I was truly trauma bonded to somebody at my lowest. And I was angry at the Lord. And during this time, I had not pressed to him. I hadn't thought about him in years. But for some reason, I still allowed myself to be angry at him because I felt like, you know, if a God, our God is so good, why is he letting something so terrible happen to me? And why won't he help me get out of it?

Israel Caminero: 8:32

And this is your relationship with this guy, correct?

Jordan Daugherty: 8:35

This was a different relationship, yes, but this was one that kind of that opened a lot of the more messy doors for me that ultimately led me to find myself in the situation that um changed my life. But this was a relationship that happened quite a few years ago, but is what kind of set me off, like kind of really sparked this fire in me to just not care and to just go crazy with everything. Um, because I found myself so angry at God, I started to run even faster away from everything to do with Him. I poured into finding validation in my identity and men, in alcohol, and partying, and you know, getting attention at clubs and stuff like that. And I turned to all of that because my heart was so broken from this relationship that I had been in. And I turned to everything else in the world to try to mend it and fix it. And obviously that wasn't working, and it was never work, but for some reason I thought if I kept pressing into it and trying harder, it would. Ultimately, I was definitely standing on the edge of a ledge leading up to when I found myself pregnant. And that last month before then was really gonna be the make it or break it month for me. I was going completely crazy with everything that I was surrounding myself around. It turned into an everyday, every hour, every minute. My mind, my body was consumed with things of the world, whether it was a new guy or the alcohol constantly needing it, constantly having to have it, being places that I sometimes don't even remember where I was or what I was doing or who I was around. And I met somebody at one point, and you know, I made a bad decision one night. And a few weeks later, I found myself pregnant. I was 21. Um, I was terrified. I was alone, and I didn't know what my life was gonna be. And at this point, I still did not really have the Lord back in my heart. I did not want to turn to Jesus yet. I didn't have enough in me yet to, you know, really lay down my life and be like, okay, I'm I'm giving it back to God. I wasn't ready to do that. I was still holding on to pride, thinking that I could get through this, that it was gonna be fine, um, that I was gonna figure it out on my own.

Israel Caminero: 11:17

Right.

Jordan Daugherty: 11:18

And, you know, some weeks went by and I was broken. I finally got out of the shock and the denial that I was truly pregnant and that I was about to be responsible for another human being's life on this earth. And that was scary. That was a big heavy burden that was placed on me when it should have been placed on two people in a marriage. It was placed on me as a 21-year-old without a spouse, and I felt like I was drowning. And one day I woke up and I was like, I think that if I were to die right now, I'm not confident that I would go to heaven. And I kept having these weird realizations that, you know, where like what is my salvation? Am I saved? Do I really love Jesus? You know, am I gonna spend eternity with him or am I gonna die and not be going to heaven? And I sat around with that and being pregnant too, like it created more emotional things going on within me. So I really sat with it one day and was just like, oh my gosh, you know, I was so very blessed to be raised by parents who loved me and cherished me and supported me and encouraged me, but then ultimately pushed me to the Lord. And that's what I want for my child. And I literally looked at myself in the mirror and I was like, what am I doing? What why did I think that I could live like this and be spared the consequences? Why did I think that making these decisions were gonna ultimately build the kingdom of heaven? You know, these choices that I was making have consequences on this earth. And I was I felt so alone. I felt so broken, I felt so lost, and I was so confused where to go. And I ended up seeking some like wise counsel from my former senior pastor, and I showed up on their doorstep for dinner, and him and his wife just sat there and loved on me and supported me, but then also kind of, you know, pushed me to be like, Hey, you need Jesus. You know, where has Jesus been in your life over the past couple of years? You know, how many times have you thought about him when you've made these decisions? And I sat there with a blank mind and face and was just like, man, like that was the last thing that you could have ever looked at me and said that I was thinking about.

Israel Caminero: 14:04

Right.

Jordan Daugherty: 14:05

And I left that night and came home and got right with my savior to be able to confidently say, like, I am and will be going to heaven. I have the Lord in my heart, and I believe that. I have faith in that, and I know that he's redeemed me in my life. And so my pregnancy continued, but my heart and my mind had pushed into the Lord. I knew that he was guiding me, I knew that he was holding my hand through this. Um, but there was still so much fear. And ultimately, leading later down my pregnancy, I was dealt some really hard decisions that I was gonna have to make. And ultimately, one of those decisions was going to be if I was gonna be put in the position where I needed to place my son for adoption and become a birth mom. And for those who don't know what a birth mom is, a birth mom is a woman who goes through pregnancy and has a baby and then chooses to place a baby directly into a family unit of a mom and a dad and becomes a birth mom. And so that decision was put out on the table, and it was something that I was terrified of. I did not want to ever imagine myself having to make that choice. I don't think anybody does. Um, but it was a choice that I was going to have to make at some point in my pregnancy. Right. And I remember leaving every meeting I had with my caseworkers, bawling my eyes out, crying because I did not want to have to continue thinking about that and processing it. I wanted nothing to do with it, but I also felt the presence of the Lord just pulling me there every single time. And I hated that. I was angry. God, why are you having me do this? I don't want to do this. You know that I don't want to do this, but I also know that you're calling me to do this because it's what's best for my son. And, you know, God continued to show up. He showed up in very, very different areas in my life, kind of pointing to, hey, like adoption, adoption. There was people that were placed in my life at the right place at the right time that only God could have done, conversations that were had, speaking engagements that took place. Um, only God orchestrated all of that just in the exact way that it needed to happen. But ultimately it came time for me to make my decision. And I wrestled with it, I fought with it. But then one day I sat back and I just remember praying, God, you know, take away my selfish, prideful desires as a human just for a moment, so I can feel and see if I'm making a decision based off of what I want or what I know you're calling me to do. And I remember being able for a moment to take away every bodily like feeling that I had within myself of what made me feel good right now on this earth. And when that was removed, the pain of it, the heartache of it, I was able to see the beauty and how it honored the Lord, how it blessed my child, how it blessed another family, and ultimately blessed me. And but then again, I started to feel the pain and emotions. It was only for a blink of a second that I was able to remove the pain of the world to see the glory of the Lord and the decision. And ultimately I knew that that was the choice that I was gonna have to make, that I, in a few weeks from then, was going to be a birth mom. And I met and was able to place with a beautiful family. Um, and the day that I had my son was the most beautiful and best day of my life, and God was so vibrant there, he was in every moment of that, and it was so beautiful. But the next day was the hardest day of my life, and that is where God really had to show up and give me his strength. You know, I found a verse in my pregnancy that I clung to, and one day I remember it was actually one of my last times ever going into the agency, probably a week before I gave birth, and I stopped my tracks in the middle of the parking lot, and I just remember bawling my eyes out and looking up to God and just being like, I cannot do this. I am not strong enough. I'm so weak, my body hurts. I'm physically feeling the pain of pregnancy. I was tired, I didn't want to go on with it anymore, and I didn't want to have to deal with the emotional pain and grief and loss that it was about to have on me. And I was just like, God, I I'm I'm too weak. I have no strength. And in that moment in my head, all I heard was, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, which is Philippians 4.13. And that verse got me through the the next couple weeks, which were the hardest weeks of my life. You know, in the hospital, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Leaving, getting wheeled out of the hospital without my child in my arms, walking out of there empty handed. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Going home and sitting in my bed, knowing that I'm supposed to be taking care of a child. I'm longing for that. My body is longing for that. And I'm angry and I'm upset. And I I felt deep sadness that I had never felt before. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. And, you know, day after day, the Lord continue to hold my hand and walk me through post-placement is and was really hard. It is a continuous journey for me. I will always be a birth mom. I will always be in a post-placement standpoint. And I will always be grieving my child. But through the strength that God gives me every single day that He's walked with me through the valleys and now is helping me climb up the mountain, you know, He gives me the ability to see the joy and the beauty that there is in this. And, you know, the joy of the Lord is also my strength. And I have to be willing to have to have the willingness to accept that. You know, God gives us all these beautiful things, but we we can never have it or you know, experience it if we don't accept that from Him. And when I started kind of letting again let go of some of my grief and pain, because that is so of the world, I was able to experience the beauty, the joy, the happiness, the laughing again, smiling again, you know, knowing that this choice honored God and is building the kingdom of heaven. And that my choice as well gave my son and gives my son the best ability to one day meet Jesus.

Israel Caminero: 21:38

Right.

Jordan Daugherty: 21:39

And that is what makes it all worth it. You know, this pain that I feel on this earth is so temporary. And I'm not here to live my life here, to build my kingdom here. I'm living right now to build for my eternity, to build for my son's eternity, to encourage him to be a role model, to be a role model for other women who find themselves in this position, like, hey, you know, I made a mistake that night. I chose to experience sin in the world, like I will continuously do because I'm a sinner. But that choice doesn't define you.

Israel Caminero: 22:16

Okay.

Jordan Daugherty: 22:17

It doesn't, you know, control the rest of your life. You know, there will be consequences for it. I deal with consequences of my actions. The pain, this like the grief, the loss of this world is a consequence. My son is not, but the things that I feel are because I made a choice in a moment when I probably shouldn't have. But I also know and have seen how that night the enemy meant it for so much evil, and he probably was sitting there laughing, knowing this is gonna blow up her life, and she is gonna hate God, and she is not gonna want to do anything else with her life because it's gonna suck. Well, that night that the enemy said that and thought that God is sitting right above, knowing, hey, I meant that for good, though. I'm gonna take what you thought was so wrong and what could have been so bad, and I'm gonna turn it around and mean it for good. Because that night I made that decision. No, it did not honor the Lord. No, it is not his ideal perfect will for my life. But I chose that, and God already knew that, and God was able to use that night to one, bring me back to him, to bless the world with my beautiful baby boy and to bless him with a beautiful life, but then to also answer a prayer that had been prayed for years and years on end for a family that had longed for a child. And God's perfection and strength and glory shines right through that night and shines right through every bad choice that I made in the past few years, led up to that moment that God knew he was going to be able to turn it around for his good. And I share that because it I've witnessed God's love and mercy, his miracles of showing up in your life and guiding you. And at the end of the day, it's like his strength is made perfect in my weakness. And that's the same for everyone else. And like, he will always prevail, he will always come through first, he will always rise above to the top. And I trust that now, and I have faith in that now, and I've seen that in my life. And I pray that over my son, I pray that over any other woman who finds herself in my situation, who finds herself in another situation, and for men too, you know. God is enough and he makes you know that you're enough as well, and that our identity is not of this world. It's not in what we've done or what we're gonna do, it's in him. We're the we're his children, you know. We are loved by him, and we need to accept his love. And yeah, I just I love sharing that because again, this road that I'm on is not easy. I do not have a happy, beautiful, smiley every single day. You know, there's still a lot of pain, and again, it's because we live in a world full of sin.

Israel Caminero: 25:21

Right.

Jordan Daugherty: 25:22

But I also know that redemption and hope for my future are on the other side, and I hold on to that.

Israel Caminero: 25:31

Amen. Amen. That's a powerful story you have there, Jordan. Um, there was a question I wanted to ask. I wanted to just backtrack a little bit. I know you said you were, you know, obviously you grew up in a Christian home and you were living in the bubble because of Christian school, Christian home, going to church on Sundays. And once you got out into the world, obviously that's what caused a lot of this because of the curiosity you had. And 21 years old was that's when everyone experiences a lot of partying, like you said, and going to clubs and getting drunk. When you started doing all of this, you you didn't quite mention, but I I'm just curious to know, like, where were your parents? Did you had already moved out? And what was their take on all this when you came out pregnant?

Jordan Daugherty: 26:20

Yeah, so during my before I was pregnant stage from about 17 to 21, I was very rebellious. My parents never encouraged it, they never wanted me to be in the situations. Half the time, I will say, they were very unaware of the things that I was doing.

Israel Caminero: 26:40

Of course.

Jordan Daugherty: 26:41

I kind of just ignored them. I didn't want anything to do with them. I kind of avoided coming home too. I would just be at random places all hours of the day and night. At one point, too, um, I was out of the house in my own place for a little bit. But ultimately, when I found myself pregnant, I was currently living at home. I know that my parents were really hurt by the decisions that I was making that year. Um, but at the same time, they knew that they couldn't control me because it just pushed me further away.

Israel Caminero: 27:14

Right.

Jordan Daugherty: 27:15

So I never like to say that they gave up on me, but I think they kind of surrendered me to the Lord, knowing that his will was gonna prevail, that his plan would always come through first, and that they were just trusting that he was gonna keep me safe in the moments that they knew that they physically couldn't. And ultimately, yeah, when I found myself pregnant and I told them I was terrified to tell my parents. Um, but I did, and you know, there was definitely a lot of questions and concerns, but they also opened their arms and showed me so much love, and I couldn't have asked for a better response because in their confusion and sadness, there was also like, hey, we still love you, we're gonna support you and we're gonna help you through this. Obviously, we're not proud of the decision that you made, but we are proud that you're choosing life and we're gonna walk through this with you. You're not gonna be alone. But it was hard for them. Even leading up to placing my son for adoption, it it was very hard for them. Because again, like as much as this was me becoming a birth mom, they became birth grandparents. And that decision just didn't only affect me in my life, it affected them as well. And so it's been a journey for my entire family, right? And but they have done nothing but love and support and encourage me and be there for me in my good days and in my hard days.

Israel Caminero: 28:52

That's good. I mean, I figured as much, being that they were Christian. I was just curious to know because when we're that age and we're young and we're going through it, parents say one thing, it goes one ear and out the other.

Jordan Daugherty: 29:05

Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 29:06

You know, so I'm sure, like you said, they surrendered it to God and they were praying for you every night, and that's exactly what happened. You weren't gonna listen to them.

Jordan Daugherty: 29:17

Nope, I was not, and honestly, when they tried to encourage me elsewhere to do different things to go to church, I it made me push away even more.

Israel Caminero: 29:27

Right, exactly. Yep. Yeah, I went through that myself, so I know what you're talking about. So you talk about using your voice to break shame. You you're definitely doing that. And I just want to know what what are some of the lies that the enemy tried to keep you bound by, and how did God bring truth out of that?

Jordan Daugherty: 29:48

Yeah, um these are like sometimes even everyday battles still, but there's a lot of fear that I've held on to of people's opinions of the choice that I've made. You know, not everybody understands it and respects it. And so there was a big fear in me of putting it out there, being public about, hey, I'm a birth mom. This is what I've done, this is the choice that I've made, and this is what I believe in. There's a lot of very strong opinions about adoption within the adoption community and out of it. And so that was a huge fear, you know. Are people gonna question me why I did what I did? Are people going to tell me that I shouldn't call myself a mom? Are people going to make comments about how I just gave away my child? Or everyone had an opinion, and I was terrified of hearing that. And so I've really had to just take that to the Lord and be like, God, I need you to cancel this out. I know that this is what you call me to do. I know that this honors you. And I'm not here to serve and please anybody else on this earth. I have an audience of one, and that's what the Lord really had to just engrave on my heart to remove that like sense of shame, guilt, and like fearfulness of sharing my story because of what people were gonna think or say. Um, and I think during my pregnancy, I was very much scared because I visibly changed. You know, I was growing a baby inside of me so people could see that I was pregnant and I was young and I was alone. And so there was always this fear of what people were gonna think about me and going to church. I was terrified of like going back to my home church that I grew up in, being visibly pregnant because of judgmental looks or comments. I never knew what people were gonna say or how they were gonna respond when they knew that I was pregnant. And, you know, there was some times where there was judgment and condemnation, but there was also some beauty of people that welcomed me with open arms, that loved me, that honored my decision, respected that, but then also encouraged me to press into the Lord. And you know, that's what the body of Christ is supposed to do.

Israel Caminero: 32:07

That's right.

Jordan Daugherty: 32:08

And so we're not called to condemn people because Jesus doesn't condemn us.

Israel Caminero: 32:11

Exactly.

Jordan Daugherty: 32:12

And so I just kind of started to like put that all on the Lord. Hey, if I'm fear feeling fearful, God remove this from me. This isn't coming from you. You know, I'm only here to serve you. Why do I care about what these other people think? And it was kind of a mind switch, like mindset switch. Like, I really just had to let God guide that and take that worldliness out of me.

Israel Caminero: 32:34

Amen. That's totally true. A lot of people feel shame because of what others think of them, but there's only one judge that can judge you, and he's not of this earth. So, what does your life look like today, Jordan? And how is God using your story to impact others? Um, I know you have a podcast. You can go ahead and share that. What else are you doing to use this story to impact others?

Jordan Daugherty: 33:00

Yeah, so I do have a podcast. My podcast is called The Journey After. I started that because I wanted to show that it's not about only where we've been in our lives, because every single person on this earth has a story and has a path that they've walked, you know, through the good, the bad, the hard, the easy. You know, we can talk about that, we can share that and share those experiences and those feelings. But I made it because I want to also highlight, highlight where we're going, where we're going in our life, where God's taking us, you know, like he says in the word, like the road to destruction is so much easier to find because the narrow path is what takes us to heaven. And it's it's hard. Our path here on earth is never supposed to be easy. It was never promised to be easy, but it was promised to be possible through Christ. And I love to share that on my on my podcast and to share my testimony, to share where I have been, the decisions that I've made and where it led me into now where God's leading me. And so I love having other people come on as well to share where they've been, but now where they're headed. But then I also like to share and advocate and educate about adoption, about what being a birth mom is. There's not a lot of birth moms that will share their story publicly and talk about it and be vulnerable to share the hard things about it because it's really hard. It is really hard to talk about placing a child. The world has put a lot of shame and guilt and fear in that kind of area of things. And so most birth moms hide and will never tell their secret their entire life of placing a child. That's right. And so I want to change that, and that's where my heart is as well to one educate people around me, but then also educate the church. There is a lot of you know, praise and encouragement to adoptive families, you know, adopt, adopt, which is absolutely beautiful and amazing, whether it's international or domestic, you know, that's a beautiful gift that somebody is willing to adopt a child that needs it. But then we also forget to remember the birth mom. You know, that baby came from another human being's life, and she made a very hard decision that day, whether it was by choice or not, you know, that decision was very hard. And that doesn't go lightly. And there's not a lot of conversations and advocacy for that and about that. And so my heart is also to change that and to change people's understanding about adoption as well. You know, adoption is not foster care. It can be a child can be adopted through foster care, but adoption and foster care are not the same thing. And people get confused with that as well. And people will go their whole life without truly understanding what adoption actually is. I didn't know what it was until I became a birth mom. And so I also want to change that for the generations around my age and even underneath me, because you know, we will always on this earth live in sin. There will always be miscarriages, there will always be unplanned pregnancies, there will always be abortion. And adoption is a beautiful way to avoid choosing abortion. And it's a way that should remove abortion as a whole. And I advocate now for pro-life. I love sharing that. I love showing people that hey, I'm living proof of a loving, merciful, forgiving God that has given me the strength to walk through this alone and now bless the world with a beautiful baby boy and a family and myself. And God gave me the ability to do that because one who created me as a woman. And as women, we have the ability to bear children. And so I love to show people, hey, you know, I'm walking proof that you can make it through pregnancy. You are strong enough through God, and He will give you the strength to make you get all the way to the end to experience birthing life into the world. And my heart goes out there, and that's what I try to do. That's what I try to talk about on all my platforms. But I have just been kind of following where the Lord's taking me right now, you know, doing the podcasting, going on other people's podcasts, doing a lot of social media, educating, advocating on my platforms about being a birth mom, the adoption stuff that I just talked about, being pro-life and just sharing how God can and will redeem you when you accept his invitation to allow him to be in your life.

Israel Caminero: 37:57

Amen. Thank you for sharing that. And I'll have links to all that information on the description of this podcast. If you want to go check out our podcast, I encourage you to go check it out. I always try to support people that have been on here, and you can find that on the description of this podcast. You know, a lot of people think that uh, like you said, it's that giving up the kid for adoption is a sin when it's really not. You know, it's often viewed as a selfless loving act because it's what's best for the child, and you're trying to provide what's best for him, which you touched base on earlier, saying the same thing. And some people just need to get it straight. And I commend you for following God's lead. And I'm sure it was hard. I'm sure, you know, no one wants to do that. I'm sure you still think about it. And that that's leading to my next question is how do you stay rooted? You know, how do you stay so rooted? Because I mean I can tell by your voice you have peace. And how do you stay so rooted in Christ, especially when those old feelings start to creep up and start shaming you?

Jordan Daugherty: 39:09

Yeah, um, it is hard, it is not easy, but you know, every day it's a surrender and submit to God. And again, I have to remind myself this is not my forever home. I have to surround myself around community that push me, encourage me, and then keep me accountable. Because again, if you know, if I was walking through this life alone, it would be really hard, you know, and we're not called to walk through life alone. Like we're called to have brothers and sisters in Christ that support us, encourage us, and walk with us through things. And I have a beautiful community that does that for me, that loves on me, that walks with me and sits with me in my hard days. Because yes, I have peace, but. But I do still feel the sadness and grief within this world, and it is hard. But I think there was a moment too in my grief and pain that I felt God just be like, Hey, trust me, I've got you. And He was able to set me free from some of the lies and the chains that were really pulling me down. And one of the verses that really spoke to me in that that allowed me to feel the peace that I do is one of the verses in John. I think it's John 8, 30 or 30, I can't remember. But it basically says, and you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And when I follow God's truth, which is the only truth, I'm set free from the lies of the world. I'm not condemned by them. I'm not tied down by them. And the lies that I was telling myself during my pregnancy, post-placement, um, and even years before this all happened, I was letting those lies control my life. I was letting the lies sit in the driver's seat and drive me everywhere but to Jesus. And the second we submit that to the Lord, our hands are cut free from the chains of the world, of the lies that people have spoken to us, of the lies that we've spoken over ourselves. You know, the truth is what sets us free. And the truth is found only in Jesus. And that gives me peace. And that gives me hope. And I know that the Lord has a hopeful future for me, has a beautiful future for me, and I trust that because I know that that's what's true.

Israel Caminero: 41:47

Amen. I like how you keep going back to scripture and quoting it. That was John 8 32, by the way.

Jordan Daugherty: 41:54

Okay. That's I I couldn't remember. I always get it mixed up because there's so many beautiful verses that I love. And I've never I never excelled in school, and so I always struggled with, you know, memorizing things and studying things. But there's such a beautiful thing about reading the word of how when you pray to let the Lord come into you and to flow through you and to speak through you, you know, his word starts to stick. And it's not a chore, it's it's a beautiful, amazing experience to know this lives in me, and I'm gonna speak out his truth. And I want that to reflect the love of Jesus. And I love being able to reflect back to the word because that's the truth that has gotten you through every single day of my life.

Israel Caminero: 42:43

That's right, that's right. Without the word, there's nothing, you know. Yeah, that's you always need to go back to the word, and you might read a scripture today, and it'll mean something totally different to you in a different season.

Jordan Daugherty: 42:58

Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 42:59

Well, I would I just want to thank you, Jordan, for sharing such a powerful testimony with everyone and being vulnerable about it at that, you know, because it like you said, it's not easy to talk about things like this, but that's also what the enemy wants is to keep you quiet and silenced.

Jordan Daugherty: 43:18

You know, I mean, yeah, the scripture tells us the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And every single day we are fighting the spiritual warfare battle of the enemy trying to take us further and further away from Christ.

Israel Caminero: 43:31

That's right.

Jordan Daugherty: 43:32

Through the lies, through the loss, through the pain. You know, he's never gonna stop until the Lord comes back. But he will show up in every season of your life trying to destroy everything. And we have to fight that. We have to put on the armor of God, we have to stand strong in our faith and stand firm in the truth and root ourselves in that. Because without it, we're gonna fly right away. You know, the enemy will pick us up and throw us right out and back into the things of the world, and we will get consumed by that if we are not protected.

Israel Caminero: 44:05

That's right, that's absolutely correct. And the enemy is so slick that he tries to come in in any opportunity that he can and attack. But we serve a greater God, and I say, not today, Satan. That's that's my thing. Yeah, you know, that's my thing. Which leads me to my last few questions of the podcast, which you already kind of touched base on. See, and it I usually ask my guests, was there a specific verse that carried you through a season like a life verse, which you already answered, which by the way is one of my life verses, which is Philippians 4 13. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I love that because he's not saying some things, little things, anything, he's saying all things. That's what I love about that verse. But since you mentioned that one being your life verse, and I know a lot of people have more than one. Is there a verse, well, a third verse, because you also said John 8, 32, that also carried you through that you can go back to and read when you're having a hard time or a hard day or you know, a hard week? Just a verse that you can go back to and read and what it means to you. You already mentioned two. If you want to mention another one, totally fine.

Jordan Daugherty: 45:25

Yeah, I know. I mean, I could sit here all day and say how this verse has impacted me and the encouragement that it's given me. And this one is not necessarily one that carries me through, but more so encourages me to press in more to the Lord, is Matthew 5.8. Blessed are those pure in heart, for they will see God. And that was something that I never understood growing up, and that's something now that I encourage so many other women that find themselves in my shoes or close to my shoes, is you know, purity is so much more than, you know, sexual sin or sexual interaction. It is, you know, pure in the heart of where is your heart with God? Where is your mind taking you? Is your mind pure? You know, are your actions pure? Because when we align that with what the Lord wants, that's when we get to experience Jesus. Because God is never going to sit next to sin and put himself in the position to be around sin. And so I remember reading that verse when I was pregnant and hearing someone share about it and being like, I don't know about you, but I want to be with Jesus. I want to experience Jesus. And I sat there and looked at myself and I was like, man, like I do too. And so, you know, blessed are those pure in heart is when we will see Jesus. And so, like, that's what I want. That's what I want for myself, that's what I want for other people. And so that verse is an encouragement for me, and that I hope can reflect encouragement to other people is like, purify your heart in the Lord. You know, he will guide you through the hard things, the easy things, the battles that you face within purity because it is hard, especially when you've already experienced things. It is really hard to stay on that pure path, but submit to the Lord, and you know, he will guide you through that and he will hold your hand in the moments that you might find yourself contemplating and being tempted by sin. Because again, like I I want my heart to be pure.

Israel Caminero: 47:28

The Beatitudes.

Jordan Daugherty: 47:30

Yes, you gotta love them, you know.

Israel Caminero: 47:32

Yeah, we just we just went through those in our life group, and um, they can be kind of misconstrued, you know. There was one of them that I was like, wow, it's not what I thought it meant, you know. But like I said, you read verses and they're always different. Thank you for that, by the way, for sharing that. Now we're going to my back to the past section of the podcast. And what my back to the past section is, if you could go back and speak to the younger Jordan, what would you say to her?

Jordan Daugherty: 48:09

Oh, this one's hard because I speak a lot onto not regretting decisions and knowing that if I were to go back and someone would have told me something different, or if I would have been able to go back and tell myself something different, I wouldn't have possibly ended up where I am today. And I'm so grateful for that. So it's that question's hard for me.

Israel Caminero: 48:39

I guess I would have just been that's a good answer right there.

Jordan Daugherty: 48:42

Trying to encourage myself to just press into Jesus. But again, like this was God's plan for my life. And, you know, things might have ended up differently for me if I did have somebody encourage me in different ways or guide me through different things or share with me about stuff that would have prepared me for the decisions and the temptations truly of the world. But I don't know, I don't like to sit there and wonder what I would have liked to hear or what I could have heard that could have changed my outcome of my life only because I have my salvation in Jesus from where I am today, from what I've been through and the things that I've experienced is experienced, and how I've been able to witness his love and forgiveness in my life and now in other people's lives. And ultimately, my son was the biggest blessing that I've experienced on this world, and that changed my life. God used that to change my life, and so I'm grateful for every rocky bit of my past, every bump that I went through, because it led up to the moment that God was able to stand up strong and be like, hey, I'm I'm writing her story, no one else is in control of this, and this is ultimately going to bring her to accept my gift of salvation.

Israel Caminero: 50:09

Great answer. Great answer, by the way. Because a lot of people answer that question, and and and you know, and I love it. I love everyone's answer, but like you said, this was God's way of what he did, and it's such a great answer that you just gave. And it's your story, his glory, right?

Jordan Daugherty: 50:34

Yeah, a testimony is something that God gives us each in our own way, and it's something that no one of this world nor the enemy can take away from us or change because it's God's, and I hold on to that, and I know that God wrote out my story from start to finish, and it's something that again, nobody can contradict me on, nobody can take away pieces of it because God has fully wrote it and it's already been written.

Israel Caminero: 51:04

Amen. Amen. I love that answer. Thank you for that, Jordan, and thank you for being here. Thank you for being vulnerable, thank you for sharing your testimony. I know it's been a while since we booked it, and I'm sorry, it's just the way the schedule works. You know, I have a lot of people that are scheduled, and I'm glad we were able to do it today because we almost did it, right?

Jordan Daugherty: 51:30

No, thank you so much for having me on. Thank you for letting me be able to share my testimony and what God has done wonders in my life. And I hope that it speaks to at least just one person to reflect that God can and will redeem your life no matter what.

Israel Caminero: 51:49

Amen. And like I said, I'll have links to her podcast on the description of this one and anything else that she wants me to share if anyone wants to go and show her some support and listen to the podcast. I listened to it today. It's a great thing. So I suggest you go over there and listen to it. She has other people that are kind of giving their testimonies and different takes on things. Could you name that again, Jordan?

Jordan Daugherty: 52:15

Yeah, it's called the Journey After Podcast.

Israel Caminero: 52:18

The Journey After Podcast. There'll be links on the description of the podcast. So, Jordan, before we close, can you pray us out?

Jordan Daugherty: 52:27

I would love that. Thank you. Yeah. Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful, wonderful day that you have blessed us with. Thank you for this host having me on, being able to speak truth and share the miracles and be able to speak as a living testimony that you have given me. Thank you for giving him the platform to be able to share this. And I pray for all of the listeners on here that you feel the presence of the Lord, that you can know and feel him within you, knowing that he can and will redeem your life. You know, he offers you grace and mercy. And thank you, Lord, for that. Through Jesus, him coming down here and sacrificing his life to save ours when we did not deserve it. Um, I thank you for that. And I thank you for everything that you have done in my life. And I just pray you continue to use this, the story of yours, your story, and um continue to shed your light and reflect your love so people can continue to witness it and feel it. And I pray that, you know, they can accept your invitation of this beautiful free gift of eternal life that you have given us all. And I just pray that you speak to someone right now that is listening, that needs to hear this. You know, I pray that they accept that invitation, that they surrender their life to you, Lord. Um, because it is so worth it. We live to please and to serve you. You are a living, loving God. And I love that. And I want to spend eternity with you, Jesus. And I want someone else too as well. I want everyone listening to know that that invitation is just waiting there for you. Um, and I just pray that over you, um, because God has got you, and you can do all things through Christ. And I just pray that over us right now um that we can feel your strength, Lord. Thank you for loving us, thank you for providing us hope and joy um and strength. And I pray that's all in your name. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 54:40

Amen. Amen. Thank you for that prayer, and again, thank you for being here.

Jordan Daugherty: 54:46

And I just want you so much.

Israel Caminero: 54:48

You're welcome. And I just want to say also thank you to all the listeners and all the support I've been receiving from everyone. Ultimately, God gets all the glory, but I just want to thank all the listeners also. I just want to say thank you for tuning in today. And every time that I have a new episode, it's truly grateful for every one of you who takes the time to listen, share, and support these powerful stories of God's grace and redemption. You know, if Jordan's testimony spoke to your heart, I encourage you to share this episode with someone who might need to hear it. You never know how God might use it to bring healing or hope to that person. As always, remember, your story matters. And when placed in the hands of Jesus, it becomes a testimony for his glory. Until next time, stay encouraged, stay grounded in truth, and keep living your testimony. God bless you.