We are now at day 30! I'm so grateful to see our community come together in a bigger way this year.
3 years ago we started with the goal of having people pray and stand in peaceful witness 3 days of the week, during 40 Days. The next year our goal was to cover every week day, except weekends. This year, we've been pretty close to having every hour from 9-6 every day covered. So thankful for the 14 churches/parishes that have officially stepped up, as well as the Centralia College Students for Life club that have faithfully dedicated their time and prayer to this! Keep up the great work everyone!
On Tuesday, I was watching from the windows at Possibilities. There was a large group consisting of 5 different families from a new church that got involved this year - Centralia Bible Baptist. At one point a car pulled into the Planned Parenthood parking lot, and a young man got out. I asked Apryl, one of the vigil volunteers later, if she could share what happened. She wrote:
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The young man drove up and pulled into the PP parking lot. He stood outside of his car and seemed to be going back and forth with the young gal in his car who seemed to be embarrassed and was slouching down. I caught wind of him saying, "I just have something to say."
I looked over and said, "Hello!" He said, "I have something to debate." I said, "Come on over and talk to us. No problem."
He proceeded to tell me and one of my friends that he thought women should have a choice. That there were special circumstances where abortion was best and it should be the right of the woman.
I asked him to go on. "What circumstances are you thinking of?"
He brought up: rape. He said no woman should have to go through the reminder of all that.
We had a conversation about conception being a miracle and that God must have a plan for the child conceived there. That God can bring beauty out of ashes.
That is when he said he was a child of rape. His mom was 15 when she birthed him.He said his mother struggled to love him while he was growing up. He asked what I would do if my daughter was in that situation?
I told him I would cry my eyes out and hug her. I would let her know we would help her or if she chose adoption there would be plenty of couples ready to adopt.
We told him with all compassion how sad we were for his mom's tragic experience and for the love she was unable to muster up. We told him how he wasn't to blame for the wicked way he was conceived.
We talked about the baby being a miracle in the midst of the mess saying, "If your mom would've aborted you, you wouldn't be here to love others. You wouldn't be here challenging others to think and care. You wouldn't be here, as God ordained. You have a hope and a future! And so should those other babies conceived in less-than-ideal situations."
"Touche," he said smiling and bowing his head. When he did walk away, another friend was able to hand him an invitation to church.
It was a blessing to be able to share with this young man God's Truth. His mind was changed about abortion, but more touching was to see that his existence was affirmed and he saw a glimpse of his value to God.
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Wow! I'm so thankful Apryl and her friend were there to show this man such compassion, to affirm his value and to share truth with him. What a beautiful opportunity this was!
You never know when God will use in a special way to share His love and truth with others!
I also wanted to share a quote with you all that has been on my mind. My church is currently going through Care Net's curriculum called Making Life Disciples. This curriculum is a series of videos with a workbook and its focus is to train the church to effectively care for mothers facing unplanned pregnancies. (I highly recommend it!) Our last session was focused on connection, communication and counseling skills. One of the points discussed was how important empathetic listening is. The biggest communication problem I can have when talking to people on the sidewalk is that I sometimes do not listen to understand. But instead I listen to reply.
This quote really hit me when it was mentioned in the last session.
"Nobody cares how much you know until you show them how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt
Wow! So true!! As we engage with those God brings to the sidewalk, or even with strangers, family and friends on this issue - may we seek first to understand the hearts of those we speak with. I've discovered with the most recent conversation on the sidewalk I had, when people know how much you care, they WANT to know how much you know on this issue. And they end up asking YOU what you think. Pretty cool beans!
Keep up the great work! I just looked up the international tally for the amount of lives who have been saved since the start of this spring 40 Days campaign.
328 ladies have turned away from their scheduled abortions that they know of so far! Yes!!
If you haven't signed up for a time yet, we can use you on the sidewalk Friday afternoons from 2-5, Thursday evenings at 4-6, and next Tuesday at 12 and 1 pm. You can sign up online at: 40 Days for Life Centralia. Or just come when you can!
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