Today’s email:
I’m just back from speaking to a HUGE crowd at the
40 Days for Life kickoff in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Their vigil moved to a new site for 2012 — a
Planned Parenthood location. That’s because last
year, the site where the volunteers had been praying
previously STOPPED DOING ABORTIONS!
In this short video report, local leader Brian Gibson
outlines 40 Days for Life’s focus on prayer for SEVEN
campaigns ... and Regions Hospital’s decision to get
out of the abortion business.
To watch this encouraging video, go to:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=3285
The kickoff events I attend may draw hundreds, but
the vigils themselves usually see just a few people
at a time. Passersby may shrug and say, “There’s not
much to it, is there?”
But as you know ... there’s more going on than
meets the eye!
“Small but mighty” is the subject line on a picture
the Dover team e-mailed me. It shows a few people at
the peaceful vigil on public grounds outside Planned
Parenthood during Dover’s ninth 40 Days for Life
campaign.
As Jesus told us in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I
in their midst.”
To see the picture from the Dover campaign, please
go to:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=3285
Even if by chance you are outside the abortion center
by yourself, you are certainly not alone. There are
others also standing vigil, at every hour of each of
these 40 days, at some place around the world
“Here in Finland, we don’t have 40 Days for Life yet,”
wrote someone only identified as Foreigner, “but at
least one person is praying over the daily devotionals
with you and following your blog.”
Foreigner describes a country where any sort of
physical punishment for children is forbidden. “But
abortion (most before 12 weeks by drugs) is seen as
something so normal that there aren’t even done in
separate abortion facilities, but in every hospital,
even in maternity wards, in every health center, by
almost every doctor and nurse.”
Foreigner held her own one-person candlelight prayer
vigil outside a hospital on Day 1 as two women came
out. One was wearing a nightgown and robe. An abortion
patient, Foreigner wondered? If so, “I hope and pray
God will help them see what they have done, so they
can be saved and healed, and save others from making
the horrible ‘choice.’”
The abortion center in Fort Lauderdale was closed on
Wednesday — it may have been because of Yom Kippur,
the Jewish holy day known as the Day of Atonement. “But
we made an impact as we stood and prayed,” said John.
One driver saw their signs, stopped and called out
through her open window. She wanted to know if
abortion was okay in cases of incest. John’s wife
had a 20-minute conversation with her and made some
headway in explaining why abortion is always wrong.
“Standing and praying at the abortion center brings
the buried issue of abortion to the surface,” John
said, “and that can lead to changed minds — and
changed hearts.”
If you haven’t joined the vigil yet, he added, please
do so! Here’s the link to the list of locations:
http://40daysforlife.com/location
To see a photo from the 40 Days for Life vigil in
Fort Lauderdale, please go to:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=3285
Two turn-aways today! Thank You, Merciful God!
‘See, I have already begun!’: God doing great things through 40 Days for Life
by Natalie N. Farber
Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:14 EST
Comments (1)
Tags: 40 days for life, abortion, planned parenthood
For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
Natalie Farber
September 28, 2012 (Bound4Life.com) - I stood there holding a candle and singing 1,000 Reasons with the voices of men and women whose faces I see every spring and every fall. It is always such an honor to stand alongside these faithful ones and many new voices that are joining in for the very first time. 40 Days for Life has begun in our city again and my heart is filled with a hope that God is about to do something new through our prayers. He always does.
Yesterday, as we stood together worshipping and praying, Isaiah 43:19 kept swimming through my mind. God is about to do something new in our midst. Jesus is about to reach out to hundreds of thousands across the world in His passionate love for the gift of Life. People will be healed, rescued, and loved through the prayers that will sweep through our country and beyond.
40 Days for Life began in 2007 and there have been ten synchronized campaigns since then. It has mobilized people of Faith in 440 cities across the United States and Canada, also cities in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belize, Denmark, England, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Puerto Rico and Spain. But this fall, 40 Days for Life is much different than the other campaigns. This will be the largest 40 Days for Life campaign we have ever had in 316 locations with more than 40 brand-new cities, including Kampala, Uganda.
Five years ago, when 40 Days for Life was first born as a national effort, God placed this campaign in 89 cities. In these first five years, this prayer effort for Life has now reached an overall total of 440 cities. I am going to say it, again: God is in our midst and He is doing something new. Do you see it, yet? He is making a pathway through the hurt and the death-ridden. He is creating refreshment in the places of destruction.
God has marked this campaign with millions of miracles sung and unsung. Here is just one that will move your heart for praying for the abortion workers. The very first place where 40 Days for Life began was a Planned Parenthood in College Station, Texas where former director of this same abortion center, Abby Johnson, received new hope from 40 Days for Life participants. She received help when she decided what she was working for was wrong and wanted out. You can read her full article in the National Catholic Register here.
The most moving principle of 40 Days for Life for me is that it is established and sustained by the prayer of the people. The most vulnerable place to be for me is in the place of prayer. It is a display of submission and an effort of letting go of control and asking the God of Heaven to intercede and fight for us. It is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen…driving up day after day to the same sidewalk in front of our city abortion clinic and seeing God’s people gather to pray in love and in persistence for the mothers, the fathers, the babies, and the workers inside to all live abundantly. We are all praying for something so much bigger than ourselves—to set the captives free so that they may live.
You can be a voice of prayer, too. I encourage anyone who has never prayed outside of their home or church for the ending of abortion to join the others praying on the sidewalks. A witness makes a difference as I was taught last night as a post-abortive mother told her testimony reiterating that there was no one standing as a witness that day she went to have her abortion. She says she often wonders if she would have changed her mind had there been someone there standing on the sidewalk and praying for her. I want the Church to be standing as a witness outside of these places where our people need us the most. You can see this full list of locations for the 40 Days for Life campaign so you can be a voice of prayer and a witness in your city. Once you find your nearby city, you can get involved immediately.
Lastly, here are some statistics from 40 Days for Life website where you to see just what God has been doing through the prayers of 40 Days for Life. A black and white picture of what He has done can be seen and mildly measured but what is to come in this new season will be a new thing….much greater and much more powerful than the latter. I invite you to come alongside us.
During these 5 years, these are the countless blessings from God:
1,894 individual campaigns have taken place in 440 cities
More than 525,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
More than 15,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
Reports document 5,928 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
69 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
24 abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns
Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
More than 2,100 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs from coast to coast … and overseas
Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery
Reprinted with permission from Bound4Life.com