It's normal to be nervous about praying in front of an abortion facility for the first time...
...but it's really not that scary. Even the most reluctant first-time prayer warriors find themselves drawn back to their 40 Days for Life vigil again and again.
Richmond, Virginia, campaign leader Barbara accompanied Etta and Larry to their first vigil hour. They were blessed with immediate results!
"We want to let people know about pregnancy resource centers," Barbara told a woman exiting Planned Parenthood. "Do you know anyone who's pregnant?"
"Yes," the woman responded. "I am."
The expectant mother explained that she was seven weeks along and was offered the abortion pill, but, "Something made me say 'No,' so I didn't take it."
Barbara and Etta prayed with the woman, which put a big smile on the mom's face.
Etta's and Larry's first trip to the 40 Days for Life vigil couldn't have gone any better!
If you've been reluctant to commit to your first vigil hour, there's no better moment to take the plunge. Saturday is the busiest abortion day of the week.
Find your local vigil and make an appointment with God on the sidewalk:
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Parishioners from St. Mary's of the Lake Church make a round-trip journey of more than two-and-a-half hours to pray at the Green Bay 40 Days for Life vigil every campaign.
"Faith like this is why we're winning," explained Jim, the longtime leader in Green Bay. "We have a cause that is just, and the other side only has anger. Anger doesn't last, but love does."
That love made a cross-country impression on Eduardo, an over-the-road truck driver from California who had never heard of 40 Days for Life--but stopped to talk with vigil participants.
"We are all about the babies," Eduardo told the prayer warriors. He took some photos to share with his wife, and the campaign team sent him on his way with a copy of The Beginning of the End of Abortion and an Unplanned DVD.
Watertown, New York
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Flora in Watertown arrived at her vigil site and joined two participants deep in prayer.
One of them held a Divine Mercy image, a Catholic devotional image depicting the blood and water that gushed forth from the side of the crucified Lord as beams of light.
When Flora photographed her prayer warriors, she was delighted by what the camera revealed. "I just love the light beam shining on them from the heavens," she said.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
--Psalm 27:13
Heavenly Father, keep our eyes firmly fixed on the good work You’re doing in us, and want to do through us. Help us proclaim the Good News of the Lord Jesus in partnership with Your Holy Spirit. Grant me the discernment to avoid the things meant to distract me from faithfully fulfilling Your call to champion the Gift of Life. All honor and glory to You, the Giver of Life. Amen.
