May
26
2015
The Ripples Of Battle
Posted in Motherhood 4 Comments
The Pennsylvania Family Institute asked for prayer.
An urgent prayer request came through email and social media.
It was an urgent prayer request for a fourteen-year-old girl who was pregnant.
She wanted to have her baby; her parents wanted her to have an abortion.
The attorneys with the Independence Law Center went to court on the girl’s behalf.
They sought a judge’s order to stop the abortion.
The sought a judge’s order to save an unborn life.
Prayers were urgently needed.
So I prayed.
I prayed for the young girl who must be very scared and confused.
I prayed for others to come along side her to help her through this difficult time.
I prayed for a softening of her parent’s heart towards her innocent baby.
I pounded heaven on her behalf.
I pounded heaven on behalf of the attorneys.
I pleaded with God for the judge to be filled with God’s wisdom.
I cried out for the life of this precious baby.
Many would say that the girl is too young to get pregnant; too young to be a mother.
I agree.
But the prayer request was not to judge her or to criticize her behavior.
It was to support a young girl who knew that the life inside her needed protection.
The irony of the situation is that the young girl needed protection from her own mother.
One mother was crying out to save her unborn baby.
Another mother was trying to end the life of that same unborn baby.
The call was for urgent prayer, not for condemnation.
I waited all afternoon for some word about this courageous young girl.
She bravely contacted the office of the Pennsylvania Family Institute looking for help.
The office sprang into action.
First through an urgent prayer covering, then through the attorneys at the law center.
As the attorneys began their battle for life, the call for prayer couldn’t have been clearer.
A life hangs in the balance. Please pray for her and her baby today. One can only imagine what this barely-a-teenage girl is going through being pregnant and contacting attorneys so she can save her baby. Pray that God will grant her the courage to make her voice heard and that this baby will be saved.
I prayed.
I waited.
Finally the news came.
HALLELUJAH!!! Our attorneys just came out of the courtroom receiving the order we were looking and praying for! We’ve been blessed with success today by the court agreeing to an order protecting the right of this 14-year-old pregnant mother to choose to keep her baby!
An unborn life was saved.
A young girl, just a child herself, sought legal help so she could protect the life of her child.
God answered prayer.
A child will live.
Now what do we do?
The battle is far from over.
This young girl needs help to continue on this courageous path she set out on.
She cannot carry this baby to term all by herself.
This is when the church needs to be the Church.
It is one thing to have a pro-life bumper sticker on your car.
It is quite another to enter into the life of a young girl and walk beside her.
Walk beside her and show her that she has options.
When you hear the word “options” you think of choosing life or having an abortion.
That option was decided through the court order.
The options now are whether this young girl should raise this baby all by herself.
The options now must include information on adoption.
This situation is close to my heart.
I was adopted and my natural mother, who I never met, was not much older than this girl.
How could “barely-a-teenage girl” have taken proper care of me?
My natural mother did a very brave thing when she put me up for adoption.
She gave me life.
She placed me in the hands of another couple that could give me a better life.
I imagine that she eventually married and had more children.
I imagine that she thought of me every time my birthday rolled around.
I know that my dear aunt prayed for my natural mother.
My aunt who was so grateful to “hear the sounds of little feet” running through the house.
My aunt who became a pro-life advocate and fought for the unborn on city streets.
My aunt who traveled to Washington D.C. and made her voice heard there as well.
One young woman chose life for me.
The ripples of her decision are still making concentric circles to this day.
One young woman chose life.
Because of her choice, I am here.
I am here.
My husband has a wife of thirty-three years.
My five children were born from our union.
Five other lives would not be here if I was not here; if my mother had not chosen life.
One brave decision.
I wonder what the child of this young girl will become?
Already God has intervened in the life of this child.
Already this child has had prayers and supplications reaching the Throne of heaven.
One child made in God’s image.
Before you were in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. (Jeremiah 1:5)
This is one child we know about.
There are so many others.
There are so many young girls afraid and confused.
Promises made become promises broken when a baby is to arrive nine months later.
How can we be the Church to these young women?
Do these young mothers know the Lord?
Do they have anyone to invite them to church on a Sunday morning?
Do they know the blessing of an entire church family surrounding them?
It is one thing to fight for life.
It is another to see the battle to completion.
Crisis pregnancy centers are a vital ministry to these young mothers.
How can we who are on the periphery be most effective?
The battle is far from over.
What was won in the courtroom now has to continue elsewhere.
We need to be the Hands and Feet of Christ to these mothers who have chosen life.
It is not just the life of the baby that is at stake.
I am living proof that one decision for life matters.
I am so grateful to the young woman who chose to give me life.
I am so thankful that she had the courage to give me life and then give me away.
What a brave young woman she was.
Imagine.
The ripples of her decision are still making concentric circles to this day.
A life does hang in the balance.
The life of the unborn child and the life of the young mother.
Pound heaven on their behalf; both of them.
Put feet to your prayers as God leads you.
The ripples of this young girl’s brave decision will be seen for years.
The attorneys saved more than the life of her precious baby that day.
Ripples upon ripples there upon the water.
Moving forward; always forward.
Gina, so often we see things happen around us and we stop and just shake our heads. Sometimes with dismay, sadness or inability to know what to do. Many of those things aren’t personal… but are they? What happens in the world is personal for someone. Everything that happens is personal with Jesus. We are blessed because He took us personally to Himself! Praise God!
Amen, Al.
You added the perfect footnote.
Gina
Thanks for your intercession and prayers in behalf of this young mom…
thanks for sharing hope and the importance of praying!
Myriam,
Thank you for all you do as director of Chester County Women’s Services Medical. You are on the front line. You are in the battle every day.
But there are ever flowing ripples. One decision for life will ripple for generations. Press on in your important work. May we who are the Church be the Hands and Feet of Christ to these young women and their precious babies.
Gina