[Salvation]

Today I am sharing only one story. I cannot give you
the location, but it starts with a rare blessing —
someone calling the wrong number.

When you pray and fast for an end to abortion and
work together with local pro-life organizations, it
can save lives.

The caller on the other end of the phone line asked,
“Is this Planned Parenthood?” Well, it wasn’t. In
fact, she had reached Planned Parenthood’s neighbor
— a local pro-life organization.

The organization’s staff member who answered quickly
realized there was an abortion-minded woman on the
line. So she offered the woman a free ultrasound.
The woman wasn’t interested — and said she really
just wanted Planned Parenthood, so there wasn’t much
else to say.

The pro-life staffer again told her the ultrasound
would be free — but that if she went to Planned
Parenthood, they would charge her.

At that point, things started to change. The woman on
the phone agreed to an appointment for an ultrasound.

So the staff member called a pro-life pregnancy center
to set up the ultrasound. The people at the pregnancy
center said they had just spoken to this same woman,
who had called them about 30 minutes previously.

“We have been praying that you guys would be able to
reach her before she reached Planned Parenthood,” said
the scheduler at the pregnancy center.

“I was amazed at the specific way they prayed and how
God answered that prayer,” said the staff member who
had originally received the “wrong number” phone call.

How could this woman have confused both a pro-life
group and a pregnancy center with Planned Parenthood?
“The only explanation is God’s intervention and
answers to prayer!”

The young woman, however, did not show up for her
ultrasound appointment. But the next day, she turned
up unannounced at the pro-life office.

“She told me that she had had an abortion in the past
and was considering having another,” the staffer
explained. “This new baby was not her husband’s baby.
She had gotten pregnant by another man while separated
from her husband. The more details I heard about her
life, the stickier the situation seemed to be. I could
see that she was struggling a lot and seemed to think
that abortion would be the answer to her situation.”

She wanted to know how far along the pregnancy was so
she could “take care of it soon enough.” That enabled
the staff member to talk about fetal development —
that there was already a living human being there from
the moment of conception.

“After hearing about the baby’s life inside the womb,
she expressed sorrow and said she had murdered her last
child. She wondered how God could ever accept her into
heaven since she had broken this commandment to not
murder, and we talked about the gracious gift of
salvation that God offers through Jesus.”

This time, the woman accepted the free ultrasound offer
and was able to see the image of her child. She thanked
the pro-life staff for their help and said she would be
talking to her boyfriend about the decision.

“We are praying for her,” said the staff member, “that
she will not ignore what she now knows about abortion
— and about her baby — and that she will choose life.”

Please keep this woman and her child in your prayers.

[Salvation]

Day 27 - March 19

 

Intention:

We pray for the gift of openness to children.

Scripture:

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

Reflection:

God's intention is that we multiply and fill the earth.

One of the most pernicious lies that sociologists have foisted off on the public is that the earth is becoming overpopulated. What kind of a sadistic god would create the earth and human creatures on it, only to have them literally reproduce themselves into oblivion? The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our divine Creator, has commanded us to multiply and fill the earth and far from letting the population get out of control, He has, in fact given his human creatures a dominical role over all the lesser creatures. The "birth control" movement, which had its beginnings with Margaret Sanger in the early years of the last century, has led, in many parts of the world, to a birthrate that is drastically below the normal replacement rate.

God's Word assures us that children are a blessing, that they are a reward of faithfully trusting and serving God and that they are the crown of their parents' old age. The spread of the contraception mentality that has so permeated our culture is, undoubtedly, a factor in the ready acceptance of abortion. God's commandment to multiply and fill the earth has never been withdrawn. May He help us to accept the gift of children and give him thanks for every baby who is born into the world.

Prayer:

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. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Rev. Ben Sheldon
President Emeritus, Presbyterians Pro-life and National Pro-life Religious Council