God is Sovereign!

Thursday, March 9th

Although I didn't go out that day, I heard it was a very great day with a pretty good turnout of people!  Thursdays have always been our lighter days for volunteers, but this time we managed to have a few people out every hour, so praise God!  Valerie and Victoria met an amazing sweet couple from the Valley of Blessing Church.  I hadn't even thought of reaching out to that church, but they had seen the newspaper article and decided to come on the very day we needed more people.  They were such a blessing to my sisters and they came home beaming and telling of the conversations they had with them! God is good! 

Friday, March 10th

God works in mysterious ways! Today was the warmest and sunniest day.... but it was also the most challenging and dramatic of all the days so far.  The whole day was filled with lots of people from Shoestring VC Church, Love inc, and Mt. View Baptist, and some Ultimate Frisbee group friends. Such a blessing! Thank you all!! 

At about 2:30ish we had some unexpected visitors join us on the street. Two pro-choice ladies came out to exercise their 1st amendment right - standing along with us.  :-)  Valerie saw the first lady across the street writing on some canvas with a marker, and sure enough she walked over to stand among us with her own signs.("Pray to end Judgement" and "My Body, My Choice")  About 20ish minutes later another younger lady joined her and held one of them. As they stood there on the street corner for the next 3 1/2 hours I admit, at first I was disappointed and discouraged, thinking that this was quite unfortunate!  But, then after I talked with dad he pointed out that we don't always know God's ways - perhaps this is God answering our prayers that hearts and minds will be changed.  Even though it did disrupt the peacefulness of our vigil and bring a LOT more drama and reactions from folks in our community, it still brought a lot more awareness to the issue and brought people out of the woodwork that we were able to speak with!  These ladies are not our enemies.... they are captives of the enemy. They've bought the lies and need the truth and hope of Christ that sets captives free.  Perhaps our short, peaceful and kind interactions with them coupled with the power of prayer will make a difference in their lives!  I wouldn't be surprised if we start having more of a push-back from the other side now.... but praise the Lord!  That's what we're out there for - to spread truth with gentleness and respect.  Whether we speak or not our kind, peaceful and compassionate witness out there speaks volumes. 

Pastor Dean was able to engage in conversation with a young pro-choice mom that came to encourage the other ladies. It was PERFECT timing when he showed up just then!  He had a great, non-confrontational, and rational discussion with her - speaking the truth to her in a very kind, gentle and thought-provoking way. By the end of the conversation she said she would look into Live Action and do some study, and both of them shook hands and thanked each other for the civil conversation! Praise God for that opportunity, and let's be praying for her that she will dwell on the truth that she heard that day and that she will look into the Truth. 

I was also able to engage in conversation with a young man that was on-the-fence and unwilling to take a side. At first he tried to engage with one of the pro-choice ladies to hear her side.  She was unwilling to speak with him, so I then engaged. Oh boy!  I'm not very good at this, but I shared my testimony and the case for life.  Did the best I could to answer his questions.. and then encouraged him to get off the fence and take a side.  Who knows if it made an impact on him, but we can certainly pray God will bug Him about it!

We had two other middle-aged men that came to ask what was going on.  The one man said he was a Christian and said he felt led to go and speak with the ladies. Well, it's his right to do it, so I didn't stop him. :-)  It didn't last long though. :-) 

The other man drove into the PP lot - he was in a company car and was doing some paperwork. He yelled across the lot "Did you guys vote for Trump or Hillary?"  I responded, "Well, that's not the issue... the issue is life.  We're out here to peacefully pray for all those affected by abortion and pray that it would end."  He said he agreed with us and that He was also a believer... but that he thought women should have choices.  As kindly as I could, I asked, "Well, what about the baby's choice? What about the baby's voice that may never even be heard?"  That seemed to make an impact on him, as he thought a second.  He then nodded and said he agreed as he walked back to his car.  It was funny, as He drove away he held up his Bible that he had in His car mouthing "see.... I have one, I have one"  That made me chuckle a little! It truly takes courage to publicly take a stand for your faith and beliefs. :) Thank you all!  I know some of you just can't make it out here as much as you would like to.  Thank you for your prayers for us behind-the-scenes! 

Another really neat thing that happened...Richie said just 15 minutes before we left at 6:00pm a mom parked at the vacuum store, got her young children out of the car and walked over with her "little ducklings" following behind.  She asked to pray with Richie and the kids. "Of Course!"  She prayed for a few minutes, thanked Richie and then loaded her kids back up and drove off. Later as Richie was recounting the story to me, he said something like "even if we don't impact any other people by being out there at last we're impacting children. This is such a great opportunity to reach the next generation!" 

Stand strong my fellow soldiers! We may see more of a push-back now. From what I could gather from the first pro- choice lady that came, she said she was from the college and a leader on the women's gender and social studies. I wouldn't be surprised if more ladies came out from her classes/circles.  But, ya' know?  If she comes out and dwells in the presence of God as HE is with us on that street corner... it can't help but change her.  She and her students/friends can't help but know that we are different. They'll see kind and compassionate people that are not judging people... but judging ideas;  The idea that every human being has value and worth no matter what the circumstance.  They can't help but see that we care about them.  Let's keep doing what we've been doing for the past 10 days - peacefully praying and being a witness to the truth, mercy and hope found in Jesus Christ!  We know our almighty and sovereign God has a plan in this, and I pray He will continue to use us for His glory and that hearts and minds will be changed! 

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not over come it" (John 1:5)