Dear Deacon John,
Mondays are always good during 40 Days for Life.
Monday is the day we update all the reports of babies spared from abortion during your 40 Days for Life vigils.
So let's start the week with some good news! Thus far during this campaign, we have reports of ...
... 41 babies saved ... that we know of!
Here are just a few of those stories.
Monday is the day we update all the reports of babies spared from abortion during your 40 Days for Life vigils.
So let's start the week with some good news! Thus far during this campaign, we have reports of ...
... 41 babies saved ... that we know of!
Here are just a few of those stories.
Windsor, Ontario
On the first day of the campaign, a man approached one of the volunteers in Windsor and said, “I just want to shake your hand!”
He went on to
explain that “we were going to have an abortion and when we got here
someone was outside with a sign and praying and because of that we decided not to have the abortion.”
He said they saw
this vigil participant as a sign that they should not go through with
the abortion. According to Laurie in Windsor, “Our volunteer reported
that he was elated. Praise the Lord!”
Pensacola, Florida
One of the
volunteers was praying outside the abortion center in mid-morning on the
first day of the campaign when three cars parked near the building’s
side entrance backed out … and stopped near the vigil participants.
A young man got out of the car and came a few steps toward the people praying and said, “We’ve decided not to go through with it. I’ve been waiting for my girlfriend to get here, and I just sent her a text message telling her not to come.”
The young woman
responded and said she indeed would not be coming to the abortion
facility. About 20 minutes later, he came back to tell the volunteers
that he had been waiting up at the corner of the street, just in case
his girlfriend changed her mind and decided to come anyway.
Thankfully, she never showed up.
“God bless you both,” said the volunteer he’d been talking to. “You’ve made the right decision.”
He thanked them … and drove away.
Worcester, Massachusetts
Lee in Worcester reports their first save of this campaign came on Day 2.
One of the
faithful, year-round sidewalk counselors was at her post that morning
while 40 Days for Life volunteers prayed nearby. She was able to talk
with a young woman arriving at Planned Parenthood for an abortion … and convinced her to go to the pregnancy help center across the street first to talk about her options.
The help center’s experienced counselors took over, found out what factors in her life were leading her to think abortion was her only option, and offered advice about how she could address those factors.
Once they were able to find solutions to several problems, she realized it would be possible to have her baby … and she left smiling.
Lee added that there’s something you can do to help. “Please pray for her that everything goes smoothly from here on out!”
Here's today's devotional from Rev. Paul Stallsworth, president of Lifewatch (United Methodist Church)...
Day 6 intention
That knowing the shortness of life, all may value it more deeply.
Scripture
Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
— Ecclesiastes 12:6-7
Reflection by Rev. Paul Stallsworth
God is giver of all life. Short lived or long lived, human lives are lived out in this world. The metaphors for death are many. But their meaning is clear and singular: all will die. Even so, death is not the absolute end. It is not the end of the story. For as certainly as God gave life, at death the life or spirit that God gave returns to God.
By God, we are created. For God, we live our given days. To God, we return at the end of our earthly days. And with God, we live through eternity. Clearly, all along the way, this gracious, loving God is with us. No human life is random or alone. No human life was created without purpose. Not one human life is without destiny.
All human lives, acknowledged or not, are related to God -- from beginning, to end, throughout eternity. Therefore, in this world, all human lives are to be respected and protected, for their lives are signs of God's sovereignty.
Prayer
O God, we too often try to live in ways that ignore our coming death. We forget that our days are numbered by You, that at the end of our days your judgment awaits, that You are the Lord of our destiny.
Help us to repent daily, and then to live each day in joyful obedience. Lead us to live in the light and promise of eternity. Prepare us to live fully and sacrificially. Prepare us to die faithfully and hopefully, so that we might live forever with You. Through Jesus Christ, who has gone before us, we trust and hope and love and pray, Amen.
Printable devotional
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For life,
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SHAWN CARNEY
Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
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