Prayer works.
When a young woman visited Planned Parenthood in Waco, Texas to schedule an abortion, the situation looked bleak. She had already visited a pregnancy help center…but left as determined as ever to abort.
While she was inside the abortion facility, her mom stopped to talk and pray with the 40 Days for Life vigil participants. The prayers helped. She went inside Planned Parenthood and persuaded her daughter to visit the nearby mobile pregnancy center.
But on board the mobile pregnancy center, the abortion-minded mom refused to make eye contact or answer questions. With the situation growing increasingly desperate, counselors asked for–and received–permission to pray with her.
Again, the prayers worked! The woman became emotional, opened up, and acknowledged that she really did want to keep her baby. She shared the relationship and financial pressures that led her to Planned Parenthood. And she chose life!
The young mom went home with a supply of diapers, a check to cover the money she gave Planned Parenthood for an ultrasound, and a gift for her new baby.
But before she left, she pulled out a model of an unborn child she received from the 40 Days for Life volunteers and said, “This is my baby!”
Lisbon, Portugal
God has used the Lisbon campaign to save at least FOUR babies this Lent. And none was more dramatic than the most recent!
A 43-year-old mother with a history of depression and drug addiction was told by her family doctor to have an abortion.
She went to the abortion facility to schedule her abortion and left in tears. But volunteers were able to engage her–and to direct her to a doctor who will support her and her baby while also addressing her troubled past.
Nottingham, England
John in Nottingham reported that a doctor who works at the hospital where the 40 Days for Life vigil is conducted approached prayer warriors to express his appreciation of their presence.
“This isn’t the first instance of a member of staff approaching us and expressing gratitude for our prayerful witness,” said John, the local leader. “For each one who speaks to us, there are probably several others who see us and are glad that we are there, because they too know abortion is wrong, but feel unable to say so.”
It’s not just doctors engaging vigil participants. The previous week, campaign volunteers discussed abortion for 35 minutes with two medical students walking home from class. “Who knows what impact such interactions will have have in the future, on their lives and careers?” John asked.
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” — Genesis 1:27-28
Father of mercy and grace, we thank you for the gift of our children. Grant that every fiber of our being may rejoice when a new baby, our own or any else’s, is born into the world. Help us to welcome them as we would welcome you, for whenever a new baby is conceived, another life to bear your image and another voice to praise and worship you, is beginning.
