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What should have been the happiest day of 17-year-old Darla Svenby’s life became quickly mired in heartbreak.
After a long night of labor at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama, the young woman was told her baby was breech and that a C-section was necessary.
A few hours later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
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But there was no celebration. The unwed mother had made the painful decision to allow her child to be adopted.
As the adoptive parents tingled with joy, the young mother who had just given birth was left with a hollow ache.
“Please,” she cried to her nurse. “Please let me hold my baby. Just once. I need to tell him goodbye.”
Nurse Danella Walters was a woman of deep faith.
She had seen many mothers in distress during her years of service, but she also knew the hospital’s policy: Birth mothers were not permitted to bond with their babies in adoption cases.
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But something about this young mother’s raw grief struck her to the core.
‘He’s perfect’
Moments later, Darla Svenby’s own mother entered the room. She gently told her daughter that she’d seen — and even held — the baby. The young new mom couldn’t stop her tears.
Mrs. Svenby reached out to hug her daughter, whispering, “He’s perfect.”
Those simple words settled Darla Sveny’s sobs into silence.
Her mother went on, “He’s beautiful. I prayed for him. And I promised God we would pray for him every day of our lives.”
The daughter agreed. “We will, Mama.”
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But when her mother left to buy something special for the baby to wear home, the agony returned, as did the tears.
Signing the birth certificate — giving her son a name she knew might be changed — was almost too much to bear.
Nurse Walters stood by silently, paperwork in hand, witnessing the young mother’s sorrow.
Then came a ray of sunshine. During a shift change, the nurse furtively reentered the room cradling something in a blanket. Darla’s baby.
“Your broken heart was breaking mine,” the nurse whispered.
The young mother gasped as she took her infant into her arms.
“I’ll pray for you every day. I promise.”
She inhaled his scent, kissed his tiny head. “I love you,” she whispered over and over. “I’ll pray for you every day. I promise.”
The nurse would never forget that snapshot of memory.
‘All I know’
The years passed. Darla Svenby and her high school sweetheart, Randy, married and had four sons.
The Air Force moved the family to Alaska. But every day, the mom kept her promise by praying for the son she would never forget.
Meanwhile, Danella Walters retired from nursing and raised a daughter of her own, Amanda. One night, her daughter brought home a young man named Chad.
While Walters liked him, she couldn’t help sense a deep hurt that he was trying to hide.
It wasn’t long before Chad shared that he’d been adopted at birth.
“All I know is my birth mom gave me up at Jackson Hospital,” he said, with some bitterness in his voice.
She loved him so deeply, she allowed others to give him a better life.
The retired nurse’s heart skipped. She had seen that pain before.
“You should know,” she said carefully, “that a lot of birth mothers never stop praying and grieving for their child.”
She told him the story of a young mother, just 17, who cried out for one final chance to hold her baby. Who covered his face with kisses. She loved him so deeply, she allowed others to give him a better life.
The young man listened in silence.
Some time later, Amanda and Chad got married. When they were expecting their own first child, Chad decided to seek his birth records.
He opened the official-looking envelope at Danella Walters’ kitchen table. He stared at the name of his mother: Darla Svenby.
Then his eyes narrowed at the name of the hospital.
Meanwhile, Danella Walters’ eyes were tearing up. She hadn’t remembered the name of that young girl years ago, but she was certain her suspicions were correct.
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“You were born at St. Margaret’s,” she said quietly. “Not Jackson. I held you. And I want you to know: Your mother loved you more than anything in the world.”
It was a Godwink.
Once they found an obituary for Darla Svenby’s mother, the young couple traced Darla — now Darla Allgood — to Alaska.
Darla’s husband then surprised her with the news.
“Our son called,” he told her.
“Which one?” she said, laughing.
“No,” he said gently. “Our other son … Chad.”
Her knees nearly buckled. Her prayers were answered.
When mother and son — lost but found — finally met, they embraced like no time had passed at all.
The young man, now a husband, even put his head against his mom just as he did as an infant.
When the family put the pieces of the puzzle together — that Chad’s mother-in-law, Danella Walters, was the very nurse who had broken the rules and brought Darla Svenby her baby all those years before — the full beauty of God’s divinely aligned plan unfolded.
It was love.
It was prayer.
It was lots of Godwinks.
This story is by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt and is published by special permission. Copyright ©SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt. Anyone can learn more about the Godwinks projects at www.godwinks.com.
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