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Day 14 - March 6

Intention:

Pray for the mothers going into pregnancy help centers. The personal care, the free ultrasound, the ongoing practical help is designed to deliver them from those who profit in shedding innocent blood.

Scripture:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

-- Matthew 11:28

Reflection:

"You have twins. That will be another $350." She did not speak English. But she finally understood that they were telling her to go get more money and return for her abortion.

She had already given them her rent money. But they were not about to give her a two-for-one deal. They told her to get dressed and return with more cash. A couple, who was praying outside, comforted her. They brought her to their local pregnancy help center.

The staff quickly saw that her personal circumstances were so desperate, and immediate, that they would need direct and ongoing help from local Christians and churches. They started making calls.

Then they did the ultrasound. It showed there was only one baby, not two. This abandoned, immigrant, powerless mother was being exploited. She would do whatever she was told. Who would know? Who would care?

God calls us to "Rescue the weak and the needy; and deliver them from the hand of the wicked" (Psalm 82:4).

When you provide an alternative to abortion you are not only rescuing innocent babies, you are delivering mothers from the wicked: those who profit in the shedding of innocent blood. Pray for those who rescue and deliver daily at your local pregnancy help center.

Prayer:

Father, hear our prayer! Snatch desperate mothers from the fire. Bring them out of our abortion businesses and into our pregnancy help centers. Deliver them from evil. Use us to help them chose life and see your hand of provision.

Rev. John Ensor
Vice President, Heartbeat International

Children are at stake in every abortion. And children
remind our culture of what we are losing in every
abortion — our innocence and our future.

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

If you’re wondering about bringing the kids to the
40 Days for Life vigil — yes! Please do — based on
the location, of course; parents should use their
best judgment. But children always remind people of
what this is all about.

That’s the theme of a short story that Bethany in
North Carolina posted on the 40 Days for Life blog.
Here’s what she wrote:

After I packed up my children, ages 2-and-a-half and 5,
and began driving to the clinic for my morning prayer
hour, I wondered if I should have made some sort of sign
to hold. It was spitting rain, so I hoped to park as
close as possible to the vigil site, in case I needed
to keep the children in the car.

By the time I got there, it had cleared enough that I
felt comfortable putting my children in the double
stroller. There were two other prayer volunteers on
site, including one who is a year-round sidewalk
counselor.

We greeted each other and I parked the children on the
sidewalk across the street from the clinic.

The children and I and began to pray by singing very
softly: a couple decades of the rosary, “Jesus Loves
the Little Children,” “He’s Got the Whole World In His
Hands,” etc. And then I noticed something unusual.

In the middle of the parking lot stood one of the
volunteer escorts, instead of keeping post on the steps
like normal. She was an older woman, and I could tell
by her stance and the way she kept looking at me that
she was not happy about our presence. We just kept
praying and singing.

I saw the woman go back to the steps and speak to one
of the other escorts, and I had the distinct impression
that I was being ridiculed. About 10 minutes later, the
woman removed her escort vest and went to her car,
shaking her head my direction. I steeled myself for
a confrontation and prayed for wisdom.

Sure enough, the woman paused at the parking lot exit
with her window rolled down. “As a grandma,” the woman
said, “it breaks my heart to see those children out
here like that.” And then she drove off, without
giving me a chance to respond.

As I exchanged thoughts with the other prayer
volunteers, I occurred to me that the sign I had
belatedly wondered about making for my prayer hour
had already been made — my little children. They were
all the sign needed to speak for life!

Please pray for that clinic escort, that her heart
would break, not for children singing happily in the
drizzling rain, but for the countless babies dying
inside the abortion clinic.

Pray that she will acknowledge them as the persons
they already are, children who lead us to sing on their
behalf because they will likely not be given the chance.