From Sin to Sacrifice

By Robyn Flint

Author Robyn Flint recounts her life-altering journey through love, teenage pregnancy, and having to make the choice that would impact the rest of her life. Relationships torn and some were lost, yet some she didn’t know she needed were forming.

From Sin to Sacrifice is proof that through the storm, there is always light and a love more precious than life itself waiting to guide the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973666097

Robyn Flint

Robyn is the mother of 3 outstanding young men, a “MiMi” to two beautiful grandchildren, and a mom to a 9 year old black Lab named Jade. She lives in SW Virginia with her husband and love of her life of 27 years. Robyn has a MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, is a licensed Real Estate Agent in Virginia, a Pampered Chef Consultant, and a wanna-be homesteader. In her free time, Robyn enjoys watching movies, reading, doing crafts, and thrift shopping with her best friend of 24 years. Robyn’s story started when, at the age of 17, she experienced an unplanned pregnancy and was forced to choose. She chose to give birth and place her son in a closed adoption. Then, 19 years later, while a Freshman at Virginia Tech, Robyn’s oldest son witnessed the horrific act of violence that took the lives of his classmates one fateful day in April. It was at that time that his adoptive mother told him to find his birth parents because life is not a guarantee and another day isn’t promised. On October 7, 2007 Robyn stared into the face of her oldest son for the very first time since he was born. Since that time, Robyn and her family have established a close family relationship with her oldest son and his adoptive family. They have had to navigate through some difficulties that occur when meshing two families into one. It has been a learning experience, one filled with love, hope, and countless blessings.

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From Sin to Sacrifice

Robyn Flint

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Copyright © 2019 Robyn Flint.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Used by Permission HCSB ©1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 Holman Bible Publishers. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6610-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6611-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-6609-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019908452

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/08/2019

Contents

Preface

Dedication

Introduction

PART 1 From Sin

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

PART 2 To Sacrifice

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

Preface

T he Lord has been working in my life to prepare me for sharing my story. For many years I asked, Why me, Lord? Finally I changed my question and got my answer. It has never been why me but instead why not me. God can use any canvas to create a work of art. And although I am nowhere near work of art status, I am one in the making just like you, my friend. My hope is that the Lord will use my experience to encourage even just one young woman to choose life—to help her see that she is worthy of God’s grace and love in the face of heartbreak and sorrow. I want to shed a new light on adoption—a positive light. Most of all, my hope is that the Lord will use my story to save at least one infant from abortion.

My story is my personal testimony of how the Lord worked during a very difficult time in my life. So, in order to protect the privacy of my son’s father, I have referred to him as Joe in this book. It is not written and shared to offend anyone or to seem superior to anyone who, when having to make the choice, chose differently from me. I am sharing because the Lord has developed a passion and a calling in me to advocate for adoption as a beautiful option in a seemingly ugly situation. Have I been set free from the hurt, guilt, and shame that my teen pregnancy brought on? Yes! And that is the beautiful outcome to my story. My God came to me during the worst and lowest time in my life and lifted me to His heart and carried me through. My hope is that you too will be drawn to God’s heart and help share the beauty of adoption.

Dedication

To my three sons,

the greatest gifts

in this earthly life

and my reason for

smiling every day.

To my husband, Steve,

my truest and purest love.

Thank you for loving me

and my firstborn son

even before you met him.

Introduction

P aris in the fall of 1987 was dark and dreary. The sun refused to shine during my three-week trip. The skies looked sad most days with rain clouds hovering over the city like a wet blanket.

When the tiny propeller plane landed at the Roanoke Regional Airport on that cool November night in 1987, I got out and kissed the black tarmac. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the awesome opportunity that I had just experienced as a foreign exchange student in Paris, but let’s be honest: there’s no place like home.

Not only was I home, but I was back home with my boyfriend. At seventeen years old I was totally and completely in love with him and had spent much of my three weeks in Paris listening to sad songs on my Walkman, which helped me wallow deeper in my self-pity.

When I climbed off the plane, his was the first face I saw. The clouds had been lifted and so had my spirits. Close behind him were my parents, waiting to welcome me home.

You may ask how anyone in their right mind could be in Paris and be in misery; the two just don’t go together. But this amazing boy was my first true love. With him I never had to wonder about other girls—I knew he loved me as much as I loved him. It was that passionate and deep love that was about to change our lives. The storm clouds were beginning to gather again.

PART 1

From Sin

Chapter 1

For I know the plans I have for you—This is the Lord’s declaration—Plans for your welfare, Not for disaster, To give you a future and a hope.

—Jeremiah 29:11

I am the daughter of teens who experienced an unplanned pregnancy. In 1970, a time when free love was the fad, my parents found love for each other, and I was conceived. They chose to get married and be the best parents they could be at a young age. Their marriage lasted for a few years, until they separated and eventually divorced.

I have very few memories of my parents as a couple. I do recall one funny memory that always makes me smile. We lived in a town house in Roanoke, Virginia. I was in my high chair in the kitchen, so I would guess I was around two years old. My dad was upstairs in the shower, and my mom was in the kitchen with me. Suddenly, my mom let out a bloodcurdling scream. It was so loud that my father came bounding down the stairs, still soaking wet, trying to situate a towel around his waist. There, on the kitchen counter, sat a small mouse. This mouse didn’t try to run, and in fact, never moved again because my mother’s screams literally frightened it to death.

Another memory that I recall clearly is the day my parents separated and my father moved out. By then, I was around five years old and we were living in an apartment in Baltimore, Maryland. My parents gave their marriage a good effort, but their differences were too vast to overcome.

I had a friend who lived in