Saying Yes to Life

Moody Radio listener’s decision to keep her baby is still impacting lives 25 years later—including her own

by Nancy Huffine  /  September 16, 2024

A unique picture hangs on the wall behind Emma Maldonado’s couch. “I got it at the Goodwill,” Emma laughs.

The framed artwork features a sepia-tone drawing of the outstretched hand of Jesus and a Scripture reference: Psalm 139. In 1998, the hand of Christ reached into Emma’s life and kept her from making a choice that would have impacted herself and her family forever.

Emma’s marriage was a nightmare. Her husband’s alcoholism and abuse had destroyed their relationship and left Emma feeling trapped and hopeless. She took her two young daughters and moved in with her mother.

An unexpected child

Not long after moving in, Emma realized that she might be pregnant. A positive pregnancy test confirmed it, and Emma was devastated. “Until then, I had never known what it felt like to be in denial,” she says. “I tucked the test in the top corner of my closet, and I just left it there, kind of wanting to tell myself to forget about it.”

Forgetting worked for a few months. To Emma, the pregnancy just didn’t seem fair. Eventually, Emma talked to one of her aunts. “I think I told her, ‘I’m pregnant, but don't say anything because I think I'm going to get rid of it,’” she says.

But Emma’s aunt didn’t keep the news to herself. She told Emma’s mother, who stayed calm and encouraged Emma to get more information from her doctor.

“My mom is a woman of God,” says Emma, “and with her soft voice she said, ‘Let’s just go see what happens.’”

Emma made a doctor’s appointment, but she also made an appointment for an abortion. The doctor confirmed what Emma knew all along and told her she was five months pregnant. “The minute she touched my tummy with the stethoscope—there was that loud heartbeat!” she says. Later, Emma had an ultrasound and could see the baby’s unmistakable form. She also learned that her baby was a boy.

Riding home in the car with her mother, Emma was thinking about two things: the small, black and white ultrasound picture and an appointment for an abortion. “My mom and I don't have any brothers, and with the baby being a boy, she was trying to motivate me that this would be the first boy in the family. She was really excited.”

Emma’s heart was moved, and her mind was changed. “It was that drive back home that did it,” says Emma. “I was like—okay—yes!” On January 31, 1999, Felix Francisco Leyva was born.

Transformed by God’s Word

When Felix was a student at an Illinois community college, a classmate asked him two questions no one had ever inquired of him before. “He asked what I thought about Jesus,” Felix recalls, “and he asked me if I wanted to read the Bible together sometime. I said, ‘Sure. I can use some God right now. Why not?’”

Though Emma, Felix, and his sisters sometimes attended church together, Felix says, “I would say we didn’t necessarily grow up in a Christian household. My mother and everyone did the best they knew how to lead me. But the way that I describe it is that I knew God from the perspective of other people. I never read the Bible.”

When Felix read the words of Christ and the gospel story, his life changed. “It was the Word of God that saved me, the Scriptures about Christ alone,” he says. “It was kind of like in Acts 10 when the Holy Spirit entered the Gentiles in the middle of Peter preaching. That's kind of what I felt happened to me.”

Felix wanted to know more. He wanted to know the Savior who had reached into his life and changed Him. And he wanted to learn how to teach others about Jesus.

“For a year I was home with my mom and my grandmother, and I would host Bible studies every Friday night to help my family come to the Lord,” he says.

Destination: Moody

Felix’s passion for God’s Word eventually led him to an opportunity he couldn’t wait to seize.

“My grandma and my mother heard on Moody Radio about this school in Chicago, a school where you could study the Bible,” he says. “I thought—really? There’s a school in Chicago where you can study the Bible? I love the city, and I want to study the Bible!”

As Felix explored all the majors and emphases that Moody had to offer, his excitement waned a bit as his stress level rose. He had no idea what he should pursue.

“I had heard John MacArthur on Moody Radio talking about theology, and I thought, I’ll study that! I didn’t really know what theology meant!” he says, shaking his head.  

Felix came to Moody Bible Institute’s Chicago campus in the fall of 2020, and he quickly singled out some favorite classes and professors.

“Dr. Samuel Naaman is always going to be a fan favorite,” Felix says. “His was the first class I think I had at Moody—Introduction to Discipleship. He’s a very passionate professor, and he thumped his fist on the table and said, ‘We need to preach the gospel!’ And I thought, This is what I came for!”

Finding his niche

It didn’t take long for the guy who didn’t know the meaning of theology to thrive at Moody. Church history and historical theology became Felix’s favorite subjects.

“Dr. (David) Papendorf’s Christianity in Western Culture introduced me to church history and to St. Augustine,” he says. “Historical Theology II is probably not a favorite for many, even if you're a Theology major, but it introduced me to a lot of 19th-century liberal theology that came into the church and started to affect the church, heretical doctrines. Charles Spurgeon was fighting against it, and so were old Princeton theologians like B.B. Warfield and Charles Hodge.”

“These classes were very instrumental to me, and it was the first time I heard about B.B. Warfield, who is now one of my favorite theologians. I’m very thankful to Moody for that. And I don’t know if Moody meant to bring me into the Presbyterian circle, but I am in.”

During Felix’s second week as a Moody student, he founded an evangelism ministry. “I named it ‘DOXA,’ which in Greek translates to ‘glory,’ so that in all we do, we're reminded it is for the glory of God. It meets every Friday night. The ministry is an official PCM (Practical Christian Ministry) and an official Moody student group on campus.” Because of the DOXA outreach, Felix says, “The city of Chicago hears the gospel every week.” 

Exciting plans ahead

Currently in his senior year at Moody, Felix is taking classes online and will travel to Scotland later this year for an internship. “I have an apprenticeship in Scotland with The Tron Church in Glasgow, participating in what is called Cornhill Training Course to prepare for pastoral ministry,” says Felix. “I’ll be working alongside ministers and working with many churches throughout Scotland to prepare for preaching, pastoring, and biblical and theological studies.” 

Sometimes called the birthplace of Presbyterianism, Scotland holds another endearing feature for Felix. “My fiancée, Sara!” he beams. The two met online and are planning a January 2025 wedding.

‘I wanted to share my story to give hope’

In April of this year, Emma was listening to Moody Radio’s Chris Fabry Live when the topic was “Parenting with Hope” featuring author and speaker Melissa Kruger. For just a moment, Chris Fabry directed the conversation to “a person who doesn’t feel hope today, who doesn’t want to be a parent yet, but they have a positive pregnancy test.”

Emma knew exactly what that was like. She had to call in. “I called because I heard that you wanted to reach out to women who are pregnant and are possibly thinking about an abortion,” she told Chris and the radio audience. She talked about the situation she was in 25 years ago and about struggling between choosing abortion and life. “I wanted to share my story to give hope.”

The Goodwill picture of the hand of Christ referencing Psalm 139 that Emma sees every day reminds her and Felix about the miracle of being knit together in the womb, of being fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13–14).

“This is a constant reminder of the sovereignty of God and His ultimate will behind this whole thing,” Felix says. “I’m always dumbfounded at the grace of God and His will for us. He moved my mom’s heart, and in this case, His will was that I would be born. And 25 years later, I'm here!”  

Emma looks back at the picture and notes, “At the top it says, ‘Where can I go?’ When I saw it at the Goodwill, the first thing I saw was the hand of Jesus. Then I saw that phrase Where can I go? That’s what made me buy it.”

When asked where she goes when she needs a guide and a hand to hold her fast (Psalm 139:10), Emma, sitting on the couch next to her precious son, smiles and points to the hand of Christ, nail-pierced and reaching out to her.