8/19/13
I've been feeling totally
overwhelmed.
The feeling initially sneaked up on me last night as I watched a video that a pro-life page posted. The video shows the work of a man who goes to an abortion clinic near him with the purpose of encouraging the women entering to choose life. Over the past three years, he has saved 1,000 babies from abortion. The crazy part (as if saving 1,000 babies isn't crazy enough!) is that he has had severe health issues- cancer, brain aneurysms...I mean, it takes a lot more than a band-aid to cure that! It's absolutely remarkable that he is still alive. Seriously. This story is inspiring! So why am I feeling so overwhelmed?
What I remember most about that video is not the man it featured, the babies he saved, or the health issues he overcame.
It's one woman.
This woman walks up to the clinic, rubbing her belly, and makes some disturbing and outrageous statements. She boasts about how this is her fifth abortion. Fifth. More than that, she states that she is proud of it. She proceeds to express her hatred for babies, and then makes a statement that I don't even feel comfortable repeating.
(If you want to watch the video yourself, click here.)
I. Was. Shocked.
How...what...why...what?
I felt sick to my stomach. As a matter of fact, I think I still do.
I knew that attitudes like this existed, but I don't think I've ever heard it put so bluntly.
I felt astounded, appalled, dumbfounded...those are the strongest words I can think of, and they don't even cover it.
I felt like darkness sneaked up on me and surrounded me. Discouragement set in. Along with the feeling that I am drowning, helpless, facing a battle that is way too big for me to handle...
Between posting on the blog, following a bunch of pro-life Facebook and Twitter pages, and having abortion nearly always on my heart and mind, I am surrounded by this issue. It's easy to become almost numb to it, even in the midst of my passion.
Then there are times like last night when the reality of it slaps me in the face.
Because it's one thing to read words on a page...and it's quite another to see a video of the battle between light and darkness, good and evil, life and death.
There will be women that choose life. Praise God for that!!
I am so thankful for the "ones" like the man in the video who are brave enough to fight on the front lines.
For the "ones" facing unplanned pregnancies that are selfless enough to choose life, no matter what.
For the "ones" who adopt children and give them a chance to have a loving family.
For the "ones" who fight to make abortion illegal.
For the "ones" who have had abortions, but share the hope & healing that they have found with others.
For the "ones" who dedicate their lives to saving others.
But there are also women that won't choose life. And I don't know how to handle that.
There are "ones" like the woman in the video who seem to have hardened their hearts so much that they just don't care.
"Ones" who will rejoice in their right to kill their children.
"Ones" who will always fight for abortion as a woman's right to choose.
"Ones" who will perform and assist with abortions.
"Ones" who are honestly blinded to what is really happening.
"Ones" who will work for the kingdom of darkness and will not be convinced to leave it behind.
"Ones" who will not turn to Jesus.
That's a hard reality to accept.
It's all a matter of perspective, I guess. I can choose to walk around in defeat because of the "ones" that I can't save, or I can choose to fight for the "ones" that I can. It's easy to get overwhelmed when I think of it in human terms...and that's when I have to remember the quote that I shared last time:
"I have learned that I will not change the world. Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one person. And if one person sees the love of Christ in me, it is worth every minute. In fact, it is worth spending my life for." ~Katie Davis
I have to believe that I am not going to save even one life.
I am not going to change anyone's mind.
I am not going to succeed in passing any law about/ban on abortion.
I am not going to fight on the front lines.
Jesus will do that.
He is the "One" who made these babies and their mothers in the first place.
He is the "One" Who died so that all of us could have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
It's like the guy in the video said..."I just show up here and watch Him show off."
I want to have faith like that.
I want to believe that God will win and that darkness will not prevail.
I want to believe that God will work everything out for the good of those who love Him.
I want to remember that God is God and I have no business trying to take over for Him.
I want to remember that, as much as it breaks my heart to see women choose abortion, it breaks His heart even more.
There's a dear lady at my church who, just yesterday, felt she needed to share the following verse with me. She volunteers as a counselor at our local crisis pregnancy center, and she shared with me how the verse encourages her when she is discouraged when women don't choose life. (That was just hours before I watched the video...I'm just now realizing this and seeing how God put all the pieces in place!)
"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV
8/21/2013- I read the following quote in a pro-life article today and could not resist adding it in. “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.” -Archbishop Oscar Romero
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