Ex-model turned pro-life speaker: Raising children doesn’t mean women can’t achieve their dreams too

(LifeSiteNews) — Joining me on this Friday episode of The John-Henry Westen Show is Leah Darrow, a Catholic speaker and mother of several children.

Darrow shares her amazing conversion story and explains how being a full-time mom isn’t mutually exclusive with pursuing your God-given dream.

A former contestant on America’s Next Top Model, Darrow says she experienced a unique grace from the Holy Spirit while posing for a fashion photoshoot in New York City.

“[God] told me, in no less of words, ‘I made you for more.’ And I remember shaking my head in the middle of the photoshoot thinking, ‘I did not just hear that,'” she recalls. “And it was a moment I heard again: ‘I made you for more.’ I heard it five times.”

“I ended up walking out of the photoshoot and … called my dad … and just said, ‘If you don’t come and get me, I’m going to lose my soul.’ And I said that verbatim,” Darrow continues. “And there was a very long pause, and when my dad spoke, he just said, ‘OK, all right baby, I’m coming to get you.’ And my dad drove over 2,000 miles to come pick me up.”

Since quitting modeling, Darrow has become an outspoken pro-life advocate, woman of faith, and mother of six children (and one other in heaven). What motivates much of her work today is helping people achieve their dreams.

“The dream that God has placed on your heart, and there’s probably many of them, it deserves to take up space in your life,” Darrow says. “Your dream is worth pursuing, and as you start pursuing those dreams … you’re going to kind of fumble along the way. But God is patient and He helps recalibrate to keep us on track.”

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John-Henry is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.

He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.

John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.