October 3, 2025 • 56 mins
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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Your Story, His Glory!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Israel Caminero (00:04):
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's
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(00:48):
Thanks again for listening, andI'll catch you in the next
episode.
I'm your host, Israel Caminero,and I hope that everyone is
(01:16):
listening is blessed and doingwell.
Today I have the honor ofhaving my sister in Christ here,
and her name is JordanDaugherty.
Can you introduce yourself toeverybody, Jordan?
Jordan Daugherty (01:27):
Hi, I'm Jordan.
I am a 22-year-old birth momfrom North Carolina.
And I'm really excited to be onhere today.
Thank you so much for lettingme get to share and let God just
speak.
Israel Caminero (01:43):
And as always, she's here to share her
testimony.
As always, I want to heareveryone's testimony and how God
came to be in their life.
But before we do that, I wantto pray over us.
And I want to say, HeavenlyFather, we come before you with
grateful hearts, thanking youfor the incredible work you've
done in Jordan's life.
Lord, you have walked herthrough the valleys and lifted
(02:05):
her to the mountaintops.
Her story is a testimony ofyour faithfulness, your power,
and your unfailing love.
Right now we lift Jordan up toyou as she prepares to share her
testimony.
We ask that you fill her withyour Holy Spirit, give her peace
that calms every fear andboldness that silences every
doubt.
Let every word that comes fromher mouth be guided by you.
(02:26):
Let her speak with clarity,confidence, and compassion.
Father, we pray that her storywould pierce hearts, bring light
to dark places, and lead otherscloser to you.
Protect her from any attacks ofthe enemy that would try to
bring confusion, fear, or shame.
She's covered by the blood ofJesus and her voice is anointed
for such a time as this.
(02:47):
May your name be glorifiedthrough every moment of this
testimony, and may those whohear it experience the hope,
healing, and freedom that onlyyou can give.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Jordan Daugherty (02:58):
Amen.
Thank you for that.
That was amazing.
Israel Caminero (03:01):
No problem at all.
So I'm sure everyone's eager tohear your testimony.
So can you take us in a day ofJordan as she was growing up
before she knew Christ?
Jordan Daugherty (03:15):
Yeah.
Um, so I grew up in a beautifulhome.
I grew up with parents thatloved Jesus, that loved each
other, um, that honored eachother and lived a beautiful
example of what godly parentsshould look like.
Um, was raised in the church,was there every Sunday, every
Wednesday, went to summer camps,BBS, all the things.
(03:38):
I grew up knowing Jesus.
I grew up loving Jesus.
I grew up putting my faith inhim.
And as a child, I was kind ofunderneath the umbrella faith of
my parents for a really longtime and kind of just leaned off
them for what I thought my ownsalvation was.
And growing up going throughmiddle school and high school, I
(04:00):
started to get exposed to a lotmore.
I kind of felt like I was in abubble for a while.
I went to a private Christianschool for my middle school and
some of my high school years.
And so, you know, I was inBible class, I was around people
in chapel and constantly aroundgodly people.
And so I hadn't reallyexperienced the outside world
(04:24):
yet of you know what happened inday-to-day lives.
I hadn't gone to a party, Inever drank alcohol, I hadn't
had a boyfriend.
Um, and so I was still verymuch in a bubble growing up.
When I turned around 17, Istarted going to a community
college outside of um doing highschool to finish my degree
(04:46):
early.
And I was starting to getexposed to a lot more.
I was around a lot of olderpeople, you know, not having as
many strict guidelines of beinga high schooler.
I had my first boyfriend thatopened a lot of doors for me.
I went to my first party.
I was around a lot of differenttypes of girls that I had never
been around before.
Doors were just opening for methat I had never experienced
(05:09):
before.
And during those times, I stillwould say I loved Jesus.
I would occasionally still goto church with my family, but
around those years is when itstarted to kind of trickle out.
And after that year of doingschool, I finished high school
through the community collegeand I went straight to hair
(05:29):
school.
And that's kind of when therushing waves just pushed me
through that next door thatreally just opened up everything
for me.
Um, I was around a lot of olderwomen in hair school that had
very different views, weren'treligious, or, you know, wanted
to do things that I had neverdone before, and encouraged me
(05:54):
to do it.
And I kind of just went fullforce with it.
You know, I was gettingattention 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 Igoing to church and I didn't
want it to go.
I didn't feel like I had timeto go.
(06:14):
I wanted to spend my time doingother things.
And I just poured right intothat.
And thing after thing startedto happen that I was getting
exposed to.
I, you know, started drinkingmore, I started partying more, I
started hanging out with moreguys, I started exposing myself
to a lot of different situationsand people that I didn't even
(06:37):
know really existed in reality.
You know, it's things that Imight have watched growing up in
a movie that I didn't think itwas real.
And I was very naive to theworld for that.
And when it was happening, itwas exciting.
The adrenaline rush that itgave me, I loved it.
And I started to feed off ofthat.
And as I was going through theindustry of doing hair, you
(07:01):
know, that was a huge thing.
Like, you know, we would finishat night and we would want to
go out.
We would want to party.
We would want to, we werealready all dressed up and
dolled up.
Like, you know, let's let's goout and meet some guys.
Let's go out and do this, let'sgo to this place and meet these
people.
And, you know, I just ran withit.
I wanted to be accepted.
(07:22):
I wanted to be liked.
I wanted people to think that Iwas pretty.
I wanted all the guys'attention.
And that just kind of startedto spiral.
And eventually I ended upgetting into a relationship with
somebody that I fell for veryfast.
And ultimately, thatrelationship caused me a
(07:44):
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 worthanything, that I was never going
to be enough, that this is whatI deserved.
And so I stuck around.
I was too scared to leave.
(08:06):
I was truly trauma bonded tosomebody at my lowest.
And I was angry at the Lord.
And during this time, I had notpressed to him.
I hadn't thought about him inyears.
But for some reason, I stillallowed myself to be angry at
him because I felt like, youknow, if a God, our God is so
good, why is he lettingsomething so terrible happen to
(08:29):
me?
And why won't he help me getout of it?
Israel Caminero (08:32):
And this is your relationship with this guy,
correct?
Jordan Daugherty (08:35):
This was a different relationship, yes, but
this was one that kind of thatopened a lot of the more messy
doors for me that ultimately ledme to find myself in the
situation that um changed mylife.
But this was a relationshipthat happened quite a few years
ago, but is what kind of set meoff, like kind of really sparked
(09:00):
this fire in me to just notcare and to just go crazy with
everything.
Um, because I found myself soangry at God, I started to run
even faster away from everythingto do with Him.
I poured into findingvalidation in my identity and
men, in alcohol, and partying,and you know, getting attention
(09:24):
at clubs and stuff like that.
And I turned to all of thatbecause my heart was so broken
from this relationship that Ihad been in.
And I turned to everything elsein the world to try to mend it
and fix it.
And obviously that wasn'tworking, and it was never work,
but for some reason I thought ifI kept pressing into it and
trying harder, it would.
(09:45):
Ultimately, I was definitelystanding on the edge of a ledge
leading up to when I foundmyself pregnant.
And that last month before thenwas really gonna be the make it
or break it month for me.
I was going completely crazywith everything that I was
(10:06):
surrounding myself around.
It turned into an everyday,every hour, every minute.
My mind, my body was consumedwith things of the world,
whether it was a new guy or thealcohol constantly needing it,
constantly having to have it,being places that I sometimes
(10:26):
don't even remember where I wasor what I was doing or who I was
around.
And I met somebody at onepoint, and you know, I made a
bad decision one night.
And a few weeks later, I foundmyself pregnant.
I was 21.
Um, I was terrified.
I was alone, and I didn't knowwhat my life was gonna be.
(10:52):
And at this point, I still didnot really have the Lord back in
my heart.
I did not want to turn to Jesusyet.
I didn't have enough in me yetto, you know, really lay down my
life and be like, okay, I'm I'mgiving it back to God.
I wasn't ready to do that.
I was still holding on topride, thinking that I could get
(11:13):
through this, that it was gonnabe 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 shockand the denial that I was truly
pregnant and that I was about tobe responsible for another
human being's life on thisearth.
And that was scary.
That was a big heavy burdenthat was placed on me when it
(11:42):
should have been placed on twopeople in a marriage.
It was placed on me as a21-year-old without a spouse,
and I felt like I was drowning.
And one day I woke up and I waslike, I think that if I were to
die right now, I'm notconfident that I would go to
(12:03):
heaven.
And I kept having these weirdrealizations that, you know,
where like what is my salvation?
Am I saved?
Do I really love Jesus?
You know, am I gonna spendeternity with him or am I gonna
die and not be going to heaven?
And I sat around with that andbeing pregnant too, like it
(12:27):
created more emotional thingsgoing on within me.
So I really sat with it one dayand was just like, oh my gosh,
you know, I was so very blessedto be raised by parents who
loved me and cherished me andsupported me and encouraged me,
but then ultimately pushed me tothe Lord.
(12:49):
And that's what I want for mychild.
And I literally looked atmyself in the mirror and I was
like, what am I doing?
What why did I think that Icould live like this and be
spared the consequences?
Why did I think that makingthese decisions were gonna
ultimately build the kingdom ofheaven?
(13:10):
You know, these choices that Iwas making have consequences on
this earth.
And I was I felt so alone.
I felt so broken, I felt solost, and I was so confused
where to go.
And I ended up seeking somelike wise counsel from my former
(13:31):
senior pastor, and I showed upon their doorstep for dinner,
and him and his wife just satthere and loved on me and
supported me, but then also kindof, you know, pushed me to be
like, Hey, you need Jesus.
You know, where has Jesus beenin your life over the past
couple of years?
You know, how many times haveyou thought about him when
(13:52):
you've made these decisions?
And I sat there with a blankmind and face and was just like,
man, like that was the lastthing that you could have ever
looked at me and said that I wasthinking 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 ableto 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 Iknow that he's redeemed me in my
life.
(14:25):
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 muchfear.
And ultimately, leading laterdown my pregnancy, I was dealt
(14:46):
some really hard decisions thatI was gonna have to make.
And ultimately, one of thosedecisions was going to be if I
was gonna be put in the positionwhere I needed to place my son
for adoption and become a birthmom.
And for those who don't knowwhat a birth mom is, a birth mom
is a woman who goes throughpregnancy and has a baby and
(15:07):
then chooses to place a babydirectly into a family unit of a
mom and a dad and becomes abirth mom.
And so that decision was putout on the table, and it was
something that I was terrifiedof.
I did not want to ever imaginemyself having to make that
choice.
I don't think anybody does.
(15:29):
Um, but it was a choice that Iwas going to have to make at
some point in my pregnancy.
Right.
And I remember leaving everymeeting I had with my
caseworkers, bawling my eyesout, crying because I did not
want to have to continuethinking about that and
processing it.
(15:49):
I wanted nothing to do with it,but I also felt the presence of
the Lord just pulling me thereevery single time.
And I hated that.
I was angry.
God, why are you having me dothis?
I don't want to do this.
You know that I don't want todo this, but I also know that
you're calling me to do thisbecause it's what's best for my
son.
And, you know, God continued toshow up.
(16:12):
He showed up in very, verydifferent areas in my life, kind
of pointing to, hey, likeadoption, adoption.
There was people that wereplaced in my life at the right
place at the right time thatonly God could have done,
conversations that were had,speaking engagements that took
place.
Um, only God orchestrated allof that just in the exact way
(16:37):
that it needed to happen.
But ultimately it came time forme to make my decision.
And I wrestled with it, Ifought with it.
But then one day I sat back andI just remember praying, God,
you know, take away my selfish,prideful desires as a human just
(16:57):
for a moment, so I can feel andsee if I'm making a decision
based off of what I want or whatI know you're calling me to do.
And I remember being able for amoment to take away every
bodily like feeling that I hadwithin myself of what made me
(17:18):
feel good right now on thisearth.
And when that was removed, thepain of it, the heartache of it,
I was able to see the beautyand how it honored the Lord, how
it blessed my child, how itblessed another family, and
ultimately blessed me.
And but then again, I startedto feel the pain and emotions.
(17:42):
It was only for a blink of asecond that I was able to remove
the pain of the world to seethe glory of the Lord and the
decision.
And ultimately I knew that thatwas the choice that I was gonna
have to make, that I, in a fewweeks from then, was going to be
a birth mom.
And I met and was able to placewith a beautiful family.
(18:08):
Um, and the day that I had myson was the most beautiful and
best day of my life, and God wasso vibrant there, he was in
every moment of that, and it wasso beautiful.
But the next day was thehardest day of my life, and that
is where God really had to showup and give me his strength.
(18:32):
You know, I found a verse in mypregnancy that I clung to, and
one day I remember it wasactually one of my last times
ever going into the agency,probably a week before I gave
birth, and I stopped my tracksin the middle of the parking
lot, and I just remember bawlingmy eyes out and looking up to
(18:55):
God and just being like, Icannot do this.
I am not strong enough.
I'm so weak, my body hurts.
I'm physically feeling the painof pregnancy.
I was tired, I didn't want togo on with it anymore, and I
didn't want to have to deal withthe emotional pain and grief
and loss that it was about tohave on me.
(19:17):
And I was just like, God, I I'mI'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 givesme strength, which is
Philippians 4.13.
And that verse got me throughthe the next couple weeks, which
were the hardest weeks of mylife.
(19:38):
You know, in the hospital, Ican do all things through Christ
who gives me strength.
Leaving, getting wheeled out ofthe hospital without my child
in my arms, walking out of thereempty handed.
I can do all things throughChrist who gives me strength.
Going home and sitting in mybed, knowing that I'm supposed
(19:58):
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 thatI had never felt before.
I can do all things throughChrist who gives me strength.
And, you know, day after day,the Lord continue to hold my
hand and walk me throughpost-placement is and was really
(20:21):
hard.
It is a continuous journey forme.
I will always be a birth mom.
I will always be in apost-placement standpoint.
And I will always be grievingmy child.
But through the strength thatGod gives me every single day
that He's walked with me throughthe valleys and now is helping
(20:41):
me climb up the mountain, youknow, He gives me the ability to
see the joy and the beauty thatthere is in this.
And, you know, the joy of theLord is also my strength.
And I have to be willing tohave to have the willingness to
accept that.
You know, God gives us allthese beautiful things, but we
(21:03):
we can never have it or youknow, experience it if we don't
accept that from Him.
And when I started kind ofletting again let go of some of
my grief and pain, because thatis so of the world, I was able
to experience the beauty, thejoy, the happiness, the laughing
again, smiling again, you know,knowing that this choice
(21:27):
honored God and is building thekingdom of heaven.
And that my choice as well gavemy son and gives my son the
best ability to one day meetJesus.
Israel Caminero (21:38):
Right.
Jordan Daugherty (21:39):
And that is what makes it all worth it.
You know, this pain that I feelon this earth is so temporary.
And I'm not here to live mylife here, to build my kingdom
here.
I'm living right now to buildfor my eternity, to build for my
son's eternity, to encouragehim to be a role model, to be a
role model for other women whofind themselves in this
(22:02):
position, like, hey, you know, Imade a mistake that night.
I chose to experience sin inthe world, like I will
continuously do because I'm asinner.
But that choice doesn't defineyou.
Israel Caminero (22:16):
Okay.
Jordan Daugherty (22:17):
It doesn't, you know, control the rest of
your life.
You know, there will beconsequences for it.
I deal with consequences of myactions.
The pain, this like the grief,the loss of this world is a
consequence.
My son is not, but the thingsthat I feel are because I made a
choice in a moment when Iprobably shouldn't have.
(22:39):
But I also know and have seenhow that night the enemy meant
it for so much evil, and heprobably was sitting there
laughing, knowing this is gonnablow up her life, and she is
gonna hate God, and she is notgonna want to do anything else
with her life because it's gonnasuck.
Well, that night that the enemysaid that and thought that God
(23:03):
is sitting right above, knowing,hey, I meant that for good,
though.
I'm gonna take what you thoughtwas so wrong and what could
have been so bad, and I'm gonnaturn it around and mean it for
good.
Because that night I made thatdecision.
No, it did not honor the Lord.
No, it is not his ideal perfectwill for my life.
(23:24):
But I chose that, and Godalready knew that, and God was
able to use that night to one,bring me back to him, to bless
the world with my beautiful babyboy and to bless him with a
beautiful life, but then to alsoanswer a prayer that had been
prayed for years and years onend for a family that had longed
(23:45):
for a child.
And God's perfection andstrength and glory shines right
through that night and shinesright through every bad choice
that I made in the past fewyears, led up to that moment
that God knew he was going to beable to turn it around for his
(24:05):
good.
And I share that because itI've witnessed God's love and
mercy, his miracles of showingup in your life and guiding you.
And at the end of the day, it'slike his strength is made
perfect in my weakness.
And that's the same foreveryone else.
And like, he will alwaysprevail, he will always come
(24:29):
through first, he will alwaysrise above to the top.
And I trust that now, and Ihave faith in that now, and I've
seen that in my life.
And I pray that over my son, Ipray that over any other woman
who finds herself in mysituation, who finds herself in
another situation, and for mentoo, you know.
God is enough and he makes youknow that you're enough as well,
(24:52):
and that our identity is not ofthis world.
It's not in what we've done orwhat we're gonna do, it's in
him.
We're the we're his children,you know.
We are loved by him, and weneed to accept his love.
And yeah, I just I love sharingthat because again, this road
that I'm on is not easy.
I do not have a happy,beautiful, smiley every single
(25:15):
day.
You know, there's still a lotof 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 otherside, and I hold on to that.
Israel Caminero (25:31):
Amen.
Amen.
That's a powerful story youhave there, Jordan.
Um, there was a question Iwanted to ask.
I wanted to just backtrack alittle bit.
I know you said you were, youknow, obviously you grew up in a
Christian home and you wereliving in the bubble because of
Christian school, Christianhome, going to church on
(25:51):
Sundays.
And once you got out into theworld, obviously that's what
caused a lot of this because ofthe curiosity you had.
And 21 years old was that'swhen everyone experiences a lot
of partying, like you said, andgoing to clubs and getting
drunk.
When you started doing all ofthis, you you didn't quite
mention, but I I'm just curiousto know, like, where were your
(26:15):
parents?
Did you had already moved out?
And what was their take on allthis when you came out pregnant?
Jordan Daugherty (26:20):
Yeah, so during my before I was pregnant
stage from about 17 to 21, I wasvery rebellious.
My parents never encouraged it,they never wanted me to be in
the situations.
Half the time, I will say, theywere 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 dowith them.
I kind of avoided coming hometoo.
I would just be at randomplaces all hours of the day and
night.
At one point, too, um, I wasout of the house in my own place
for a little bit.
But ultimately, when I foundmyself pregnant, I was currently
(27:03):
living at home.
I know that my parents werereally hurt by the decisions
that I was making that year.
Um, but at the same time, theyknew that they couldn't control
me because it just pushed mefurther 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 ofsurrendered me to the Lord,
knowing that his will was gonnaprevail, that his plan would
always come through first, andthat they were just trusting
that he was gonna keep me safein the moments that they knew
that they physically couldn't.
And ultimately, yeah, when Ifound myself pregnant and I told
(27:37):
them I was terrified to tell myparents.
Um, but I did, and you know,there was definitely a lot of
questions and concerns, but theyalso opened their arms and
showed me so much love, and Icouldn't have asked for a better
response because in theirconfusion and sadness, there was
(28:02):
also like, hey, we still loveyou, we're gonna support you and
we're gonna help you throughthis.
Obviously, we're not proud ofthe decision that you made, but
we are proud that you'rechoosing 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 myson for adoption, it it was very
(28:24):
hard for them.
Because again, like as much asthis was me becoming a birth
mom, they became birthgrandparents.
And that decision just didn'tonly affect me in my life, it
affected them as well.
And so it's been a journey formy entire family, right?
And but they have done nothingbut love and support and
(28:47):
encourage me and be there for mein 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 knowbecause when we're that age and
we're young and we're goingthrough it, parents say one
thing, it goes one ear and outthe 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 theywere praying for you every
night, and that's exactly whathappened.
You weren't gonna listen tothem.
Jordan Daugherty (29:17):
Nope, I was not, and honestly, when they
tried to encourage me elsewhereto do different things to go to
church, I it made me push awayeven more.
Israel Caminero (29:27):
Right, exactly.
Yep.
Yeah, I went through thatmyself, so I know what you're
talking about.
So you talk about using yourvoice to break shame.
You you're definitely doingthat.
And I just want to know whatwhat are some of the lies that
the enemy tried to keep youbound by, and how did God bring
truth out of that?
Jordan Daugherty (29:48):
Yeah, um these are like sometimes even
everyday battles still, butthere's a lot of fear that I've
held on to of people's opinionsof the choice that I've made.
You know, not everybodyunderstands it and respects it.
And so there was a big fear inme of putting it out there,
(30:10):
being public about, hey, I'm abirth mom.
This is what I've done, this isthe choice that I've made, and
this is what I believe in.
There's a lot of very strongopinions about adoption within
the adoption community and outof it.
And so that was a huge fear,you know.
Are people gonna question mewhy I did what I did?
Are people going to tell methat I shouldn't call myself a
(30:33):
mom?
Are people going to makecomments about how I just gave
away my child?
Or everyone had an opinion, andI was terrified of hearing
that.
And so I've really had to justtake that to the Lord and be
like, God, I need you to cancelthis out.
I know that this is what youcall me to do.
I know that this honors you.
(30:53):
And I'm not here to serve andplease anybody else on this
earth.
I have an audience of one, andthat's what the Lord really had
to just engrave on my heart toremove that like sense of shame,
guilt, and like fearfulness ofsharing my story because of what
people were gonna think or say.
Um, and I think during mypregnancy, I was very much
(31:18):
scared because I visiblychanged.
You know, I was growing a babyinside of me so people could see
that I was pregnant and I wasyoung and I was alone.
And so there was always thisfear of what people were gonna
think about me and going tochurch.
I was terrified of like goingback to my home church that I
grew up in, being visiblypregnant because of judgmental
(31:41):
looks or comments.
I never knew what people weregonna say or how they were gonna
respond when they knew that Iwas pregnant.
And, you know, there was sometimes where there was judgment
and condemnation, but there wasalso some beauty of people that
welcomed me with open arms, thatloved me, that honored my
decision, respected that, butthen also encouraged me to press
(32:03):
into the Lord.
And you know, that's what thebody 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 condemnus.
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 feelingfearful, God remove this from
me.
This isn't coming from you.
You know, I'm only here toserve you.
Why do I care about what theseother people think?
And it was kind of a mindswitch, like mindset switch.
Like, I really just had to letGod guide that and take that
(32:32):
worldliness out of me.
Israel Caminero (32:34):
Amen.
That's totally true.
A lot of people feel shamebecause of what others think of
them, but there's only one judgethat can judge you, and he's
not of this earth.
So, what does your life looklike today, Jordan?
And how is God using your storyto impact others?
Um, I know you have a podcast.
(32:54):
You can go ahead and sharethat.
What else are you doing to usethis story to impact others?
Jordan Daugherty (33:00):
Yeah, so I do have a podcast.
My podcast is called TheJourney After.
I started that because I wantedto show that it's not about
only where we've been in ourlives, because every single
person on this earth has a storyand has a path that they've
walked, you know, through thegood, the bad, the hard, the
(33:22):
easy.
You know, we can talk aboutthat, we can share that and
share those experiences andthose feelings.
But I made it because I want toalso highlight, highlight where
we're going, where we're goingin our life, where God's taking
us, you know, like he says inthe word, like the road to
destruction is so much easier tofind because the narrow path is
(33:45):
what takes us to heaven.
And it's it's hard.
Our path here on earth is neversupposed to be easy.
It was never promised to beeasy, but it was promised to be
possible through Christ.
And I love to share that on myon my podcast and to share my
testimony, to share where I havebeen, the decisions that I've
made and where it led me intonow where God's leading me.
(34:07):
And so I love having otherpeople come on as well to share
where they've been, but nowwhere they're headed.
But then I also like to shareand advocate and educate about
adoption, about what being abirth mom is.
There's not a lot of birth momsthat will share their story
publicly and talk about it andbe vulnerable to share the hard
(34:29):
things about it because it'sreally hard.
It is really hard to talk aboutplacing a child.
The world has put a lot ofshame and guilt and fear in that
kind of area of things.
And so most birth moms hide andwill never tell their secret
their entire life of placing achild.
That's right.
And so I want to change that,and that's where my heart is as
(34:54):
well to one educate peoplearound 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 andamazing, whether it's
international or domestic, youknow, that's a beautiful gift
that somebody is willing toadopt a child that needs it.
(35:17):
But then we also forget toremember the birth mom.
You know, that baby came fromanother human being's life, and
she made a very hard decisionthat day, whether it was by
choice or not, you know, thatdecision was very hard.
And that doesn't go lightly.
(35:38):
And there's not a lot ofconversations and advocacy for
that and about that.
And so my heart is also tochange that and to change
people's understanding aboutadoption as well.
You know, adoption is notfoster care.
It can be a child can beadopted through foster care, but
adoption and foster care arenot the same thing.
And people get confused withthat as well.
(36:00):
And people will go their wholelife without truly understanding
what adoption actually is.
I didn't know what it was untilI became a birth mom.
And so I also want to changethat 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 bemiscarriages, there will always
(36:20):
be unplanned pregnancies, therewill always be abortion.
And adoption is a beautiful wayto avoid choosing abortion.
And it's a way that shouldremove abortion as a whole.
And I advocate now forpro-life.
I love sharing that.
I love showing people that hey,I'm living proof of a loving,
(36:45):
merciful, forgiving God that hasgiven me the strength to walk
through this alone and now blessthe world with a beautiful baby
boy and a family and myself.
And God gave me the ability todo that because one who created
me as a woman.
And as women, we have theability to bear children.
And so I love to show people,hey, you know, I'm walking proof
(37:08):
that you can make it throughpregnancy.
You are strong enough throughGod, and He will give you the
strength to make you get all theway 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 abouton all my platforms.
(37:29):
But I have just been kind offollowing where the Lord's
taking me right now, you know,doing the podcasting, going on
other people's podcasts, doing alot of social media, educating,
advocating on my platformsabout being a birth mom, the
adoption stuff that I justtalked about, being pro-life and
(37:49):
just sharing how God can andwill redeem you when you accept
his invitation to allow him tobe in your life.
Israel Caminero (37:57):
Amen.
Thank you for sharing that.
And I'll have links to all thatinformation on the description
of this podcast.
If you want to go check out ourpodcast, I encourage you to go
check it out.
I always try to support peoplethat have been on here, and you
can find that on the descriptionof this podcast.
You know, a lot of people thinkthat uh, like you said, it's
(38:19):
that giving up the kid foradoption is a sin when it's
really not.
You know, it's often viewed asa selfless loving act because
it's what's best for the child,and you're trying to provide
what's best for him, which youtouched base on earlier, saying
the same thing.
And some people just need toget it straight.
(38:39):
And I commend you for followingGod's lead.
And I'm sure it was hard.
I'm sure, you know, no onewants to do that.
I'm sure you still think aboutit.
And that that's leading to mynext question is how do you stay
rooted?
You know, how do you stay sorooted?
Because I mean I can tell byyour voice you have peace.
(39:01):
And how do you stay so rootedin Christ, especially when those
old feelings start to creep upand start shaming you?
Jordan Daugherty (39:09):
Yeah, um, it is hard, it is not easy, but you
know, every day it's asurrender and submit to God.
And again, I have to remindmyself this is not my forever
home.
I have to surround myselfaround community that push me,
(39:30):
encourage me, and then keep meaccountable.
Because again, if you know, ifI 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 havebrothers and sisters in Christ
that support us, encourage us,and walk with us through things.
And I have a beautifulcommunity that does that for me,
(39:51):
that loves on me, that walkswith me and sits with me in my
hard days.
Because yes, I have peace, but.
But I do still feel the sadnessand grief within this world,
and it is hard.
But I think there was a momenttoo in my grief and pain that I
(40:13):
felt God just be like, Hey,trust me, I've got you.
And He was able to set me freefrom some of the lies and the
chains that were really pullingme down.
And one of the verses thatreally spoke to me in that that
allowed me to feel the peacethat I do is one of the verses
in John.
I think it's John 8, 30 or 30,I can't remember.
(40:37):
But it basically says, and youwill 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 theworld.
I'm not condemned by them.
I'm not tied down by them.
And the lies that I was tellingmyself during my pregnancy,
(40:59):
post-placement, um, and evenyears before this all happened,
I was letting those lies controlmy life.
I was letting the lies sit inthe driver's seat and drive me
everywhere but to Jesus.
And the second we submit thatto the Lord, our hands are cut
free from the chains of theworld, of the lies that people
(41:22):
have spoken to us, of the liesthat we've spoken over
ourselves.
You know, the truth is whatsets us free.
And the truth is found only inJesus.
And that gives me peace.
And that gives me hope.
And I know that the Lord has ahopeful future for me, has a
beautiful future for me, and Itrust that because I know that
(41:45):
that's what's true.
Israel Caminero (41:47):
Amen.
I like how you keep going backto 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 upbecause there's so many
beautiful verses that I love.
And I've never I never excelledin school, and so I always
struggled with, you know,memorizing things and studying
things.
But there's such a beautifulthing about reading the word of
how when you pray to let theLord come into you and to flow
(42:18):
through you and to speak throughyou, you know, his word starts
to stick.
And it's not a chore, it's it'sa beautiful, amazing experience
to know this lives in me, andI'm gonna speak out his truth.
And I want that to reflect thelove of Jesus.
And I love being able toreflect back to the word because
(42:39):
that's the truth that hasgotten you through every single
day of my life.
Israel Caminero (42:43):
That's right, that's right.
Without the word, there'snothing, you know.
Yeah, that's you always need togo back to the word, and you
might read a scripture today,and it'll mean something totally
different to you in a differentseason.
Jordan Daugherty (42:58):
Yeah.
Israel Caminero (42:59):
Well, I would I just want to thank you, Jordan,
for sharing such a powerfultestimony with everyone and
being vulnerable about it atthat, you know, because it like
you said, it's not easy to talkabout things like this, but
that's also what the enemy wantsis 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 arefighting the spiritual warfare
battle of the enemy trying totake 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 stopuntil the Lord comes back.
But he will show up in everyseason of your life trying to
destroy everything.
And we have to fight that.
We have to put on the armor ofGod, we have to stand strong in
our faith and stand firm in thetruth and root ourselves in
(43:54):
that.
Because without it, we're gonnafly right away.
You know, the enemy will pickus up and throw us right out and
back into the things of theworld, 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 thathe tries to come in in any
opportunity that he can andattack.
But we serve a greater God, andI say, not today, Satan.
That's that's my thing.
Yeah, you know, that's mything.
Which leads me to my last fewquestions of the podcast, which
(44:28):
you already kind of touched baseon.
See, and it I usually ask myguests, was there a specific
verse that carried you through aseason like a life verse, which
you already answered, which bythe way is one of my life
verses, which is Philippians 413.
I can do all things throughChrist who gives me strength.
(44:48):
I love that because he's notsaying some things, little
things, anything, he's sayingall things.
That's what I love about thatverse.
But since you mentioned thatone being your life verse, and I
know a lot of people have morethan one.
Is there a verse, well, a thirdverse, because you also said
John 8, 32, that also carriedyou through that you can go back
(45:12):
to and read when you're havinga hard time or a hard day or you
know, a hard week?
Just a verse that you can goback to and read and what it
means to you.
You already mentioned two.
If you want to mention anotherone, totally fine.
Jordan Daugherty (45:25):
Yeah, I know.
I mean, I could sit here allday and say how this verse has
impacted me and theencouragement that it's given
me.
And this one is not necessarilyone that carries me through,
but more so encourages me topress in more to the Lord, is
Matthew 5.8.
Blessed are those pure inheart, for they will see God.
(45:48):
And that was something that Inever understood growing up, and
that's something now that Iencourage so many other women
that find themselves in my shoesor close to my shoes, is you
know, purity is so much morethan, you know, sexual sin or
sexual interaction.
It is, you know, pure in theheart of where is your heart
(46:10):
with God?
Where is your mind taking you?
Is your mind pure?
You know, are your actionspure?
Because when we align that withwhat the Lord wants, that's
when we get to experience Jesus.
Because God is never going tosit next to sin and put himself
in the position to be aroundsin.
And so I remember reading thatverse when I was pregnant and
(46:33):
hearing someone share about itand being like, I don't know
about you, but I want to be withJesus.
I want to experience Jesus.
And I sat there and looked atmyself and I was like, man, like
I do too.
And so, you know, blessed arethose pure in heart is when we
will see Jesus.
And so, like, that's what Iwant.
That's what I want for myself,that's what I want for other
(46:53):
people.
And so that verse is anencouragement for me, and that I
hope can reflect encouragementto other people is like, purify
your heart in the Lord.
You know, he will guide youthrough the hard things, the
easy things, the battles thatyou face within purity because
it is hard, especially whenyou've already experienced
things.
It is really hard to stay onthat pure path, but submit to
(47:14):
the Lord, and you know, he willguide you through that and he
will hold your hand in themoments that you might find
yourself contemplating and beingtempted by sin.
Because again, like I I want myheart 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 canbe kind of misconstrued, you
know.
There was one of them that Iwas like, wow, it's not what I
thought it meant, you know.
But like I said, you readverses and they're always
different.
Thank you for that, by the way,for sharing that.
Now we're going to my back tothe past section of the podcast.
(47:56):
And what my back to the pastsection is, if you could go back
and speak to the youngerJordan, what would you say to
her?
Jordan Daugherty (48:09):
Oh, this one's hard because I speak a lot onto
not regretting decisions andknowing that if I were to go
back and someone would have toldme something different, or if I
would have been able to go backand tell myself something
(48:29):
different, I wouldn't havepossibly ended up where I am
today.
And I'm so grateful for that.
So it's that question's hardfor 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'splan for my life.
And, you know, things mighthave ended up differently for me
if I did have somebodyencourage me in different ways
or guide me through differentthings or share with me about
stuff that would have preparedme for the decisions and the
(49:03):
temptations truly of the world.
But I don't know, I don't liketo sit there and wonder what I
would have liked to hear or whatI could have heard that could
have changed my outcome of mylife only because I have my
salvation in Jesus from where Iam today, from what I've been
through and the things that I'veexperienced is experienced, and
(49:25):
how I've been able to witnesshis love and forgiveness in my
life and now in other people'slives.
And ultimately, my son was thebiggest blessing that I've
experienced on this world, andthat changed my life.
God used that to change mylife, and so I'm grateful for
(49:48):
every rocky bit of my past,every bump that I went through,
because it led up to the momentthat God was able to stand up
strong and be like, hey, I'm I'mwriting her story, no one else
is in control of this, and thisis 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 answerthat question, and and and you
know, and I love it.
I love everyone's answer, butlike you said, this was God's
way of what he did, and it'ssuch a great answer that you
(50:29):
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 cantake away from us or change
because it's God's, and I holdon to that, and I know that God
wrote out my story from start tofinish, and it's something that
again, nobody can contradict meon, nobody can take away pieces
(51:00):
of it because God has fullywrote it and it's already been
written.
Israel Caminero (51:04):
Amen.
Amen.
I love that answer.
Thank you for that, Jordan, andthank you for being here.
Thank you for being vulnerable,thank you for sharing your
testimony.
I know it's been a while sincewe booked it, and I'm sorry,
it's just the way the scheduleworks.
You know, I have a lot ofpeople that are scheduled, and
I'm glad we were able to do ittoday because we almost did it,
(51:28):
right?
Jordan Daugherty (51:30):
No, thank you so much for having me on.
Thank you for letting me beable to share my testimony and
what God has done wonders in mylife.
And I hope that it speaks to atleast just one person to
reflect that God can and willredeem your life no matter what.
Israel Caminero (51:49):
Amen.
And like I said, I'll havelinks to her podcast on the
description of this one andanything else that she wants me
to share if anyone wants to goand 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 thereand listen to it.
She has other people that arekind of giving their testimonies
(52:11):
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 thedescription 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 forthis beautiful, wonderful day
that you have blessed us with.
Thank you for this host havingme on, being able to speak truth
and share the miracles and beable to speak as a living
(52:47):
testimony that you have givenme.
Thank you for giving him theplatform to be able to share
this.
And I pray for all of thelisteners on here that you feel
the presence of the Lord, thatyou can know and feel him within
you, knowing that he can andwill redeem your life.
You know, he offers you graceand mercy.
(53:07):
And thank you, Lord, for that.
Through Jesus, him coming downhere and sacrificing his life to
save ours when we did notdeserve it.
Um, I thank you for that.
And I thank you for everythingthat you have done in my life.
And I just pray you continue touse this, the story of yours,
(53:28):
your story, and um continue toshed your light and reflect your
love so people can continue towitness it and feel it.
And I pray that, you know, theycan accept your invitation of
this beautiful free gift ofeternal life that you have given
us all.
And I just pray that you speakto someone right now that is
(53:52):
listening, that needs to hearthis.
You know, I pray that theyaccept that invitation, that
they surrender their life toyou, Lord.
Um, because it is so worth it.
We live to please and to serveyou.
You are a living, loving God.
And I love that.
And I want to spend eternitywith you, Jesus.
And I want someone else too aswell.
I want everyone listening toknow that that invitation is
(54:16):
just waiting there for you.
Um, and I just pray that overyou, um, because God has got
you, and you can do all thingsthrough Christ.
And I just pray that over usright now um that we can feel
your strength, Lord.
Thank you for loving us, thankyou for providing us hope and
joy um and strength.
(54:37):
And I pray that's all in yourname.
Amen.
Israel Caminero (54:40):
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you for that prayer, andagain, 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 alsothank you to all the listeners
and all the support I've beenreceiving from everyone.
Ultimately, God gets all theglory, but I just want to thank
all the listeners also.
I just want to say thank youfor tuning in today.
And every time that I have anew episode, it's truly grateful
for every one of you who takesthe time to listen, share, and
(55:11):
support these powerful storiesof God's grace and redemption.
You know, if Jordan's testimonyspoke to your heart, I
encourage you to share thisepisode with someone who might
need to hear it.
You never know how God mightuse it to bring healing or hope
to that person.
As always, remember, your storymatters.
And when placed in the hands ofJesus, it becomes a testimony
(55:31):
for his glory.
Until next time, stayencouraged, stay grounded in
truth, and keep living yourtestimony.
God bless you.
Thank you so much for tuning in to today's
episode.
I'm grateful for your supportand for being part of this
community.
If you've been enjoying thepodcast so far, I'd love it if
you could take a minute to leavea review.
Your feedback helps me reachmore people and share these
inspiring stories with others.
Let's spread the word.
Please share this podcast withyour friends and family.
(00:27):
And if you haven't already, besure to like and subscribe for
new episodes.
To stay connected and up todate on all the latest news,
updates, and exclusive content,head over to my Facebook page,
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While you're there, be sure tosubscribe to my newsletter.
The link is on the page.
(00:48):
Thanks again for listening, andI'll catch you in the next
episode.
I'm your host, Israel Caminero,and I hope that everyone is
(01:16):
listening is blessed and doingwell.
Today I have the honor ofhaving my sister in Christ here,
and her name is JordanDaugherty.
Can you introduce yourself toeverybody, Jordan?
Jordan Daugherty (01:27):
Hi, I'm Jordan.
I am a 22-year-old birth momfrom North Carolina.
And I'm really excited to be onhere today.
Thank you so much for lettingme get to share and let God just
speak.
Israel Caminero (01:43):
And as always, she's here to share her
testimony.
As always, I want to heareveryone's testimony and how God
came to be in their life.
But before we do that, I wantto pray over us.
And I want to say, HeavenlyFather, we come before you with
grateful hearts, thanking youfor the incredible work you've
done in Jordan's life.
Lord, you have walked herthrough the valleys and lifted
(02:05):
her to the mountaintops.
Her story is a testimony ofyour faithfulness, your power,
and your unfailing love.
Right now we lift Jordan up toyou as she prepares to share her
testimony.
We ask that you fill her withyour Holy Spirit, give her peace
that calms every fear andboldness that silences every
doubt.
Let every word that comes fromher mouth be guided by you.
(02:26):
Let her speak with clarity,confidence, and compassion.
Father, we pray that her storywould pierce hearts, bring light
to dark places, and lead otherscloser to you.
Protect her from any attacks ofthe enemy that would try to
bring confusion, fear, or shame.
She's covered by the blood ofJesus and her voice is anointed
for such a time as this.
(02:47):
May your name be glorifiedthrough every moment of this
testimony, and may those whohear it experience the hope,
healing, and freedom that onlyyou can give.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Jordan Daugherty (02:58):
Amen.
Thank you for that.
That was amazing.
Israel Caminero (03:01):
No problem at all.
So I'm sure everyone's eager tohear your testimony.
So can you take us in a day ofJordan as she was growing up
before she knew Christ?
Jordan Daugherty (03:15):
Yeah.
Um, so I grew up in a beautifulhome.
I grew up with parents thatloved Jesus, that loved each
other, um, that honored eachother and lived a beautiful
example of what godly parentsshould look like.
Um, was raised in the church,was there every Sunday, every
Wednesday, went to summer camps,BBS, all the things.
(03:38):
I grew up knowing Jesus.
I grew up loving Jesus.
I grew up putting my faith inhim.
And as a child, I was kind ofunderneath the umbrella faith of
my parents for a really longtime and kind of just leaned off
them for what I thought my ownsalvation was.
And growing up going throughmiddle school and high school, I
(04:00):
started to get exposed to a lotmore.
I kind of felt like I was in abubble for a while.
I went to a private Christianschool for my middle school and
some of my high school years.
And so, you know, I was inBible class, I was around people
in chapel and constantly aroundgodly people.
And so I hadn't reallyexperienced the outside world
(04:24):
yet of you know what happened inday-to-day lives.
I hadn't gone to a party, Inever drank alcohol, I hadn't
had a boyfriend.
Um, and so I was still verymuch in a bubble growing up.
When I turned around 17, Istarted going to a community
college outside of um doing highschool to finish my degree
(04:46):
early.
And I was starting to getexposed to a lot more.
I was around a lot of olderpeople, you know, not having as
many strict guidelines of beinga high schooler.
I had my first boyfriend thatopened a lot of doors for me.
I went to my first party.
I was around a lot of differenttypes of girls that I had never
been around before.
Doors were just opening for methat I had never experienced
(05:09):
before.
And during those times, I stillwould say I loved Jesus.
I would occasionally still goto church with my family, but
around those years is when itstarted to kind of trickle out.
And after that year of doingschool, I finished high school
through the community collegeand I went straight to hair
(05:29):
school.
And that's kind of when therushing waves just pushed me
through that next door thatreally just opened up everything
for me.
Um, I was around a lot of olderwomen in hair school that had
very different views, weren'treligious, or, you know, wanted
to do things that I had neverdone before, and encouraged me
(05:54):
to do it.
And I kind of just went fullforce with it.
You know, I was gettingattention 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 Igoing to church and I didn't
want it to go.
I didn't feel like I had timeto go.
(06:14):
I wanted to spend my time doingother things.
And I just poured right intothat.
And thing after thing startedto happen that I was getting
exposed to.
I, you know, started drinkingmore, I started partying more, I
started hanging out with moreguys, I started exposing myself
to a lot of different situationsand people that I didn't even
(06:37):
know really existed in reality.
You know, it's things that Imight have watched growing up in
a movie that I didn't think itwas real.
And I was very naive to theworld for that.
And when it was happening, itwas exciting.
The adrenaline rush that itgave me, I loved it.
And I started to feed off ofthat.
And as I was going through theindustry of doing hair, you
(07:01):
know, that was a huge thing.
Like, you know, we would finishat night and we would want to
go out.
We would want to party.
We would want to, we werealready all dressed up and
dolled up.
Like, you know, let's let's goout and meet some guys.
Let's go out and do this, let'sgo to this place and meet these
people.
And, you know, I just ran withit.
I wanted to be accepted.
(07:22):
I wanted to be liked.
I wanted people to think that Iwas pretty.
I wanted all the guys'attention.
And that just kind of startedto spiral.
And eventually I ended upgetting into a relationship with
somebody that I fell for veryfast.
And ultimately, thatrelationship caused me a
(07:44):
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 worthanything, that I was never going
to be enough, that this is whatI deserved.
And so I stuck around.
I was too scared to leave.
(08:06):
I was truly trauma bonded tosomebody at my lowest.
And I was angry at the Lord.
And during this time, I had notpressed to him.
I hadn't thought about him inyears.
But for some reason, I stillallowed myself to be angry at
him because I felt like, youknow, if a God, our God is so
good, why is he lettingsomething so terrible happen to
(08:29):
me?
And why won't he help me getout of it?
Israel Caminero (08:32):
And this is your relationship with this guy,
correct?
Jordan Daugherty (08:35):
This was a different relationship, yes, but
this was one that kind of thatopened a lot of the more messy
doors for me that ultimately ledme to find myself in the
situation that um changed mylife.
But this was a relationshipthat happened quite a few years
ago, but is what kind of set meoff, like kind of really sparked
(09:00):
this fire in me to just notcare and to just go crazy with
everything.
Um, because I found myself soangry at God, I started to run
even faster away from everythingto do with Him.
I poured into findingvalidation in my identity and
men, in alcohol, and partying,and you know, getting attention
(09:24):
at clubs and stuff like that.
And I turned to all of thatbecause my heart was so broken
from this relationship that Ihad been in.
And I turned to everything elsein the world to try to mend it
and fix it.
And obviously that wasn'tworking, and it was never work,
but for some reason I thought ifI kept pressing into it and
trying harder, it would.
(09:45):
Ultimately, I was definitelystanding on the edge of a ledge
leading up to when I foundmyself pregnant.
And that last month before thenwas really gonna be the make it
or break it month for me.
I was going completely crazywith everything that I was
(10:06):
surrounding myself around.
It turned into an everyday,every hour, every minute.
My mind, my body was consumedwith things of the world,
whether it was a new guy or thealcohol constantly needing it,
constantly having to have it,being places that I sometimes
(10:26):
don't even remember where I wasor what I was doing or who I was
around.
And I met somebody at onepoint, and you know, I made a
bad decision one night.
And a few weeks later, I foundmyself pregnant.
I was 21.
Um, I was terrified.
I was alone, and I didn't knowwhat my life was gonna be.
(10:52):
And at this point, I still didnot really have the Lord back in
my heart.
I did not want to turn to Jesusyet.
I didn't have enough in me yetto, you know, really lay down my
life and be like, okay, I'm I'mgiving it back to God.
I wasn't ready to do that.
I was still holding on topride, thinking that I could get
(11:13):
through this, that it was gonnabe 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 shockand the denial that I was truly
pregnant and that I was about tobe responsible for another
human being's life on thisearth.
And that was scary.
That was a big heavy burdenthat was placed on me when it
(11:42):
should have been placed on twopeople in a marriage.
It was placed on me as a21-year-old without a spouse,
and I felt like I was drowning.
And one day I woke up and I waslike, I think that if I were to
die right now, I'm notconfident that I would go to
(12:03):
heaven.
And I kept having these weirdrealizations that, you know,
where like what is my salvation?
Am I saved?
Do I really love Jesus?
You know, am I gonna spendeternity with him or am I gonna
die and not be going to heaven?
And I sat around with that andbeing pregnant too, like it
(12:27):
created more emotional thingsgoing on within me.
So I really sat with it one dayand was just like, oh my gosh,
you know, I was so very blessedto be raised by parents who
loved me and cherished me andsupported me and encouraged me,
but then ultimately pushed me tothe Lord.
(12:49):
And that's what I want for mychild.
And I literally looked atmyself in the mirror and I was
like, what am I doing?
What why did I think that Icould live like this and be
spared the consequences?
Why did I think that makingthese decisions were gonna
ultimately build the kingdom ofheaven?
(13:10):
You know, these choices that Iwas making have consequences on
this earth.
And I was I felt so alone.
I felt so broken, I felt solost, and I was so confused
where to go.
And I ended up seeking somelike wise counsel from my former
(13:31):
senior pastor, and I showed upon their doorstep for dinner,
and him and his wife just satthere and loved on me and
supported me, but then also kindof, you know, pushed me to be
like, Hey, you need Jesus.
You know, where has Jesus beenin your life over the past
couple of years?
You know, how many times haveyou thought about him when
(13:52):
you've made these decisions?
And I sat there with a blankmind and face and was just like,
man, like that was the lastthing that you could have ever
looked at me and said that I wasthinking 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 ableto 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 Iknow that he's redeemed me in my
life.
(14:25):
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 muchfear.
And ultimately, leading laterdown my pregnancy, I was dealt
(14:46):
some really hard decisions thatI was gonna have to make.
And ultimately, one of thosedecisions was going to be if I
was gonna be put in the positionwhere I needed to place my son
for adoption and become a birthmom.
And for those who don't knowwhat a birth mom is, a birth mom
is a woman who goes throughpregnancy and has a baby and
(15:07):
then chooses to place a babydirectly into a family unit of a
mom and a dad and becomes abirth mom.
And so that decision was putout on the table, and it was
something that I was terrifiedof.
I did not want to ever imaginemyself having to make that
choice.
I don't think anybody does.
(15:29):
Um, but it was a choice that Iwas going to have to make at
some point in my pregnancy.
Right.
And I remember leaving everymeeting I had with my
caseworkers, bawling my eyesout, crying because I did not
want to have to continuethinking about that and
processing it.
(15:49):
I wanted nothing to do with it,but I also felt the presence of
the Lord just pulling me thereevery single time.
And I hated that.
I was angry.
God, why are you having me dothis?
I don't want to do this.
You know that I don't want todo this, but I also know that
you're calling me to do thisbecause it's what's best for my
son.
And, you know, God continued toshow up.
(16:12):
He showed up in very, verydifferent areas in my life, kind
of pointing to, hey, likeadoption, adoption.
There was people that wereplaced in my life at the right
place at the right time thatonly God could have done,
conversations that were had,speaking engagements that took
place.
Um, only God orchestrated allof that just in the exact way
(16:37):
that it needed to happen.
But ultimately it came time forme to make my decision.
And I wrestled with it, Ifought with it.
But then one day I sat back andI just remember praying, God,
you know, take away my selfish,prideful desires as a human just
(16:57):
for a moment, so I can feel andsee if I'm making a decision
based off of what I want or whatI know you're calling me to do.
And I remember being able for amoment to take away every
bodily like feeling that I hadwithin myself of what made me
(17:18):
feel good right now on thisearth.
And when that was removed, thepain of it, the heartache of it,
I was able to see the beautyand how it honored the Lord, how
it blessed my child, how itblessed another family, and
ultimately blessed me.
And but then again, I startedto feel the pain and emotions.
(17:42):
It was only for a blink of asecond that I was able to remove
the pain of the world to seethe glory of the Lord and the
decision.
And ultimately I knew that thatwas the choice that I was gonna
have to make, that I, in a fewweeks from then, was going to be
a birth mom.
And I met and was able to placewith a beautiful family.
(18:08):
Um, and the day that I had myson was the most beautiful and
best day of my life, and God wasso vibrant there, he was in
every moment of that, and it wasso beautiful.
But the next day was thehardest day of my life, and that
is where God really had to showup and give me his strength.
(18:32):
You know, I found a verse in mypregnancy that I clung to, and
one day I remember it wasactually one of my last times
ever going into the agency,probably a week before I gave
birth, and I stopped my tracksin the middle of the parking
lot, and I just remember bawlingmy eyes out and looking up to
(18:55):
God and just being like, Icannot do this.
I am not strong enough.
I'm so weak, my body hurts.
I'm physically feeling the painof pregnancy.
I was tired, I didn't want togo on with it anymore, and I
didn't want to have to deal withthe emotional pain and grief
and loss that it was about tohave on me.
(19:17):
And I was just like, God, I I'mI'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 givesme strength, which is
Philippians 4.13.
And that verse got me throughthe the next couple weeks, which
were the hardest weeks of mylife.
(19:38):
You know, in the hospital, Ican do all things through Christ
who gives me strength.
Leaving, getting wheeled out ofthe hospital without my child
in my arms, walking out of thereempty handed.
I can do all things throughChrist who gives me strength.
Going home and sitting in mybed, knowing that I'm supposed
(19:58):
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 thatI had never felt before.
I can do all things throughChrist who gives me strength.
And, you know, day after day,the Lord continue to hold my
hand and walk me throughpost-placement is and was really
(20:21):
hard.
It is a continuous journey forme.
I will always be a birth mom.
I will always be in apost-placement standpoint.
And I will always be grievingmy child.
But through the strength thatGod gives me every single day
that He's walked with me throughthe valleys and now is helping
(20:41):
me climb up the mountain, youknow, He gives me the ability to
see the joy and the beauty thatthere is in this.
And, you know, the joy of theLord is also my strength.
And I have to be willing tohave to have the willingness to
accept that.
You know, God gives us allthese beautiful things, but we
(21:03):
we can never have it or youknow, experience it if we don't
accept that from Him.
And when I started kind ofletting again let go of some of
my grief and pain, because thatis so of the world, I was able
to experience the beauty, thejoy, the happiness, the laughing
again, smiling again, you know,knowing that this choice
(21:27):
honored God and is building thekingdom of heaven.
And that my choice as well gavemy son and gives my son the
best ability to one day meetJesus.
Israel Caminero (21:38):
Right.
Jordan Daugherty (21:39):
And that is what makes it all worth it.
You know, this pain that I feelon this earth is so temporary.
And I'm not here to live mylife here, to build my kingdom
here.
I'm living right now to buildfor my eternity, to build for my
son's eternity, to encouragehim to be a role model, to be a
role model for other women whofind themselves in this
(22:02):
position, like, hey, you know, Imade a mistake that night.
I chose to experience sin inthe world, like I will
continuously do because I'm asinner.
But that choice doesn't defineyou.
Israel Caminero (22:16):
Okay.
Jordan Daugherty (22:17):
It doesn't, you know, control the rest of
your life.
You know, there will beconsequences for it.
I deal with consequences of myactions.
The pain, this like the grief,the loss of this world is a
consequence.
My son is not, but the thingsthat I feel are because I made a
choice in a moment when Iprobably shouldn't have.
(22:39):
But I also know and have seenhow that night the enemy meant
it for so much evil, and heprobably was sitting there
laughing, knowing this is gonnablow up her life, and she is
gonna hate God, and she is notgonna want to do anything else
with her life because it's gonnasuck.
Well, that night that the enemysaid that and thought that God
(23:03):
is sitting right above, knowing,hey, I meant that for good,
though.
I'm gonna take what you thoughtwas so wrong and what could
have been so bad, and I'm gonnaturn it around and mean it for
good.
Because that night I made thatdecision.
No, it did not honor the Lord.
No, it is not his ideal perfectwill for my life.
(23:24):
But I chose that, and Godalready knew that, and God was
able to use that night to one,bring me back to him, to bless
the world with my beautiful babyboy and to bless him with a
beautiful life, but then to alsoanswer a prayer that had been
prayed for years and years onend for a family that had longed
(23:45):
for a child.
And God's perfection andstrength and glory shines right
through that night and shinesright through every bad choice
that I made in the past fewyears, led up to that moment
that God knew he was going to beable to turn it around for his
(24:05):
good.
And I share that because itI've witnessed God's love and
mercy, his miracles of showingup in your life and guiding you.
And at the end of the day, it'slike his strength is made
perfect in my weakness.
And that's the same foreveryone else.
And like, he will alwaysprevail, he will always come
(24:29):
through first, he will alwaysrise above to the top.
And I trust that now, and Ihave faith in that now, and I've
seen that in my life.
And I pray that over my son, Ipray that over any other woman
who finds herself in mysituation, who finds herself in
another situation, and for mentoo, you know.
God is enough and he makes youknow that you're enough as well,
(24:52):
and that our identity is not ofthis world.
It's not in what we've done orwhat we're gonna do, it's in
him.
We're the we're his children,you know.
We are loved by him, and weneed to accept his love.
And yeah, I just I love sharingthat because again, this road
that I'm on is not easy.
I do not have a happy,beautiful, smiley every single
(25:15):
day.
You know, there's still a lotof 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 otherside, and I hold on to that.
Israel Caminero (25:31):
Amen.
Amen.
That's a powerful story youhave there, Jordan.
Um, there was a question Iwanted to ask.
I wanted to just backtrack alittle bit.
I know you said you were, youknow, obviously you grew up in a
Christian home and you wereliving in the bubble because of
Christian school, Christianhome, going to church on
(25:51):
Sundays.
And once you got out into theworld, obviously that's what
caused a lot of this because ofthe curiosity you had.
And 21 years old was that'swhen everyone experiences a lot
of partying, like you said, andgoing to clubs and getting
drunk.
When you started doing all ofthis, you you didn't quite
mention, but I I'm just curiousto know, like, where were your
(26:15):
parents?
Did you had already moved out?
And what was their take on allthis when you came out pregnant?
Jordan Daugherty (26:20):
Yeah, so during my before I was pregnant
stage from about 17 to 21, I wasvery rebellious.
My parents never encouraged it,they never wanted me to be in
the situations.
Half the time, I will say, theywere 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 dowith them.
I kind of avoided coming hometoo.
I would just be at randomplaces all hours of the day and
night.
At one point, too, um, I wasout of the house in my own place
for a little bit.
But ultimately, when I foundmyself pregnant, I was currently
(27:03):
living at home.
I know that my parents werereally hurt by the decisions
that I was making that year.
Um, but at the same time, theyknew that they couldn't control
me because it just pushed mefurther 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 ofsurrendered me to the Lord,
knowing that his will was gonnaprevail, that his plan would
always come through first, andthat they were just trusting
that he was gonna keep me safein the moments that they knew
that they physically couldn't.
And ultimately, yeah, when Ifound myself pregnant and I told
(27:37):
them I was terrified to tell myparents.
Um, but I did, and you know,there was definitely a lot of
questions and concerns, but theyalso opened their arms and
showed me so much love, and Icouldn't have asked for a better
response because in theirconfusion and sadness, there was
(28:02):
also like, hey, we still loveyou, we're gonna support you and
we're gonna help you throughthis.
Obviously, we're not proud ofthe decision that you made, but
we are proud that you'rechoosing 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 myson for adoption, it it was very
(28:24):
hard for them.
Because again, like as much asthis was me becoming a birth
mom, they became birthgrandparents.
And that decision just didn'tonly affect me in my life, it
affected them as well.
And so it's been a journey formy entire family, right?
And but they have done nothingbut love and support and
(28:47):
encourage me and be there for mein 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 knowbecause when we're that age and
we're young and we're goingthrough it, parents say one
thing, it goes one ear and outthe 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 theywere praying for you every
night, and that's exactly whathappened.
You weren't gonna listen tothem.
Jordan Daugherty (29:17):
Nope, I was not, and honestly, when they
tried to encourage me elsewhereto do different things to go to
church, I it made me push awayeven more.
Israel Caminero (29:27):
Right, exactly.
Yep.
Yeah, I went through thatmyself, so I know what you're
talking about.
So you talk about using yourvoice to break shame.
You you're definitely doingthat.
And I just want to know whatwhat are some of the lies that
the enemy tried to keep youbound by, and how did God bring
truth out of that?
Jordan Daugherty (29:48):
Yeah, um these are like sometimes even
everyday battles still, butthere's a lot of fear that I've
held on to of people's opinionsof the choice that I've made.
You know, not everybodyunderstands it and respects it.
And so there was a big fear inme of putting it out there,
(30:10):
being public about, hey, I'm abirth mom.
This is what I've done, this isthe choice that I've made, and
this is what I believe in.
There's a lot of very strongopinions about adoption within
the adoption community and outof it.
And so that was a huge fear,you know.
Are people gonna question mewhy I did what I did?
Are people going to tell methat I shouldn't call myself a
(30:33):
mom?
Are people going to makecomments about how I just gave
away my child?
Or everyone had an opinion, andI was terrified of hearing
that.
And so I've really had to justtake that to the Lord and be
like, God, I need you to cancelthis out.
I know that this is what youcall me to do.
I know that this honors you.
(30:53):
And I'm not here to serve andplease anybody else on this
earth.
I have an audience of one, andthat's what the Lord really had
to just engrave on my heart toremove that like sense of shame,
guilt, and like fearfulness ofsharing my story because of what
people were gonna think or say.
Um, and I think during mypregnancy, I was very much
(31:18):
scared because I visiblychanged.
You know, I was growing a babyinside of me so people could see
that I was pregnant and I wasyoung and I was alone.
And so there was always thisfear of what people were gonna
think about me and going tochurch.
I was terrified of like goingback to my home church that I
grew up in, being visiblypregnant because of judgmental
(31:41):
looks or comments.
I never knew what people weregonna say or how they were gonna
respond when they knew that Iwas pregnant.
And, you know, there was sometimes where there was judgment
and condemnation, but there wasalso some beauty of people that
welcomed me with open arms, thatloved me, that honored my
decision, respected that, butthen also encouraged me to press
(32:03):
into the Lord.
And you know, that's what thebody 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 condemnus.
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 feelingfearful, God remove this from
me.
This isn't coming from you.
You know, I'm only here toserve you.
Why do I care about what theseother people think?
And it was kind of a mindswitch, like mindset switch.
Like, I really just had to letGod guide that and take that
(32:32):
worldliness out of me.
Israel Caminero (32:34):
Amen.
That's totally true.
A lot of people feel shamebecause of what others think of
them, but there's only one judgethat can judge you, and he's
not of this earth.
So, what does your life looklike today, Jordan?
And how is God using your storyto impact others?
Um, I know you have a podcast.
(32:54):
You can go ahead and sharethat.
What else are you doing to usethis story to impact others?
Jordan Daugherty (33:00):
Yeah, so I do have a podcast.
My podcast is called TheJourney After.
I started that because I wantedto show that it's not about
only where we've been in ourlives, because every single
person on this earth has a storyand has a path that they've
walked, you know, through thegood, the bad, the hard, the
(33:22):
easy.
You know, we can talk aboutthat, we can share that and
share those experiences andthose feelings.
But I made it because I want toalso highlight, highlight where
we're going, where we're goingin our life, where God's taking
us, you know, like he says inthe word, like the road to
destruction is so much easier tofind because the narrow path is
(33:45):
what takes us to heaven.
And it's it's hard.
Our path here on earth is neversupposed to be easy.
It was never promised to beeasy, but it was promised to be
possible through Christ.
And I love to share that on myon my podcast and to share my
testimony, to share where I havebeen, the decisions that I've
made and where it led me intonow where God's leading me.
(34:07):
And so I love having otherpeople come on as well to share
where they've been, but nowwhere they're headed.
But then I also like to shareand advocate and educate about
adoption, about what being abirth mom is.
There's not a lot of birth momsthat will share their story
publicly and talk about it andbe vulnerable to share the hard
(34:29):
things about it because it'sreally hard.
It is really hard to talk aboutplacing a child.
The world has put a lot ofshame and guilt and fear in that
kind of area of things.
And so most birth moms hide andwill never tell their secret
their entire life of placing achild.
That's right.
And so I want to change that,and that's where my heart is as
(34:54):
well to one educate peoplearound 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 andamazing, whether it's
international or domestic, youknow, that's a beautiful gift
that somebody is willing toadopt a child that needs it.
(35:17):
But then we also forget toremember the birth mom.
You know, that baby came fromanother human being's life, and
she made a very hard decisionthat day, whether it was by
choice or not, you know, thatdecision was very hard.
And that doesn't go lightly.
(35:38):
And there's not a lot ofconversations and advocacy for
that and about that.
And so my heart is also tochange that and to change
people's understanding aboutadoption as well.
You know, adoption is notfoster care.
It can be a child can beadopted through foster care, but
adoption and foster care arenot the same thing.
And people get confused withthat as well.
(36:00):
And people will go their wholelife without truly understanding
what adoption actually is.
I didn't know what it was untilI became a birth mom.
And so I also want to changethat 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 bemiscarriages, there will always
(36:20):
be unplanned pregnancies, therewill always be abortion.
And adoption is a beautiful wayto avoid choosing abortion.
And it's a way that shouldremove abortion as a whole.
And I advocate now forpro-life.
I love sharing that.
I love showing people that hey,I'm living proof of a loving,
(36:45):
merciful, forgiving God that hasgiven me the strength to walk
through this alone and now blessthe world with a beautiful baby
boy and a family and myself.
And God gave me the ability todo that because one who created
me as a woman.
And as women, we have theability to bear children.
And so I love to show people,hey, you know, I'm walking proof
(37:08):
that you can make it throughpregnancy.
You are strong enough throughGod, and He will give you the
strength to make you get all theway 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 abouton all my platforms.
(37:29):
But I have just been kind offollowing where the Lord's
taking me right now, you know,doing the podcasting, going on
other people's podcasts, doing alot of social media, educating,
advocating on my platformsabout being a birth mom, the
adoption stuff that I justtalked about, being pro-life and
(37:49):
just sharing how God can andwill redeem you when you accept
his invitation to allow him tobe in your life.
Israel Caminero (37:57):
Amen.
Thank you for sharing that.
And I'll have links to all thatinformation on the description
of this podcast.
If you want to go check out ourpodcast, I encourage you to go
check it out.
I always try to support peoplethat have been on here, and you
can find that on the descriptionof this podcast.
You know, a lot of people thinkthat uh, like you said, it's
(38:19):
that giving up the kid foradoption is a sin when it's
really not.
You know, it's often viewed asa selfless loving act because
it's what's best for the child,and you're trying to provide
what's best for him, which youtouched base on earlier, saying
the same thing.
And some people just need toget it straight.
(38:39):
And I commend you for followingGod's lead.
And I'm sure it was hard.
I'm sure, you know, no onewants to do that.
I'm sure you still think aboutit.
And that that's leading to mynext question is how do you stay
rooted?
You know, how do you stay sorooted?
Because I mean I can tell byyour voice you have peace.
(39:01):
And how do you stay so rootedin Christ, especially when those
old feelings start to creep upand start shaming you?
Jordan Daugherty (39:09):
Yeah, um, it is hard, it is not easy, but you
know, every day it's asurrender and submit to God.
And again, I have to remindmyself this is not my forever
home.
I have to surround myselfaround community that push me,
(39:30):
encourage me, and then keep meaccountable.
Because again, if you know, ifI 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 havebrothers and sisters in Christ
that support us, encourage us,and walk with us through things.
And I have a beautifulcommunity that does that for me,
(39:51):
that loves on me, that walkswith me and sits with me in my
hard days.
Because yes, I have peace, but.
But I do still feel the sadnessand grief within this world,
and it is hard.
But I think there was a momenttoo in my grief and pain that I
(40:13):
felt God just be like, Hey,trust me, I've got you.
And He was able to set me freefrom some of the lies and the
chains that were really pullingme down.
And one of the verses thatreally spoke to me in that that
allowed me to feel the peacethat I do is one of the verses
in John.
I think it's John 8, 30 or 30,I can't remember.
(40:37):
But it basically says, and youwill 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 theworld.
I'm not condemned by them.
I'm not tied down by them.
And the lies that I was tellingmyself during my pregnancy,
(40:59):
post-placement, um, and evenyears before this all happened,
I was letting those lies controlmy life.
I was letting the lies sit inthe driver's seat and drive me
everywhere but to Jesus.
And the second we submit thatto the Lord, our hands are cut
free from the chains of theworld, of the lies that people
(41:22):
have spoken to us, of the liesthat we've spoken over
ourselves.
You know, the truth is whatsets us free.
And the truth is found only inJesus.
And that gives me peace.
And that gives me hope.
And I know that the Lord has ahopeful future for me, has a
beautiful future for me, and Itrust that because I know that
(41:45):
that's what's true.
Israel Caminero (41:47):
Amen.
I like how you keep going backto 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 upbecause there's so many
beautiful verses that I love.
And I've never I never excelledin school, and so I always
struggled with, you know,memorizing things and studying
things.
But there's such a beautifulthing about reading the word of
how when you pray to let theLord come into you and to flow
(42:18):
through you and to speak throughyou, you know, his word starts
to stick.
And it's not a chore, it's it'sa beautiful, amazing experience
to know this lives in me, andI'm gonna speak out his truth.
And I want that to reflect thelove of Jesus.
And I love being able toreflect back to the word because
(42:39):
that's the truth that hasgotten you through every single
day of my life.
Israel Caminero (42:43):
That's right, that's right.
Without the word, there'snothing, you know.
Yeah, that's you always need togo back to the word, and you
might read a scripture today,and it'll mean something totally
different to you in a differentseason.
Jordan Daugherty (42:58):
Yeah.
Israel Caminero (42:59):
Well, I would I just want to thank you, Jordan,
for sharing such a powerfultestimony with everyone and
being vulnerable about it atthat, you know, because it like
you said, it's not easy to talkabout things like this, but
that's also what the enemy wantsis 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 arefighting the spiritual warfare
battle of the enemy trying totake 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 stopuntil the Lord comes back.
But he will show up in everyseason of your life trying to
destroy everything.
And we have to fight that.
We have to put on the armor ofGod, we have to stand strong in
our faith and stand firm in thetruth and root ourselves in
(43:54):
that.
Because without it, we're gonnafly right away.
You know, the enemy will pickus up and throw us right out and
back into the things of theworld, 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 thathe tries to come in in any
opportunity that he can andattack.
But we serve a greater God, andI say, not today, Satan.
That's that's my thing.
Yeah, you know, that's mything.
Which leads me to my last fewquestions of the podcast, which
(44:28):
you already kind of touched baseon.
See, and it I usually ask myguests, was there a specific
verse that carried you through aseason like a life verse, which
you already answered, which bythe way is one of my life
verses, which is Philippians 413.
I can do all things throughChrist who gives me strength.
(44:48):
I love that because he's notsaying some things, little
things, anything, he's sayingall things.
That's what I love about thatverse.
But since you mentioned thatone being your life verse, and I
know a lot of people have morethan one.
Is there a verse, well, a thirdverse, because you also said
John 8, 32, that also carriedyou through that you can go back
(45:12):
to and read when you're havinga hard time or a hard day or you
know, a hard week?
Just a verse that you can goback to and read and what it
means to you.
You already mentioned two.
If you want to mention anotherone, totally fine.
Jordan Daugherty (45:25):
Yeah, I know.
I mean, I could sit here allday and say how this verse has
impacted me and theencouragement that it's given
me.
And this one is not necessarilyone that carries me through,
but more so encourages me topress in more to the Lord, is
Matthew 5.8.
Blessed are those pure inheart, for they will see God.
(45:48):
And that was something that Inever understood growing up, and
that's something now that Iencourage so many other women
that find themselves in my shoesor close to my shoes, is you
know, purity is so much morethan, you know, sexual sin or
sexual interaction.
It is, you know, pure in theheart of where is your heart
(46:10):
with God?
Where is your mind taking you?
Is your mind pure?
You know, are your actionspure?
Because when we align that withwhat the Lord wants, that's
when we get to experience Jesus.
Because God is never going tosit next to sin and put himself
in the position to be aroundsin.
And so I remember reading thatverse when I was pregnant and
(46:33):
hearing someone share about itand being like, I don't know
about you, but I want to be withJesus.
I want to experience Jesus.
And I sat there and looked atmyself and I was like, man, like
I do too.
And so, you know, blessed arethose pure in heart is when we
will see Jesus.
And so, like, that's what Iwant.
That's what I want for myself,that's what I want for other
(46:53):
people.
And so that verse is anencouragement for me, and that I
hope can reflect encouragementto other people is like, purify
your heart in the Lord.
You know, he will guide youthrough the hard things, the
easy things, the battles thatyou face within purity because
it is hard, especially whenyou've already experienced
things.
It is really hard to stay onthat pure path, but submit to
(47:14):
the Lord, and you know, he willguide you through that and he
will hold your hand in themoments that you might find
yourself contemplating and beingtempted by sin.
Because again, like I I want myheart 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 canbe kind of misconstrued, you
know.
There was one of them that Iwas like, wow, it's not what I
thought it meant, you know.
But like I said, you readverses and they're always
different.
Thank you for that, by the way,for sharing that.
Now we're going to my back tothe past section of the podcast.
(47:56):
And what my back to the pastsection is, if you could go back
and speak to the youngerJordan, what would you say to
her?
Jordan Daugherty (48:09):
Oh, this one's hard because I speak a lot onto
not regretting decisions andknowing that if I were to go
back and someone would have toldme something different, or if I
would have been able to go backand tell myself something
(48:29):
different, I wouldn't havepossibly ended up where I am
today.
And I'm so grateful for that.
So it's that question's hardfor 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'splan for my life.
And, you know, things mighthave ended up differently for me
if I did have somebodyencourage me in different ways
or guide me through differentthings or share with me about
stuff that would have preparedme for the decisions and the
(49:03):
temptations truly of the world.
But I don't know, I don't liketo sit there and wonder what I
would have liked to hear or whatI could have heard that could
have changed my outcome of mylife only because I have my
salvation in Jesus from where Iam today, from what I've been
through and the things that I'veexperienced is experienced, and
(49:25):
how I've been able to witnesshis love and forgiveness in my
life and now in other people'slives.
And ultimately, my son was thebiggest blessing that I've
experienced on this world, andthat changed my life.
God used that to change mylife, and so I'm grateful for
(49:48):
every rocky bit of my past,every bump that I went through,
because it led up to the momentthat God was able to stand up
strong and be like, hey, I'm I'mwriting her story, no one else
is in control of this, and thisis 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 answerthat question, and and and you
know, and I love it.
I love everyone's answer, butlike you said, this was God's
way of what he did, and it'ssuch a great answer that you
(50:29):
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 cantake away from us or change
because it's God's, and I holdon to that, and I know that God
wrote out my story from start tofinish, and it's something that
again, nobody can contradict meon, nobody can take away pieces
(51:00):
of it because God has fullywrote it and it's already been
written.
Israel Caminero (51:04):
Amen.
Amen.
I love that answer.
Thank you for that, Jordan, andthank you for being here.
Thank you for being vulnerable,thank you for sharing your
testimony.
I know it's been a while sincewe booked it, and I'm sorry,
it's just the way the scheduleworks.
You know, I have a lot ofpeople that are scheduled, and
I'm glad we were able to do ittoday because we almost did it,
(51:28):
right?
Jordan Daugherty (51:30):
No, thank you so much for having me on.
Thank you for letting me beable to share my testimony and
what God has done wonders in mylife.
And I hope that it speaks to atleast just one person to
reflect that God can and willredeem your life no matter what.
Israel Caminero (51:49):
Amen.
And like I said, I'll havelinks to her podcast on the
description of this one andanything else that she wants me
to share if anyone wants to goand 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 thereand listen to it.
She has other people that arekind of giving their testimonies
(52:11):
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 thedescription 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 forthis beautiful, wonderful day
that you have blessed us with.
Thank you for this host havingme on, being able to speak truth
and share the miracles and beable to speak as a living
(52:47):
testimony that you have givenme.
Thank you for giving him theplatform to be able to share
this.
And I pray for all of thelisteners on here that you feel
the presence of the Lord, thatyou can know and feel him within
you, knowing that he can andwill redeem your life.
You know, he offers you graceand mercy.
(53:07):
And thank you, Lord, for that.
Through Jesus, him coming downhere and sacrificing his life to
save ours when we did notdeserve it.
Um, I thank you for that.
And I thank you for everythingthat you have done in my life.
And I just pray you continue touse this, the story of yours,
(53:28):
your story, and um continue toshed your light and reflect your
love so people can continue towitness it and feel it.
And I pray that, you know, theycan accept your invitation of
this beautiful free gift ofeternal life that you have given
us all.
And I just pray that you speakto someone right now that is
(53:52):
listening, that needs to hearthis.
You know, I pray that theyaccept that invitation, that
they surrender their life toyou, Lord.
Um, because it is so worth it.
We live to please and to serveyou.
You are a living, loving God.
And I love that.
And I want to spend eternitywith you, Jesus.
And I want someone else too aswell.
I want everyone listening toknow that that invitation is
(54:16):
just waiting there for you.
Um, and I just pray that overyou, um, because God has got
you, and you can do all thingsthrough Christ.
And I just pray that over usright now um that we can feel
your strength, Lord.
Thank you for loving us, thankyou for providing us hope and
joy um and strength.
(54:37):
And I pray that's all in yourname.
Amen.
Israel Caminero (54:40):
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you for that prayer, andagain, 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 alsothank you to all the listeners
and all the support I've beenreceiving from everyone.
Ultimately, God gets all theglory, but I just want to thank
all the listeners also.
I just want to say thank youfor tuning in today.
And every time that I have anew episode, it's truly grateful
for every one of you who takesthe time to listen, share, and
(55:11):
support these powerful storiesof God's grace and redemption.
You know, if Jordan's testimonyspoke to your heart, I
encourage you to share thisepisode with someone who might
need to hear it.
You never know how God mightuse it to bring healing or hope
to that person.
As always, remember, your storymatters.
And when placed in the hands ofJesus, it becomes a testimony
(55:31):
for his glory.
Until next time, stayencouraged, stay grounded in
truth, and keep living yourtestimony.
God bless you.
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