Some of you know that I spend an evening each week volunteering at a local pregnancy center that desires to help women who are pregnant and struggling through difficult situations. I also write a monthly article about the center for our church newsletter, as our church supports this pregnancy center. Recently, one story weighed heavily on me and the article I wrote ended up too long to be published in the church newsletter. My sweet husband has encouraged me to post the story here... So, in petition for your prayers, here it is.
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Our God Reigns!
“Do they really have fingers and toes? It says that this one is 9 weeks old… Are there really fingers and toes?” I got up to find a pin for her that shows the exact size and shape of a baby’s two feet at ten weeks of pregnancy, sharing that this symbol is often used by the pro-life community because of that amazing truth. The baby is so tiny, but so amazingly formed.
She sat in the counseling room where the intake questions were being asked before she would take the pregnancy test that she desired. When she walked into the room, she had immediately been drawn to the fetal development replicas sitting in a velvet case on the end table. Later, she watched, transfixed as I flipped through a book that beautifully shows the baby’s development as it progresses through the 40 weeks of pregnancy.
“Do you think they could tell what sex my baby was? When I had my abortion, do you think they could tell? They wouldn’t let me look at the [ultrasound] screen… I asked, but they wouldn’t let me.”
Though I saw this client more than a week ago, she still lingers heavily in my heart and mind. Today, as I sit in the rare quietness of my home, my thoughts return to her and again, I cry out to God for this young lady, so innocent in so many ways, but so burdened already by the weights of this sin-filled world. I cry out to God for her... and for the baby that I hope and pray is still safely in her womb.
And I think about her story. It really infuriates me to think of a doctor and nurse refusing this young girl, 17 when she aborted her first child two years ago, the information she requested. I’ve heard this before many times. Often when a woman goes in for an abortion, an ultrasound machine is used to determine how far a long she is in her pregnancy and to make sure that the abortion is completed “correctly”. (I still shudder at the thought.) But, the monitor is turned away from the woman. Most of the time she doesn’t ask to see… but I’ve never heard of a woman being allowed to see the baby if she asks.
My anger and my heartache mounts as I contemplate this movement that prides itself on the choice given to a woman – the choice to determine for herself what she will do with her pregnancy. This movement so often gives lip service to the need to reduce the number of abortions while defending the need for it; but when it all comes down to it, when the woman is on the abortion table, she is refused the information that the doctors can so readily see before they’re eyes – the jumps, the wiggles, the quick heart-beat of a baby waiting to be born into this world.
I wonder at their motives – Do they really think this is what’s best for this young lady? Have they been completely numbed to this view of life on the ultrasound screen? Do they fear that if she sees the baby, she’ll be moved by sympathy and refuse the abortion? Do they think continuing the pregnancy would be more detrimental than this procedure? Or, are they more motivated by their job security and paycheck than by the interest of the lives they hold in their hands?
In all my emotion at the collective slaughter of these innocents, I step before the throne of God. “God, you made these babies! You alone form them in their mother’s wombs. You gave them as gifts, as blessings to their parents. You made these women!! And yes, You also made these abortion doctors. They, too, were created by You. Oh, the devil must stand in glee as he deceives and destroys Your beloved creation!”
At once, I am humbled by the majesty of God. In my grief and horror, I have forgotten the sovereignty of our Lord. He holds the stars in their place and our feet on the ground. Do I really believe that somehow all this horror and destruction has escaped His notice? Have I forgotten how powerful our God is? Even as I cry out to Him for this young lady and her baby, have I already cast aside any hope?
Our God reigns! He who knowingly sent His perfect Son to become a man and walk on this earth, and then lovingly led Him into the hands of murderous men to be sacrificed on our behalves, He reigns! He is the same God, and one day, one day, the devil will be forever thrown behind the gates of hell and he will no longer wreak destruction. For those who have placed their faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, there will be no more pain and no more tears and no longer will man sin against a Holy God.
Pray for a blind nation that is blessed by God’s creation all around it but fails to acknowledge the creation of God in a womb. Pray for those who purposely deceive and destroy, numbing their victims with ignorance as they lead them to slaughter. Pray for those who allow themselves to be deceived in order to hide or convenience their sin. And pray that all of them would have their eyes opened to the grace and forgiveness offered through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
And please continue to pray for all of those at the Pregnancy Center that wish to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ.
