The Writing on the Wall: Cheering for God

It was a hot day on the abortion mill sidewalk yesterday. It seemed there were fewer cars than usual in the parking lot, but the cars that did pull in were not very receptive to our entreaties. Normally I can get several cars to stop. Only a couple stopped briefly, long enough to give me the finger. One did stop on the way out and rolled down her window. She had had the abortion a couple of weeks ago. Another counselor, Chrissy, who can be very confrontive if the situation demands it, was as soft and gentle as a feather on the woman's grieving soul. We handed her the post-abortive literature about healing the grief and told her we would like to pray for her.
"Would you please?" she said, her face solemn and sad, "I need prayer."
I prayed immediately, as Chrissy held her hand, and she thanked us. It was the first sense of sincere remorse over abortion we had sensed all morning. It is as much our purpose to be there to restore hope and healing to those who bear guilt over what they have done as to stop as many as we can from aborting their child in the first place. We have handed out several of the post-abortive tracts to women who had no idea how terrible they would feel afterwards. It is one of the great lies of the abortion industry that it does not irreparably harm women.

A car with a young couple pulled in. The couple rolled down their windows and sat in the parking lot. Celia, another fellow counselor, handed me a megaphone. I love Celia. She is so encouraging, and believes in me more than I believe in myself. I was glad she handed me the megaphone. My voice was almost gone before I even got there. So, megaphone in hand, I was able to speak in a normal tone as I called across the parking lot to the young couple in the car.

Every time I go to the mill, I seem to have a different message laid upon my heart to speak to the women. Yesterday's message, sparked by our church sermon Sunday, was about how loved each person was by God, how each was uniquely created by a loving Creator for a distinctive and divine purpose. This is what I said through the megaphone to the couple in the car.

"Did you know that your baby is fearfully and wonderfully made, with unique and special fingerprints already coded in her unique DNA? If you go in there, and kill that baby, you will never know what special and unique purpose she was created for." And so on....I know I was bit overkill on the word "unique" but keep in mind this is unrehearsed and on the fly.

The couple did not roll up their windows (praise God for 83 degree days!) but they were laughing at me. Still, they seemed in no hurry to go into the mill, and I had a good ten or fifteen minutes to speak to them. (That is an eternity for us counselors. Usually we have 15 seconds to try to save the baby's life.)With the powder blue megaphone, I must admit I felt a little bit like I was leading a cheer, but at least I was leading it for God...

Finally, they got out of the car and headed into the mill. I followed them along the sidewalk with my megaphone, making my final plea. The door closed on them.They were swallowed by the gates of Hell.

A young woman came walking down the road. I hurried over. I treat everyone on that road as abortion-bound. It is sometimes a little embarrassing when I end up stopping a car with two elderly gentlemen, who are always happy to chat, but no, they are not coming to get an abortion.

"Where's the bus stop?" the lady asked me as I introduced myself.
"Oh, way down at the end of the street," I said. She sighed. It was a hot day and she had come from that direction.
"What are you all here for?" she asked me.
"We counsel women to choose life. This is an abortion center."
"I would never do that," she said, "I have bi-polar illness, but even when it is not under control I know it is wrong to kill a baby."
She headed off back the way she came, to the bus stop. I watched her, pondering how this woman with mental illness discerned so clearly what so many of us with supposedly sound minds do not.

It was time for us to go, with only Celia and me left of the group that had been there. As we often do, we chatted, and then had a heartfelt prayer session. As we were waving goodbye to each other, the couple that had laughed at me came out of the abortion mill.

"They weren't in there very long..." said Celia, "Not even for the pill abortion."
I hurried after them as they got in their car. As they rolled to the end of the driveway, I said, "Do you need literature...we have literature that helps after an abortion."
The man rolled down the window and told me, "We didn't do it." He gave me a thumbs up and they drove away.

There were three women that chose life that day. And the parking lot wasn't as full as usual. It had been a hopeful day after all. I was awfully glad I had continued cheering for life on the blue megaphone when that couple had only seemed to be mocking me.

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Psalm 1:1 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

Proverbs 17:5

Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

2 Peter 3:3-7

Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.