I thought to myself: you will never scrub away the evil that seeps like sewage from that building. But please, go ahead, try.
The street cleaner had to make a wide arc around HELP Crisis Pregnancy Center's pro-life RV. Again, symbolism smacked me on the forehead. The ONE place that didn't need cleaning was that spot where the RV stood, bathed in prayer, fueled by contributions from a large network of Christians, and sanctified by the truth of God that is proclaimed by the teams that counsel the mamas.
This happened right before a mama stopped to talk to me. We had all spent quite a bit of time speaking over the microphone and calling through cupped hands from the sidewalk. This mama had glanced over several times, but had not approached us. Now as she drove out, she rolled down her window when I motioned to her to stop. I asked if I could convince her to get a free ultrasound on our RV parked at the curb. She said she would like that.
Her story was heart-breaking, and unusual. Unlike most of the abortion-minded mamas we stop, she was fighting mad, but not at us. At the abortion center! She had had several abortions in her life. Just three weeks ago, she had had another. However, she still felt pregnant, and her recent pregnancy test was positive! She returned to the abortion center demanding they check her. The test was indeed positive. When the abortionist did an ultrasound, she told us he turned the screen away, wouldn't let her see it, and told her he didn't see a baby. However, she said he only scanned one side of her belly -- not even attempting to look very hard for a baby. She said he encouraged her to return to normal activities, including intimate relationships.
"I feel like I'm being lied to," the woman told us. She also said that when she entered the center, she realized that it smelled like death, that it was oppressive like the terribly evil place she now realized it was, and that it was a place of intense spiritual welfare. "It is demonic in there," she told us, "You can feel it. I have come to realize that the battle we are fighting is not flesh and blood. It is spiritual. God opened my eyes to what this is really all about."
We nodded. "We call it the Gates of Hell," I said.
"It is!" she said. "Last week, I had an encounter with God. I realized how much He loved me, and how much I was disobeying Him. I vowed that I will follow Him completely now. No more excuses. All in for Him. That means chastity, and everything. And then I came here to find out if I was still pregnant, and felt all that evil, and knew I was being lied to. All they cared about was my money. They don't care about me, or health, or anything. It is a business. A business of death."
The nurse and I glanced at each other. She was making our work easy. God had certainly gotten a hold of this young woman, and she was paying attention.
"And then I saw you and I knew I had to come on here. If this baby is still alive, I will not abort. I will never do that again."
Sadly, we were unable to find the baby. I am still praying for a miracle but it it doesn't seem likely. I gave the young woman my name and number and told her to call any time for any reason.
"Unlike the abortion center, we aren't a business. We aren't paid, and we don't profit from your choice for life or death of your baby. We are all here because we believe so strongly that God's word is true and it is clear. Abortion is wrong, an affront to our Creator, and we are hear to proclaim that."
"Bless you for being here," she said, "I can feel the difference in here."
Where God reigns, it should feel different. The street cleaner knew that too.
*********************
Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may
discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die
to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
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