Ashley Liveoak said she just couldn’t get it off her mind.
“The Lord just laid it on my heart, and I kept thinking, ‘maternity home,’” she said.
At that point — in 2021 — Liveoak had been executive director of Care Net of Chilton County for two years, and every day she and the staff and volunteers there were offering a broad spectrum of resources to help women through unplanned pregnancies.
But sometimes those women needed something Care Net didn’t have — a safe place for them to land and live for a while.
“I remember one time last year that we had four moms we could’ve placed in a maternity home if we’d had it, and that’s not uncommon for us,” Liveoak said.
So in 2021 when God laid that on her heart, she asked the Care Net staff to start praying about it with her.
The two years since then have filled an “Ebenezer book” with the ways God has provided, Liveoak said.
‘A great need’
On Oct. 1, they’ll open Selah’s Oasis Maternity Home.
“This is a great need in our state,” Liveoak said, noting that the closest maternity home up until now has been in Elberta, more than 200 miles south.
More than half of the women who live at that home come from central Alabama, she said. “So we know there’s a need here.”
She knows it from that number, but she also knows it from the women who walk through Care Net’s doors.
In the past two weeks, the Clanton-based ministry has already had four people contact them about a place at Selah’s Oasis. They’ve also had one online application — and they haven’t even made an announcement about the home being open yet.
“God has definitely affirmed that this is what He has for us,” Liveoak said.
He’s done that through the apparent need, and He’s also done that through the way He’s provided, she said. He first led them to the right place — a building outfitted with 11 bedrooms with connected bathrooms, along with kitchen facilities and living and dining areas.
Partnering churches
Liveoak, a member of Mount Carmel Baptist Church #1 in Jemison, said 12 Baptist churches in the area as well as others have come alongside them to help get the house ready, adopting bedrooms to decorate for the women and their babies.
Because of that, Selah’s Oasis doesn’t look like a facility, it looks like a home, Liveoak said. “The home atmosphere is what’s key, and everything in this house has been donated by God’s people, which is just mind blowing to me.”
The building can house eight expectant mothers and their babies, along with two girls aging out of foster care and one house mother, Liveoak said.
“A lot of people have asked how it’s going to work to have expectant moms and the girls aging out of foster care living there together, but we find that they come out of some of the same backgrounds and need the same skillsets,” she said.
They will all take budgeting and cooking classes together along with studying the Bible, Liveoak said. “And they can all take parenting classes. Even though they (the girls coming from foster care) don’t have children, that model of a parent is something that was missing from their lives. It could very well benefit them in the future.”
Liveoak said she also learned as she attended the National Christian Housing Conference and prepared to open Selah’s Oasis that at other maternity homes across the country, many of the moms said their favorite thing was family dinner every night because that was something they never had.
“I wanted to make sure that was included because of that,” she said.
Worth in Christ
She hopes it will be a place where they can learn confidence, learn their worth in Christ and prepare for the future. Each bedroom is named after one of the names of God, and she hopes that name will become personal for each woman who occupies that room.
“Our goal is for the churches to come in and pour into these ladies also,” Liveoak said. “That’s ultimately what they need.”
The women can choose to stay there up to two years, enough time for them to learn some vital life skills, meet financial goals, buy a car if needed and prepare to move into their own place.
Equipping women
“If we don’t equip them, they’ll probably be right back,” Liveoak said. “We want to make sure we give them the tools to break those generational curses.”
A case manager will work goals with them every week, from small things like drinking enough water to bigger things like signing up for GED classes.
Liveoak said she’s so grateful for all God has done to prepare the way for the women who will live there.
“The need is growing — at Care Net, since Roe v. Wade was overturned, our client traffic has increased by 30 percent,” she said.
Selah’s Oasis will be one of more than 400 maternity homes in the nation.
“It’s a great need, and we pray for God to place it on the hearts of His people around the country to help care for these women,” Liveoak said, noting that those involved with Selah’s Oasis are grateful for all the prayer and financial help they have received so far, though they still have more to go.
“It’s His vision, and He will bring it to fruition,” she said.
Share with others: