DAY 17: “Clinic defense”?
40 Days for Life vigils bring Christians together — but they can also attract a few people who don’t see the vigil as a positive thing. At times, those in opposition may want to “share the sidewalk.”
When this happens, though, it lends the opportunity for those who disagree with us to see what the peaceful vigil is really about.
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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The 40 Days for Life vigil in Everett had some visitors – a pro-abortion group called Seattle Clinic Defense came out to protest the peaceful prayer presence.
The prayer volunteers knew the demonstrators were coming, so they turned out in great number. “We had a very large crowd of people with lots of balloons and tons of prayer going on,” one of them said.
Another prayer volunteer asked a group of about eight of them “what exactly they were protesting, since abortion on demand has been a legal reality for forty years (longer than the majority of the ‘clinic defenders’ have been alive )? Why should our prayers bother them? In my spirit I knew the real reason,” he said. “It is the shame and guilt that they are protesting.”
“One lady was yelling at us … then I spoke with her and told her my abortion story,” said yet another vigil participant, who’d had an abortion at this facility a number of years ago. “She ended up taking one of our balloons and hugging me and crying and left with lots more information about better services.”
Overall, she said, “today was a day for miracles … if only we could get this many people to come out every day … it would be the end of Planned Parenthood in Everett!”
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BUFFALO, NEW YORK
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“It was the first time participating in something like this,” a new prayer volunteer wrote to the 40 Days for Life coordinator in Buffalo. This volunteer’s entire family had “a very positive experience” at the vigil, and “we are planning to tell our friends about it.”
The volunteer noted that where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds more, and that was very evident during the peaceful singing and prayer liturgy.
“Please keep up the great work in organizing these events,” the volunteer wrote. “Our prayers are with you and all those in the pro-life movement. Before we left on Saturday, our 13-year-old daughter asked if we could come again … praise God! God bless you for all you do for the unborn and their mothers.”
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PRAYER REQUEST UPDATE
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Thanks for your prayers and kind comments about Dr. Royal Benson, who I asked you to pray for last week. Dr. Benson passed away on Tuesday with his family praying at his side.
May God — and the many babies he spoke up for during his 56 years on earth — welcome him to his eternal reward.
Dr. Benson was an OB-GYN and served on the board of directors for the Coalition for Life in Bryan / College Station, Texas, where 40 Days for Life began. He was instrumental in helping to expand 40 Days for Life beyond his home community.
He was a dear friend to me, David Bereit, and our wives. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for getting us more involved in the pro-life movement.
He leaves behind a wife and daughter and they appreciate all of your prayers and comments over the past week. A true pro-life hero and man of God, may Dr. Royal Benson rest in peace.
Here’s the link to today’s devotional.
Yours for Life,
Shawn Carney
Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
PS: If YOU have a story to share about your experiences during this 40 Days for Life, please submit it as a reply below.
March 1st, 2013 at 7:55 am
Shine Jesus Shine! Fill this land with the Father’s Glory! May 2013 be the year that the Right to Life is restored to all Americans in Jesus Holy Name. AMEN!
March 1st, 2013 at 9:20 am
I LOVE the reflection today! “Photons” of light in the darkness indeed! But united, we are a WAVE of light that destroys the darkness! Never lose heart. Pray, pray, pray! And speak out against abortion!
March 1st, 2013 at 9:45 am
“One lady was yelling at us and then I spoke with her and told her my abortion story….she ended up taking one of our balloons and hugging me and crying and left with lots more information about better services…” PRAISE GOD! HALLELUJAH!!! HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!
Seeing the woman on her knees praying at Everett has a lot to do with softening hard hearts like this woman mentioned.
March 1st, 2013 at 6:41 pm
As I prayed again in front of the Planned Parenthood in Chapel Hill today, I was joined for much of the hour and 40 minutes by a robin standing under a small leafless tree not far from me. He moved very little as he ate, looking often to the sky as though praying with me, almost as if it was thanking God for his food and for life.
In Luke 12:6 & 7, Jesus says to us: “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” In verses 24 & 25 He adds: “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”
As I watched the robin, prayed, and considered these verses, I thought about how not one unborn child, not one mother, not one family member or abortion worker is forgotten before God. Just as no bird drops to the ground and dies without God knowing and caring about it (Matthew 10:28), no unborn child dies without God knowing and grieving.
Also, as I watched the people coming in and out, I wondered what worries they might have. One young Latino mother with a little boy walked near as though she might talk to me, then they crossed to the other side; she wore a short sleeved shirt, and it was cold.
A young black man stood waiting in the parking lot, smoking a cigarette and looking right at me. After a long time a woman walked out and they walked by, looking very distressed and perhaps at odds with each other as they kept talking back and forth and glancing at me. They even stopped not far from me talking to each other, and it seemed they were about to come towards me. Then they walked across the street and away.
A young woman stepped outside and sat down on the walkway in front of the clinic twice, both times talking on the phone. She looked so sad, and both times she kept looking at me. Finally she got into a car and drove off.
I prayed and will keep praying that they will come to know God’s love, grace and care for them, so that they might choose life, abundant and eternal life, and healing, help and hope. Lord, may they know and may we always remember how valuable they are to You.
March 1st, 2013 at 9:40 pm
March comes in like a lion! I went to the hospital today at noon. Things were going along well, a few waves here and there, a nod or two, the usual bunch refusing to look in my direction. I was feeling pretty complacent. So I prayed that God would send me someone to talk to. And He did. Oh boy, did He ever.
She came riding by on her bike and looked me in the eye. I said hello. She slowed her bike to a stop and asked me what this 40 days stuff was. I told her I was praying for an end to abortion. She started shrieking at me that there were 12 year old girls in this town that were pregnant. I tried to respond but she was already riding away as she had zero interest in hearing what I had to say.
If she’d stuck around I would have told her that if a 12 year old is pregnant then something is really wrong. Somebody is breaking the law here and it’s probably an older man, not a 14 year old boy. And when you abort a baby conceived via incest or rape then you are hiding the ‘evidence’ of this man’s wrongdoing. He just got away with molesting an innocent young girl.
This woman said a few things to me which I don’t remember at all but I kept thinking about her screeching “12 year old girls are pregnant”. This is an irrational reason to keep abortion legal – laws are not made to deal with exceptions (most abortions are requested by women aged between 20 – 30), it’s an emotional reaction – yeah, let’s throw out science and depend on the most dramatic thing you can think up, and killing another human being is not going to turn back the clock and make a 12 year old (or anyone else) UNpregnant.
A few minutes after the angry woman sailed off on her bike I saw a lovely couple from my church exiting the hospital. They waved at me and it was like a little hug from God.
I wish I had been able to address this woman’s problem. I think I only succeeded in making her angry and she’s probably digging her heels in more firmly to the abortion side. Or today could have been Step One in a multi-step conversion process…let’s hope it’s the latter.
March 2nd, 2013 at 11:10 am
Linda, be encouraged. More often than not, at least from what I’ve seen, when someone has an angry reaction and won’t give you a chance to respond, that means they are under conviction. Angry reactions are frequently an indicator that someone knows they are wrong, they are trying to defend something they know cannot be defend, so they get frustrated and respond with anger.
The more angry the response, the closer a person may be to the truth and to doing the right thing. But this means admitting you have been and are wrong, and that is hard for people to admit, especially when it means facing the fact that you have been supporting murdering helpless children and ruining the lives of mothers and families.
This woman just might dig in her heels more firmly for a time. But even if she does, there are almost certainly doubts and questions in her heart and mind. God seems to have used you to bring these to the surface, and now she is probably seeing all the more that she is fighting for something that has no defense. She may well end up a strong advocate for life, as God works in her through our prayers.
Linda, I hope you find these words encouraging. These thoughts have often encouraged me.
March 2nd, 2013 at 8:14 pm
Victor – you have encouraged me immensely! Thank you so much! Linda
March 3rd, 2013 at 3:18 pm
You’re welcome Linda, I’m so glad you are encouraged.