Yesterday, Sheryl of Truth and Mercy Pro-life Ministry and I held a baby shower for "C", a mom who chose life over abortion and is due in the next few weeks. (This ministry partners with Cities4Life in presenting a Gospel oriented alternative to abortion.) Her living room overflowed with everything the baby will need for the first two years of life. She was tearful, incredulous, overwhelmed. Sheryl explained, as she always does, that this represented the lavish, abundant, overflowing love of God for her and her baby.
Even though C and her sister had both asked Jesus to be Lord of their lives on the RV when we showed C her baby on the ultrasound, during the baby shower we always present the Gospel again and talk about what it means to follow God. Our culture is very "work" oriented, and the idea that we must earn our way to Heaven is a hard concept to dispel. As my friend Sheryl says, "It never hurts to hear the Gospel again."
God ALWAYS presents perfect openings for us to launch into our favorite subject and life-changing message of the truth of Jesus. He did not fail us yesterday. Three women were at the shower, and had many children between them. All were unmarried. All expressed concern about having more children. All wondered aloud about how to change the pattern of their life.
Sheryl and I had the perfect opportunity to speak of the Bible, its protective guidelines for behavior, the redemptive love of Christ, and the optimal model for families. What floored me was how receptive the women were. They all expressed a desire to learn more and to get into a good church that could keep them on a better life trajectory.
PRAISE GOD for yet another new and exciting development in our ministry. We are in the ramping up stages of matching the moms we work with - both those who choose life and post-abortive ones- with mentors. These mentors are connected with churches who are committed to helping these women, spiritually, emotionally, and materially. The hope is that our culture can be transformed as more "at risk" people (and we all are at risk to some degree...) will find the hope and plan of Jesus for their lives and will be upheld and supported through their struggles by committed churches.
I had just spent a long time the day before the shower discussing this wonderful service through Love-Life Charlotte with the woman in charge of assigning mentors to 'mentees'. She told me they had mentors ready and waiting and I could send her women!
When I mentioned this resource to C at the shower, she said she would LOVE to have a mentor. Then her sister, and her friend both said, "Could we have a mentor too?"
They may not know all the ins and outs of the Gospel, but these three women had a hunger for God, and a desire to know Him better. In that quiet living room of this very poor household in a very poor neighborhood, the peace and hope and transforming power of Jesus swirled in the air.
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Romans 12:2
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.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Wow! What a beautiful testimony of God's goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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