Amanda Ortiz is in the process of allowing God to rebuild a life for her and her children. A life that went terribly wrong when left under her control.

In her early twenties Amanda had pulled herself together. Drug addiction, abuse and dysfunction dominated her teen years and she did not want that for her children.

“I felt I had my life in control. I was a dedicate wife and mother and even considered myself a Christian,” she says. “Yet inwardly, I found myself on a trip downward heading back for that certain art of the breakdown of my self sufficiency.” 

Amanda desperately wanted to be there for Sierra and her son Jordan. She vowed never to be like her own mom—a drug addict—who lost her children to Child Protective Services when Amanda was only three. Yet in mid-2007 she lost control.

Amanda relapsed into her addiction, her husband left with Sierra and Jordan and she was in jail—again, for stealing money to support her habit. “I completely lost myself,” she says. “I hit rock bottom and lost everything that had meaning in my life.”

She was all alone—or so she thought—until the jail’s routine health evaluation revealed she was carrying a little life inside her through this nightmare.   

“I was so scared,” she says. “I was afraid of what I had done to my baby by using [drugs] while I was pregnant. I was afraid of giving birth to her in jail and of not being able to provide for her when I got out.”

Amanda needed a change. Not just a change in behavior or circumstances, but a heart change. She found that change through a Bible study called Road to Freedom. “I finally learned the meaning of true repentance and surrender,” she says. “Now I choose to keep Christ before anything and in every choice and decision I make in my life. I know without Him I’m lost.”

God is rebuilding Amanda’s life. “I cannot count the blessings God has done since I truly gave my heart to him,” she says.

Her sentence was reduced so that she was out of jail when baby Eliana was born on December 11, 2008. God provided a loving Christian family to take her in when she had no home to go to.

And she met Lorna Fike, a Mission Service Corps missionary with the Austin Pregnancy Care Resource Center. “I had no clothes and no medical care when I got out of jail,” Amanda says. “The APRC helped with material goods, Medicaid problems, and spiritual encouragement—they became family to me.”

Most important God has restored Amanda’s relationship with her children. “I’m able to show them the love and attention that I couldn’t before,” she says “And I’m very careful what I teach them. It’s all about loving them and planting a solid foundation in their hearts.”   

Things are still going well for Amanda and her children. Little Eliana just celebrated her first birthday and is beginning to walk and talk. Sierra is an honor student at her elementary school and Amanda was elated when she was recently awarded joint custody of Jordan.

"God has been so good to us," she says. "Sometimes I worry about the future, but when I look back over all God has brought us through I know He will carry us the rest of the way."

Action Item

The Austin Pregnancy Resource Center played a vital role in helping Amanda become the strong Christian mother she is today. The North American Mission Board partners with 270 pregnancy resource centers throughout the U.S. Last year those centers received 156,292 visits from women in a crisis pregnancy. Whether it’s helping a woman choose life over abortion, helping a teen learn mothering skills or helping a troubled young mom make the transition from life in jail to new life in Christ pregnancy care centers are there to provide hope and healing in the name of Jesus. And they need your help. To learn more about this precious life saving ministry visit www.nambforlife.net.

Jami Becher is editorial assistant for On Mission.