Hi, I'm Bethany! Welcome to Birthdays for Babies!
My 21st birthday is today, June 30th,
and this is what I wanted:
To give other little people the chance to have birthdays!
God continues to bring this to my attention...in stark illustrations, everywhere I go.
Mom and I were perusing the baby department at Kohl's, ooh-ing and ah-ing and squealing over all the adorableness of newborn clothes. I'm going to have a new cousin very soon, and Mom a new nephew, so we are ecstatic!!! A baby in the family again!!! Baby clothes, tiny shoes for perfect, tiny feet...teeny tiny shorts...even overalls! Gah! The cuteness is just too much!!
When it knocks me over like a brick wall.
Time stops in my head.
I suddenly took in all those rows and rows and stacks and racks of baby clothes...
The Holy Spirit opened my eyes, and they filled with tears.
Because suddenly all I could see was 55 million little people who never got to wear them...
55 million...who never had a room full of loving family waiting in line to cuddle them close and be awed by their tiny perfection.
Instead they knew a pain and horror my heart can't deal with imagining...
55 million lives...cruelly, unimaginably snuffed out before they even had a chance...
55 million little baseball players, chefs, doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, soldiers, political leaders, pastors, teachers, missionaries, world changers. Future fathers and mothers.
What would this world be like now...if they had been given the chance to live?
How can we be silent...about one of the seven things God hates? "Hands that shed innocent blood..." Prov. 6: 16-19
Oh, Father, break our hearts for what breaks Yours!
I will not be silent. I will not stand by and do nothing.
Because "You can choose to look the other way, but you can never again say, I did not know." -William Wilberforce
I've been wanting to do something special for my 21st birthday for forever, something missions/ministry related, and have been praying about the specifics since late last year.
I tossed around - and prayed about - a lot of ideas, and the pro-life cause was in the top five, but I still couldn't decide. Until one day when I was watching the movie, Amazing Grace, about William Wilberforce - if you haven't seen it yet, you should!
It struck me - these people were dehumanized, treated like cattle, and far worse. Most decent, upstanding people in England at the time didn't like it. Many thought it was a contemptible, filthy trade. But few, very few- were willing and brave enough to do something about it. And one man in parliament, William Wilberforce, took on some of the biggest political lions of his day to make those slaves become people in the eyes of the government, because he knew them to be created equal in the sight of God.
Then God spoke to my heart...He showed me, how precious little babies, all across this nation, every day, are being dehumanized...to a level below life...given no chance to live. Murdered in the womb.
Most decent, upstanding people, or anyone who calls himself a Christian, will say they don't like it. They know it's wrong. But far too many of them look the other way. Few are willing and brave enough to do something about it. I want to be one of those few.
The number of slaves estimated to have been taken...to England and then to America...from 1780 to the mid-1800s...has been roughly estimated at 12-15 million.
The number of babies aborted...since 1973...eclipses that number several times over. Fifty-five million. I can't even understand or picture that number. Imagine if it were graves. Tiny graves...how many acres would it take...?
I have heard it said that familiarity breeds contempt. I find the more I become familiar with this trade next to which even the SLAVE trade nearly pales...the more incensed I become! My heart breaks every time I see a Pl*nn*d P*r*nthood or even a pro-life sign, as I think about how precious babies are, and I'm reminded that abortion exists...but then I am only more determined to see it ended forever!
My heart is broken...I can't imagine how broken our Heavenly Father's heart must be! I firmly believe He will not bless a nation that allows this grievous thing to continue.
That's why I've started this blog. I'm calling it Birthdays for Babies, because that's the idea- I'm using my birthday to give other little people the chance to have a birthday too- because everyone deserves a birthday. :)
My goal is to raise $21,000 to benefit organizations that help mothers decide to choose life for their babies, as well as those which help find adoptive parents for unwanted babies.
I am praying about and lining up which specific organizations I will support, and I also want to focus on helping our local pregnancy resource centers.
And not only do I want to raise money, but a group of people to pray and fight with me for this cause so close to the Father's heart and mine.
Because:
:D
I am still sorting out donation details, but I will have a progress meter up on the blog ASAP, and am also working on getting t-shirts made to sell! :)
Stay tuned for more info!
Thanks for visiting! :)
Questions? Email me! birthdaysforbabies@gmail.com
God bless. :)
