My daughter Janelle wanted to share some thoughts on this, the anniversary of the Roe v Wade abortion decision. She has used some strong language that, while offensive to some, accurately portrays what happens all over the world and in my own city every day. In fact, while you are reading this post about 40 babies will be killed worldwide.
It was a cold morning, especially for Florida. I was standing on a sidewalk at 6:00 AM with several other teenagers, wondering what in the world I was doing there. I watched as several women lined up outside “Orlando Women’s Center” waiting for the building to open so they could go inside where it was warm.
I was sixteen and this was my first time at an abortion clinic. Well, not really. My parents used to take me when I was little along with my brothers and sisters to reach out to mothers at a clinic near our northern Virginia home. But I was in a stroller and too young to remember.
My stomach felt nauseous and uneasy. I was a little nervous — but mostly appalled. There were so many women, so many innocent babies about to be killed mere yards from where I stood.
“Jane Roe” of Roe V Wade
http://www.vox-veritatis.com
My youth group had come to pray and try to talk to the women who were coming to kill their children. Several adults were with us, most notably Allura and Patte, two women who I have now come to respect very highly for their work at many killing centers just like this one. Numerous babies have been saved because of these two Godly women.
But that morning I didn’t know them well. I didn’t want to be there and I was fighting back tears of sorrow as we tried to stay warm. It hit me that the children that were now safe and warm in their mothers womb were about to be coldly killed at the hands of doctor doing the very opposite of the creed he had sworn to uphold. As soon as OWC’s doors opened and the women filed in, I couldn’t hold back the tears. The enemy of our souls was having a field day today as these children were being ripped from their mother’s wombs. I wondered, “Where is God?”
I’ve often asked that question since then, both when I was going to the clinic regularly and even now that I am not. Where is God? I’ve asked that as I stood in front of that abortuary years later when I returned regularly in my mid-twenties with Allura and Patte and others. I’ve asked that as woman after woman spurned our pleas to help them through their pregnancy or offers to find loving families to adopt their babies as they flipped us off, cursed us out, or even tried to run us over with their cars coming in. I’ve asked that as some walked out the door sobbing — escorted by boyfriends, husbands, mothers, grandmothers and friends who forced them to do something they didn’t want to do. I’ve seen girls as young as thirteen or fourteen coming to do something that will likely scar their lives in ways it may take years to see. I’ve asked that as I have had conversations with women, watched the anguish in their eyes and heard heartbreaking stories of the incest, rape or carelessness that led them to the doors of that place.
Where is God?
This leads to other questions; complicated and deep ones that are hard to answer. Questions that bring up God’s sovereignty and control over all things. Questions about His love and care for all his creation, especially the most innocent of us all. Can He truly bless a nation that doesn’t protect babies? It’s downright horrific to allow such things in a so-called “enlightened” culture. Are we truly enlightened? How can we be? Medical and technological advancements have proven that life begins at conception, yet our “enlightened” culture turns a blind eye, refusing to see and acknowledge what God has made plain.
So where is He?
I’ve come to have some peace about this, even though I still struggle with it at times. Here is how.
I have peace because I know that faithful saints, true heroes, are standing at the front lines pleading with mothers to relent and have compassion on the children in their wombs. God is there.
I have peace because I have seen women change their minds and leave with courage to either keep their children or provide a much-desired family to eager adoptive parents. God is there.
I have peace because I have seen pictures of these now-saved children with happy, smiling and relieved mothers who didn’t go through with the murder. God is there.
I have peace because faithful, God-fearing parents are raising their children to love God and hate abortion while being compassionate toward those who made a choice they now regret — or continue to defend. God is there.
I have peace because there is a Savior who is a Man of Sorrows, One fully acquainted with grief who understands the plight of mothers who feel their only choice is to kill the person growing inside them; Who offers a way out but then will eagerly forgive each one who turns to Him for comfort and forgiveness when the weight of their choice bears down hard.
I have peace because that Savior was once a baby. And he knows the vulnerability of being completely dependent on his mother. He loves aborted babies more than anyone else can. And he calls us to fight injustice, to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves and to preach the Gospel to mothers either bent on destructing their own flesh and blood or feeling trapped into the only decision that seems right at the time.
Can I make an appeal on this, the anniversary of Roe vs Wade, to get involved? Perhaps you can do this by finding someone who is involved on the front lines at clinics and asking to be trained to help, helping mothers financially or volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center. Second, can I appeal for you to speak out? Familiarize yourself with local assistance to women facing an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy so that when the topic comes up you can offer real help. When you are in conversations with people and the abortion issue comes up, educate yourself on how to respond in a winsome, compassionate and convincing manner, with relevant facts and Gospel-saturated words. And lastly, can I appeal that you spread the life changing gospel with boldness? Only by the power the good news of the forgiveness Jesus Christ earned for us on the cross will hearts be transformed and minds be changed to have hope that life’s unplanned or unwanted interruptions can actually be avenues of blessing.
Please take a moment today, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, to pray for the end of abortion. What a day that will be, either before the Savior returns or when He does. Either way, it will end. And He will still be there, getting all the glory for His good plan of redemption.
Faith Rising 