DAY 31: The abortionist’s wife
Today’s story is not one you’d hear every day.
Two years ago this month, former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson experienced a conversion after witnessing a live abortion on an ultrasound at her office in Texas.
She walked into my office at the Coalition for Life next door, told me her story, then resigned from the abortion industry.
I had known Abby for eight years before that day and I’d had multiple conversations with her through the fence outside Planned Parenthood. But after her conversion, I realized how much I didn’t know.
I didn’t know that her parents were pro-life and had been praying for her to leave Planned Parenthood.
I didn’t know her husband was pro-life and her job created tension in their family.
I didn’t know that before Abby saw that ultrasound, even she was starting to see that Planned Parenthood cares more about abortion than anything else.
We don’t know what God is doing behind the scenes. We must trust, we must pray — and we must know that our witness on the sidewalk is always part of a larger picture.
Here’s a story that shows what I mean. I’m not revealing names and locations, and I’ve changed some details. This is still a work in progress!
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THE ABORTIONIST’S WIFE
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A vigil participant was noticing that nearly all the cars in the abortion center parking lot were parked in the staff area — very few were in the area reserved for those with appointments. And that was good.
The volunteer was soon deep in prayer when the abortionist drove up — with his wife and their teenager. He got out of the car and headed toward the building while the wife and teen drove away.
The abortionist’s wife pulled up next to the vigil participant, rolled down her window and asked, “How are you doing?” The surprised volunteer answered, “Good! How about you?”
She responded, “I just wanted to tell you that I so appreciate what you do and how you are always so nice and respectful.” That simple response turned out to be the opening line in a very lengthy conversation.
The wife expressed her gratitude for the way the 40 Days for Life vigil is conducted. In another city, there is a group outside the abortion center that yells at her husband.
Here, however, he’s been told that the vigil participants are praying for him. “He just can’t understand how you can be so against what he does and yet so nice to him.”
She explained that her husband grew up in a home that had no use for religion — the concept is totally foreign to him. The volunteer promised to pray that he would be able to grasp — and eventually embrace — faith. The teen blurted out, “Please do!”
“I asked the abortionist’s wife to pray for me,” said the volunteer, “and she said she would.”
The wife said, “I’m really impressed that you believe in something so strongly and passionately that you’re willing to be here every week for years in every kind of weather.”
“There is much to meditate upon from this conversation,” said the 40 Days for Life volunteer. “It confirmed the constant presence, the peaceful method, the prayerful attitude. It helped give me a renewed sense of dedication to continually trying to get people to sign up so that we can have a constant presence on the sidewalk. We never know who will see us and when they will see us.
“God gave me an awesome story in order to ask once again for you to join us for 40 Days for Life. Please keep praying for an end to abortion and for ALL those involved. God is using us to help bring His children to Him — ALL of them!”
Here’s the link to today’s devotional:
http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2011day31print.pdf
For Life,
Shawn Carney
Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
PS: What’s new with your 40 Days for Life campaign? Please share the news with everyone! You can do so by leaving a comment below.
October 28th, 2011 at 5:33 am
Wow, all it needs is for people to stand as witnesses to the truth and wonderful things can happen. I pray and hope that all people in Birmingham working for the right to life see wondrous things happen there as well and that numbers grow in pro-lifers in these last few days of the forty days for life campaign. God Bless!
October 28th, 2011 at 6:31 am
Let us all pray for an end to abortion.
October 28th, 2011 at 7:35 am
God bless you all for your prayers. A small group of us have been doing a vigil every week at a hospital where abortions are being performed for about a year now. We, like others walk and pray very quietly with signs in front of the hospital. Our signs say ‘Defend Life’ and ‘We choose Life”. We get some happy toots from cars and some thumbs down also.
Yesterday a man got out of his car and came over and ripped up two of our signs. I think we kind of got to him. (we have lots more) I am wondering if you have any tips on encouraging more volunteers to come and walk with us. We are about 10 – 15 people who come regularly to walk but we’d like to get some new ones.
Keep up the good work With God we are going to win!!!!
October 28th, 2011 at 8:42 am
Imagine growing up the child of an abortionist. Every parent/child relationship that I know of has had its share of challenging moments. Moments when the child is confronted by feelings which make them question their parent’s love or dedication to them. The abortionist is living a life of deliberate destruction of vulnerable life – making money from it, dismissing the ocean of logic which cries out how unjust his or her actions are. At some point, the child of the abortionist must at least ponder this.
This abortionist’s child didn’t ask to be prayed for, but that her father be prayed for: “Please do!” Please, DO pray for the abortionists, but we must remember their children and families. The live in a world of ghastly lies. The fabric of our culture is being shredded by these destroyers of the most vulnerable. That destruction surely manifests in their families.
Thank you for such a moving story, message and prayer for this day.
October 28th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Wow!! I have always been praying for those who work in the abortion industry and the abortionists themselves but I never even thought about their families….their wives, or husbands and children…. so thank you Shawn for widening my scope of prayer yet again. So very sad just how many lives are affected by abortion. God bless you all, great news for those babes saved and the change of heart of mums and dads just
heartwarming. Thank you dearest Loving “Abba”, O Triune God for opening hearts to your TRUTH and LOVE. To all keep up yours prayers, fasting and gentle outreach.
Melbourne, Australia
October 28th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Re: The Abortionist’s Wife. We can only hope that the ones who yell at her husband are not part of the 40 Days movement. I agree with Dave’s assessment of the situation. The wife said her husband grew up in a family with no use for religion. Did they also have no use for the value of human life? What about the Golden Rule? Is the abortionist doing unto others as he would have them do unto him? I feel for this man’s family, but if anyone can turn him around, it is his wife and child, with God’s Help. I wonder if he wanted his wife to abort their child. I do not know if I could live with someone who kills babies for a living. So many mixed up thoughts and feelings are going through me right now over this story. I will end by saying a prayer. Dear Jesus, please open this man’s eyes and soften his heart, even if he has no belief in You. Thank You, Dear Jesus. Amen.
October 28th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
This is why I love 40 Days. So non-confrontational and letting the Lord work through us and do His will.
October 28th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
First, thank you for telling us the story of the abortionist’s wife and child. Praying for those physicians who perform abortions never occurred to me that this, too, is part of our prayer ministry.
Second, today devotion sparked a creative idea: an embroidered fetus, using white thread on white linen, and titled “raquam.” That illustrates the devotion’s message.
October 28th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Shawn: Thank you for your sharing. Please send me a nod for this sharing because I am not sure you got the others. I have long known that faithful baptized in the Spirit who also act in the prolife arena are blessed with saintly gifts. Some are simply prolife and know little more. They are like the figtree. Nothing brings Christians together more than action in a common cause. Peace, Ted Kershaw
October 28th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Jesus instructs us to pray for our enemies, and to bless those who curse us.
Thank you LORD, for the opportunity to pray for abortionists and their families
and all those involved in the “Pro Choice” lie, that they may come to value
life and receive forgiveness for their sins as we have.
October 28th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
June,
The best tip I can offer to enlist the help of more people is Jesus own advice when He said: “The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38 If this was not an effective means to enlist laborers Jesus wouldnt have commanded it. :-)
Perhaps the next best tip is a sincere love for God and people. Cultivate this love in private prayer and devotions and then it will naturally flow in public witness and you wont be able to hide it and it will be winsome to others. They will want to know about this God Who has given you this love and passion that motivates you! To slightly tweek what the Puritan Theologean John Owen said: “What a man is, on his knees in secret prayer before Almighty God is what that man is and NO MORE.”
October 28th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Wow! Shawn,
The story of the abortionist wife was captivating.
I presume this abortionist is in the USA and because of that assumption, I wonder how an educated medical doctor could have lived in the USA all of his life and not had the opportunity to hear about God even though his family had no use for religion.
Then this thought came to my mind immediately: “My children perish for lack of knowledge”. But, clearly, his wife and child do have faith because they wanted the prayer vigil lady to continue prayers for her husband/the child’s father. And the wife said she would pray for the prayer vigil lady. So, this abortionist is joined to a Christian woman, but still does not understand about God. So, we need to pray that her and her teen’s witness to the abortionist will begin to sink into his own heart and that he will be converted to Christianity and turn pro-life and stop his job as an abortionist.
May God open his heart to the truth!
JoAnn V. [Texas]
October 28th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Shawn, this is an awesome story. Brought tears to my eyes. Wanted to thank you for coming to Glendale Az yesterday. It was an HONOR to meet you.
October 28th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Monthly we travel an hour away and pray in front of Planned Parenthood in Bettendorf, IA. There hasn’t been a 40 Days for Life Vigil at this location. as we walk and pray we are constantly aware of our surroundings. this particular week we noticed chalk drawings on the sidewalk that were primarily rockets and passenger airplanes. Now I am a mother of two grown sons and commented that the artist was probably a boy. Only a mother of boys would think this. At any rate we thought the rockets were there to wipe out Planned Parenthood and that the airplanes were safe passage for babies and their Moms. Before we left a family came up to pray and said they had started in response to Abby Johnson’s blog. Their son, Joshua happened to be the artist. How fitting that the young warrior artist is Joshua and he is leading us in battle,too. I do not believe in coincidences. Joshua takes down those walls.
October 29th, 2011 at 12:55 am
Abortion is the first degree murder of the Christ Child in the womb of the Divine Mother. That says it all: Every child is to someday have the Christ consciousness and to earn his/her ascension in the Light! May God bless your efforts to stop this abortion abomination! (and to stop this nation from becoming an Obamanation that flaunts homosexuality, gay marriage, porno, fornication, etc. etc. No wonder there are so many natural disasters, economic problems, and godlessness–we ignore God and His Laws and fritter our time away on nonsense! We should be praying an hour a day! endsend
October 29th, 2011 at 7:31 am
I am so encouraged to hear that many people are becoming
aware of the truth about abortion. And are sharing it in a respectful and caring way. After seeing for myself what happens at an abortion procedure, I was shocked and horrified, but made me more determined to tell the truth and want to see the end to it in the UK. May God bless you in your endevers to end it. Yours in the fight. Catherine Hammond
November 1st, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Shawn,
You and David are both insperational and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing this campaign. I was absolutely inspired by the story of the abortionist’s wife. Thank you again and keep inspiring all!! God Bless!