The Joy of the Lord is My Strength

This is me with some of the favorite women I have had the privilege of working with in my work with Cities4Life. These women have faced unbelievable adversity and felt trapped by very difficult circumstances. When I met them, they were both certain they had no choice but abortion. The most wonderful amazing truth of God is if you desire to follow Him, He ALWAYS provides all you need to do so. Always. He does not remove struggles, but He provides the strength and the courage and the conviction necessary to do what is right and to follow His will. And Cities4Life was eagerly present with tangible help and resources to support them in their choice of life. God is so good!

These women would say, “Amen!” I know that for a fact! I shared the gospel with both of them and both yielded their lives to God. You can see why they are so special to me. They finally met each other at a Love Life Charlotte event yesterday. Both are due soon and had fun bumping tummies.

I went on from our sunrise event (in 34 degree frigidness, by the way...) to go minister on the sidewalks of the abortion center where I first met both of those beautiful women above. I stopped off at McDonalds, a mile from the abortion center to use their bathroom. When I returned to my car, and blasted the heat, I heard a tap on my window. I figured it was Jack Frost nipping at my car. It was not. It was a man informing me I had a flat tire.

I got out of the car to look. He was right. 

“Can I drive a mile do you think?” I asked him. He said I could. That’s how far I was from the abortion center. I drove slowly on my flat tire, praying God would provide a solution after I finished speaking for the babies who could not speak for themselves. I expected to be alone on the sidewalk at least the first hour when one of our regular faithful volunteers would show up. The other team member who had said he would be there texted me to tell me he was sick. So was I but I knew if I didn’t show up, maybe babies who might have been saved would die. That first hour is critical in reaching the moms as they drive in to the abortion center. It is a persistent, nagging burden I carry to be there when I can.

I pulled up to see our RV there! I had been told it would not be there yesterday! And, there was Patrick who is always looking out for us. And another man with him! When they saw my flat tire, they told me to go talk to the women and they would take care of my tire.

IN no time, my spare was on my car, and I had stopped lots of cars and handed out lots of our literature. More team members I didn’t expect showed up and lots of great preaching on the microphone further buoyed my spirit!  One woman we know of chose life and while I felt pretty sick from this illness that won’t let go, I was elated with all the miracles and truths of God I had witnessed so far. 

And there was yet more joy to come! Ragnar, my precious GrandDog was coming home with me while his folks have a couple of long work days. AND he gets to spend the night!!! I picked him up from his lonely apartment on my way home from the abortion center. He didn’t know I would be coming and he was really happy.

He was even happier when I told him that his mom gave him permission to have a sleepover, because even when I am sick, I love long walks. So does he. We went on two long walks, and ate broccoli together and I showed him the picture of the women with their big bellies ready to have their babies soon.

Ragnar smiled and agreed all in all, flat tire notwithstanding, it had been a good day.

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Revelation 22:17 

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

When We Ask In God’s Name...

Today, I will drag my still sick body to the sidewalk of the abortion center to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I am not TOO sick...though it is only 34 degrees this morning so after I stand on the sidewalk a few hours, I may end up TOO sick.

Am I crazy?

Well...yes, but also thankful. In fact, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. 

Just three days ago Cities4Life started a campaign to raise money for the apartment renovations necessary for another wonderful Christian ministry to take in a family we work with who chose life over abortion. The ministry did not have the money to fix up the apartment, though they have a fabulous program to help people in difficult circumstances develop the skills needed to change their lives. The family has been homeless for the entire pregnancy, shuttled between temporary housing. They need this apartment and they need the training program and spiritual mentorship. I told the ministry I would find a way to raise the money if they would take the family. They agreed.  Then I put my plea out on Facebook and on this blog.

Donations began pouring in immediately. 

Yesterday, a man from Canada who read my blog offered to fund the last chunk of money necessary. The apartment is fully funded.

So, I am grateful. I am grateful to all of you. I am grateful to God. I am grateful that I am involved in a ministry that not only encourages moms to choose life...but then works with those moms to change their lives. Spiritual and tangible physical help. This puts the lie to the common “pro-choice” argument that we are “pro-birth” but not pro-life. Cities4Life and their partner ministries are changing lives so that abortion is unthinkable.

I may be coughing and sneezing as I call out to the women today streaming in to abort, but I know that God is right beside me.

Maybe you would like to be as well? Click HERE to learn more about our life-saving ministry.

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John 15:16 

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Be Careful That You are Not Dancing on the Graves of the Innocent

Home all day, reading and resting as I slowly claw my way out of this illness, I didn’t have many things happen to write about. However, I did get more donations for the family who we are helping to finally move into a wonderful Christian program complete with an apartment. The donations are to fix up necessary repairs in the apartment and the financially strapped ministry could not take the family without those funds. We are now only $350 short of the goal. (Please email me if you would like to make a firm commitment to help us reach the goal and bless this family that chose life over abortion in very difficult circumstances. Vkaseorg@cities4life.com )

Nonetheless, while resting and reading, praying, and thinking, I remembered the “pro-choice” escorts at the abortion center. They dance and play party music while walking those innocent little babies to their death. It always breaks my heart to see that. But last week, we know of two women who took the first abortion pill and were so instantly grieved that they sought  abortion pill reversal help, and are both now in the reversal treatment. Both babies are doing well. If those “pro-choice” people had not been there, telling the mothers NOT to stop and talk with us, telling them we were ‘crazy’, would they have stopped before taking the pill and not have the uncertainty and anguish they are facing now?

One woman last week stopped, took our information, and agreed she WOULD like to see her baby on  our mobile ultrasound RV. The “pro-choice” escort angrily waved her in to the abortion center parking lot, and told her not to listen to us...that we lied and were frauds. The conflicted woman went in to the abortion center. This was someone who WANTED to see her baby on the ultrasound and the “pro-choice” escort talked her OUT of it.

How do these “pro-choice” people live with themselves? How do they sleep at night knowing that they are preventing conflicted women from an honest look at the truth of the baby’s development, beating heart, and humanity? I want to pray for theses “pro-choice people, and I do, but I have to admit, it is hard. I am angry with them. So much sorrow and death they are directly responsible for. It is so hard, but I do pray that God would release them from the bitterness, deceptions, and anger that makes them believe they are helping these wounded women, or that the baby is expendable.

In the midst of my sad musings, I saw a facebook post from a fellow pro-life counselor in Greensboro. He had gotten a message from a mom who had come to the abortion center in Charlotte but then heard one of our Cities4Life volunteers on the microphone. She had prayed, and cried, and chose life. She was grateful to us for saving her little girl, newly born, now the cherished love of her life. That little girl is the one pictured at the top of this blog.

Be careful in the causes you adopt. Your choices may have devastating consequences for others. Your dances and celebrations may be on the graves of the innocent, and that will never lead to true joy or redemptive hope and life. Look at the precious, beloved child in the photo above. She would not be here if the “pro-choice” escorts had been successful ushering that conflicted mom into the abortion center and insuring she did not hear our pleas to reconsider. 

How do they live with themselves?

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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. 

Responsible to His Holy Calling Not The Results

I have been sick, really sick. I thought it was a cold but nausea was accompanying it so it is some sort of ick beyond the common cold. Anyway, I have been spending most of my time resting, taking slow walks in the sun between the long stretches of misery on the couch. Two nights ago, I dragged myself to bed and checked my email before turning out the light.

Oh no. A woman I have followed for a year or so in my Cities4LIfe pro-life work wrote to me. She would be homeless at 11:00 the next day. Did I have any ideas for her? I had known she was looking for housing and had already sent her our housing list of all the resources I knew. With dismay, I tossed and turned all night. Not only from the illness but wondering how I could help this woman.

When I first met her, she chose life, but then the boyfriend pressured her to abort. She told us she miscarried, but we saw her at the abortion center. We knew she’d aborted. That didn’t affect my desire to continue helping her. I still bought her a winter coat as she had only a threadbare sweatshirt, and Cities4Life has reached out to her to try to help her with our mentorship program through Love Life Charlotte time and time again. We have gotten her supplies as she has expressed needs, and I send her daily Bible verses. I knew she was quickly pregnant again. This time, she would keep the baby. I was glad that she had chosen not to abort. I was not glad she was unmarried and pregnant with no change in her situation. A not uncommon after effect of abortion is mourning the lost baby and quickly getting pregnant again in an attempt to assuage the sorrow and guilt. Of course, if the circumstances that led to the consideration of abortion in the first place are not changed, the outcome will likely not be good.

We have done all we know to do to help this woman, but when we offer ideas that will really change her life, she balks and disappears. Until a new need arises.

With this woman heavy on my heart, I woke yesterday, still nauseous and sick. I began making calls to the housing resources I knew about. Then when they told me they could not take this woman, I asked if they knew someone who might. In this manner, I got the names of two resources I had not known about. I called them. BOTH would take this woman. I emailed, called, and texted her with the two resources names, contacts, and phone numbers to call. No response. Again, help is offered and she appears to have disappeared. Again.

This is the sad nature of our work. Sometimes, every effort is made to help and it is rejected. But the truth which all people who remain very long in ministry MUST understand is we are called to be obedient to do what God asks us to do. We are NOT responsible for the results. That is up to God and the women themselves.

So many volunteers begin with boundless enthusiasm, filled with expectations of changing the world when they step out in faith with God. However, they quickly become discouraged when the work is messier, less obviously glorious than they had anticipated. They trickle away, give up.  God calls but no one answers. 

I am not immune to discouragement, but the “success” of what we do is NOT dependent upon me. It is dependent upon God. If I can find satisfaction knowing I am pouring myself out in obedience to Him, no matter what the consequence, I will be the servant He calls me to be. 

Inspired? Good. We need volunteers.  If sidewalk counseling sounds too scary but you want to be a real help in the pro-life movement, another family I work with needs help. For over six months, since choosing life, they have been in temporary housing, at times living in their car with several kids. We have finally found a GREAT program that will take them, complete with housing and programs to change their lives. The problem was, as it is with so many ministries, they did not have the funds to prepare and fix the apartment to code. I asked what it would cost to do so, and if we raised the money, could they take this family? Soon. She is due in one month.

They agreed.

Folks, we have only $700 to go. Over half the money was raised in an hour with my Facebook plea. If you are able and eager to help, message me at vkaseorg@cities4life.com with your pledge. The family has one final meeting to sign their papers committing to the program requirements. Once they do that, they will be in housing for the next year within two weeks! We will not have you send your donation until all is finalized, but we need to know we have the fund so only pledge what you are firmly committed to give.

Bless you.

Please click HERE if interested in volunteering with our life-affirming ministry.

PS- I awoke today feeling MUCH better. Not all the way better, but on the way!

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Ephesians 4:1 

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

John 6:44 

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

John 3:16 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jeremiah 1:5 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

2 Timothy 1:9 

Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

I AM the God Here, an Abortionist Proclaims

I love life...all life. Including dogs. It was fun to have a pro-life dog visit us on the sidewalks of the abortion center yesterday. Maybe it was his sign and BOW WOW to life that tipped the scales. Two women chose life. Another woman I counseled a few months ago sent a picture of her new daughter, and thanked us for helping her choose life. That made my day. I was a little sick, coming down with a sore throat and cold and didn’t feel very good but it was all worth it. It always is.

One of our on-fire new Cities4Life volunteers confronted the abortionist when he arrived. I stood nearby listening as Andrew exhorted the abortionist to leave this deathly work. This is the discussion Andrew had with the abortionist who has no admitting privileges to any area hospital due to medical infractions.

“Sir, we have help for you...you dont have to continue to do this. Repent and turn to Jesus.”

“Jesus didn't go to med school,” the abortionist shouted back.

 “Jesus’ father is God —  the creator of all,” Andrew said.

“I am the God here,” the abortionist said.

Really? I got on the mic then and told the women, many of whom do claim to believe in God, that the one who was about to abort their child claimed to be God. The same man who is so powerful that he cannot convince the hospitals to let him practice medicine anymore. That God.

I asked the abortionist if he could make the sun rise or set, or if he could still the storm or halt a tornado. I asked what he had created with just a word. He didn’t answer. He was too busy cutting living babies into little pieces and mocking the God he will one day meet and give an accounting of his actions.

We all will. One day every knee will bow to Jesus. One day each of us will stand before Him and explain all we did on earth, both good and bad. One day could come at any moment. If you don’t know the one TRUE God, I beg you, change that now.

Romans 10:9, one of my favorite verses says, “If you proclaim with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved.”

Please, now is the day. Today is all you have for certain. Please do not wait. Do not wait like the abortionist who let his heart become so deceived and so hard that he could kill innocent human beings for a living and mock the one who created them.

One mom who left the center this week weeping and bent over with sobbing,  immediately and desperately regretted taking the abortion pill. She connected with folks trained in the abortion pill reversal pioneered by the amazing doctor who partners with us, Matt Harrison. We got the report that the baby is alive! Please keep praying as the mom continues the reversal protocol.  

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Psalm 16:11 

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore

If God wants us to be heard He will provide a way

When I was in Tucson last week, helping my parents, I was looking in their cabinet for something my father wanted. In the process, I found a red, brand-new bullhorn.
“What’s this for?“ I asked my father, laughing.
“He got it on sale,” my mother said.
“Dad do you have a need for a bullhorn in your nursing home?“
“No,” my mother said.
“May I have it? I actually could use this.“
“Of course!“  

I absconded with the bullhorn.

Yesterday morning, when I got to the sidewalk of the abortion center to offer the love of God and tangible resources to women who feel trapped in a choice for abortion,  I was informed that our RV driver had an unexpected issue and was unable to get the RV with our sound system out to the sidewalk of the abortion center. We had the sound permit, but alas, no sound equipment..

“But wait!“ I cried out to our team leader, “We do have a sound system!“
I ran to my car and pulled out my brand-new, red bullhorn. I immediately began speaking to the women streaming in for abortions, offering hope and help. All of my team members used my new red bullhorn, and once again, I was in awe of God’s timing and Providence.

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Philippians 4:19 

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Challenging Charlotte City Council to Stop Targeting Groups To Harass That They Don’t Agree With

Several of our Cities4Life volunteers and partners spoke at city council last night. We filled City Council chambers with members of a church that partners with Cities4Life and came out in overwhelming support of our mission to save the unborn in the face of city attempts to limit our right to be there. The city has slapped misapplied ordinances and attempts to change zoning of the street the abortion center is on to drive us off the sidewalks. We are fighting the overreach of power and abuse.

 Here are the speeches in the order of speakers. I think they speak for themselves. Vote those who would silence REAL choice out of office. Kenny Smith, mayoral candidate, supports us. Please help him save our city’s most vulnerable members..‬ Click on the links below to hear each of the three minute speeches.

  Vicky  https://youtu.be/883V19W6S-U

  Daniel (Director of Cities4Life)  https://youtu.be/K-ICxAim6aQ

  Pastor Gabe. ‭https://youtu.be/_bHRD8t79NM

  Angela. (C4L volunteer)  https://youtu.be/ALjPDUS88LE

  Eliana (C4L volunteer)  https://youtu.be/NmUpCMckLuU

  Valerie (mom I mentored past 3 years)  https://youtu.be/LeJBbRh1DAg

   Pastor Bryan  https://youtu.be/O6uqc_vEH-g

Acts 14:3 

So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

The Glory of the Son

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1:6-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I am in Tucson for the week spending time with my parents and sister Amy’s family. She lives in the middle of the desert, and nothing but vast peace and blessed silence surround her lovely home. I get up early every morning and watch the sunrise. This morning, I was watching the bright moon and Venus(?), the brightest objects in the sky, while doing my Bible study. I was reading about John the Baptist, who came to bear witness to the coming Messiah. He was not the light but only the witness to the TRUE light that was coming into the world.

As the sun began to come near to cresting over the horizon, the moon and Venus grew less and less brilliant. Soon, i could no longer see them at all.

I watched the beautiful colors  cast upon the clouds that swirled like angels awaiting the glory of the Lord. And slowly the sun broke the surface of the  dark horizon and in a blazing explosion of light, the sun was risen!

Why We Stand for Life While Others Try to Knock Us Down

This little guy’s mom chose life about a year ago and here is this precious boy back for a visit. This time...outside the womb. His value didn’t change from some months ago when he was in the womb and I first saw his beating heart on the ultrasound on our RV parked on the curb of the abortion center. 

The mom tearfully remembered that day when she first met us. She was hopeless. The boyfriend left her when he found out she was pregnant. She had little money, other kids, and was overwhelmed. Still, when she heard our counselors on the microphone urging the women to come and let us help them, she agreed to come on the RV. She and her two friends all heard the Gospel there and all three asked Jesus to be Lord of their lives. When she saw the baby on the ultrasound, she said her own heart “exploded. Marvelous! I could not hold in all the joy.”

We helped this mom as we do all the moms who will let us. Our partner, Truth and Mercy Pro-life Ministry  gave her a baby shower that provided the first full two years of all the baby would need. We found her a church and connected her with people in that church to walk alongside her. I stayed in touch with daily contact, mostly texts of Bible verses to encourage and inspire and strengthen her.

Yesterday, I asked how everything was going.

“It’s great!”she said. “My husband  and I are doing fantastic. He came back and is a big help. The kids are doing well and he is a good father. I love my church and those ladies still stay in touch with me.”

As she remembered the last time she had been on the RV, when she had almost killed her son, she began crying. “I feel so guilty I ever thought of abortion,” she said.

I knelt before her and took her hands. “Everyone is tempted at times to do what is wrong. It is no sin to be tempted. It is sin to know what is wrong and do it anyway. You chose to do what was right. God and the angels are rejoicing with you.”

Three women chose life yesterday while we flooded the sidewalk with children and parents volunteering to speak for the unborn. The pro-choice people, particularly one man, swore with vile language as he tried to shove his signs in front of the window of a mom who had stopped her car and was reaching for my literature. 

Two of the women who come to stand and pray on the sidewalk and never say a word came over. “Shame on you,” they said, “Speaking that way before children. Shame on you.”

I don’t think that is all he should be ashamed of. 

Despite that, praise God for the lives saved and the joy of seeing one of them smiling in my arms.

Please join us. Click HERE for information.

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Isaiah 44:24 

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,

Both These Babies Would Not Be Here If The City and the Pro-Choice Activist Had Succeeded In Blocking Their Moms From Us

Both these beautiful babies were born this week. Both were born to moms who I met while ministering with Cities4Life on the sidewalks of the Southeast’s busiest abortion center. Both said they had no choice but to abort. Both saw their baby on our mobile ultrasound in the RV parked on the curb of the abortion center. Both received lavish showers providing everything the babies would need for the first two years of their life.

Both were told by the “pro-choice” group not to talk to us. That we had a “fake RV” and false promises.

Both moms and dads of those babies are rejoicing today and thanking God we were there.

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Join us? Click HERE.

Psalm 139:13-16 

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Psalm 127:3 

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Persevering Through Pain

I teach an art class at a local nursing home. I have done this for years, and find great satisfaction in helping senior citizens, who are often failing in many areas, draw recognizable pictures for the first time in their life. It must prove something that my spirit and soul needs to know is true. At this stage in my life, I am a little too busy most of the time with my pro-life work, and it would be nice to cut something out of my schedule. But I won’t cut my art class.

This picture above is being drawn by one of my favorite regular students. As you can see, her hand is contorted and she has difficulty holding the pencil. She is nearly blind with watery eyes that strain to see what she is drawing. She never fails to say, “I am no artist.”  She sometimes pauses to rub her eyes, or massage her fingers, but then she picks up her pencil, and soldiers on. She never stops smiling and always thanks me when class ends.

The activity director (who is WONDERFUL) frames the residents’ work each month and uses it in decorations around the home. She could buy more beautifully rendered prints to decorate the home with, for sure. Yet she is framing something MUCH more valuable. She is framing a spirit of adventure and exploration of new horizons in a life that is setting with the sun; a body that is hanging the “Do Not Disturb” sign but pauses and removes it for one more visitor; fingers that are gnarled and twisted and don’t work the way they used to but as long as they work at all, they are willing to be called into service. She is framing a spirit of endurance and perseverance, who is engaging the struggle, overcoming obstacles or learning to weave around them as best one can. She is showcasing the spirit of life, though it be just a flickering candle.

I know it just looks like an old person drawing a shaky pumpkin, but I see something much greater than that.

Psalm 71:18 

So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

2 Corinthians 4:16 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Psalm 71:9   

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.

Isaiah 40:31 

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Abortion Hurts Men Too

The bumper stickers on this car in the abortion center parking lot struck us as odd. The “pro-choice” advocate who owns this car clearly has a heart for animals, decries circus cruelty, and the small sign under the license plate says “I love mercy for animals.” She did not answer me when I asked if she had mercy for the unborn, or wanted to end cruelty to the victims of abortion.

AS the day progressed, the “pro-choice” activist who taunted and mocked and tried to shout us down in a continual barrage of “stop harassing women” didn’t seem to notice that he was harassing women...us....but I guess we don’t count. He told me since I didn’t ask him to stop harassing me, it was ok. He was annoying, but a fly on the wall in my mission to unwaveringly offer the women who feel abortion IS their only choice the options our help, our God, and our resources could alter. Despite all the desperate attempts of the “pro-choice” group to prevent anyone from talking to us, one young man stopped and wanted to talk with us. 

He told me he respected what we were doing, and thanked us. Then he shared that he had tried to stop the woman he had brought from aborting, but she was determined to do it. He was not the father of this baby who was about to die, but he knew the pain of abortion and knew it was wrong to kill the innocent child no matter what situation the woman was in. As we talked, he shared that he was grieving deeply as was a past girlfriend over an abortion they’d had a year ago. His eyes were teary and he was struggling to understand where he stood with God as he had done so much wrong in his life. In the course of our conversation, I learned he had not spoken to his mother in over a year. His eyes glistened as he told me this. I had brought up the issue of his mother completely unaware there was an issue with his mom! Whatever had caused the rift, I urged him to get right with his mother.

Most importantly, this hurting young man needed to get right with God. One thing led to another and soon I was sharing the Gospel and he was tearful as he prayed to ask Jesus to be Lord of his life there on the curb of the abortion center. He gripped my hand and said thank you, over and over. He didn’t want to let go.

“Do you have a Bible?” I asked.

“No.”

I pulled one out of the little blessing bag we always keep near to hand to women who choose life. I gave it to him and told him to read it and know that in that book was power and strength. I offered to help him with our resources of mentors and counseling for both him and the old girlfriend. I also urged him to call the woman in the abortion center, and beg her to call me. He said he would.

Earlier in the day, I received a text from one of the moms who had come to the abortion center several months ago. She met us, and we helped her with the resources she needed so that she could see abortion was not her only choice. She was in labor! The baby would be here probably by today! Praise God for all those on our Cities4Life teams who endure the taunts and derision of those who work so hard to prevent the options and hope we provide from being heard by those who so desperately need it.

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2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Corinthians 6:11 

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Exhausting Oneself in the Service to the Lord

This little 9-year-old totally captured my heart. Her dad is one of our new Cities4Life  on-fire volunteers. Since it was Columbus Day and his girl was off from school, he brought her to the abortion center sidewalks  to minister to the women who believe abortion is their only choice. This girl told me that when her dad picks her up from school, he always tells her about what happens on the sidewalk. She remembered one day when he arrived and said, “It was awesome!! Five women chose life for their babies.”

So Maddie joyfully accompanied her dad, eager to offer help to the women. She and her dad arrived at 10:00. She smiled and spoke cheerfully to everyone, an effervescent spirit of unselfconscious delight in being alive. While on occasion the post-abortive women give us the finger and angry words, most smiled at Maddie.

When our morning team left, our first new afternoon team arrived. Maddie told her Dad she didn’t want to leave. She stood beside me, looking eagerly at the cars as they entered and left the parking lot.

“OK Maddie,” I told her, “Do you want to try to offer them the pamphlet?”

“Yes!!!!”

I coached her on what to say and for the entire afternoon, little Maddie sprang into action if a car pulled down the driveway. She was there until our team decided it was time to pack up as the last abortive woman left. One woman had chosen life that we knew of. It was 3 pm. Maddie had not had lunch nor paused in her smiling enthusiasm. Her dad told me she didn’t want to leave at all, but since we all were leaving, he was able to convince her it was time to go home.

“Did you want to do this?” I asked her.

“Yes.” She nodded with her head bobbing up and down.

“Why?”

“Because even if they do it (the abortion), we are offering help.”

When I got home, I got a text from Maddie’s dad. He said, “She gave it her all.”  It was a photo of Maddie fast asleep in the car.

When was the last time you exhausted yourself completely to obey the call of God to help others? I know. Little Maddie really convicted my heart too.

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Colossians 3:23-24 

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Mark 10:45 

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

"My Baby is Dancing!" And a City That Opposes Those Who Helped Her See That Miracle

This is P seeing the room covered with baby shower gifts and saying, “Is that all for ME?”

Sheryl of Truth and Mercy Pro-life Ministry told her, as she tells all the moms she throws baby showers for, “Yes. As you look at all this, I want you to see a demonstration of how lavishly God loves you.”  Sheryl has done this in conjunction with Cities4Life sidewalk ministry at abortion centers for 29 years.

Sheryl single-handedly collects donations, cleans and organizes them, and then artistically gift bags a full two years of EVERYTHING the mother will need for the first two years of her baby’s life. For struggling, conflicted, worried moms considering abortion as their only hope, the baby shower offer alone will sometimes tip the scale such that they believe maybe they CAN choose life instead.

The shower was one of the offers from Cities4Life counselors that helped P choose life. She faced many obstacles, but the prayers and counsel of a wonderful Aunt and the help offered from Sheryl and Cities4Life convinced P she was not alone, and she decided to abandon thoughts of aborting her child. She agreed to let us share these photos hoping it might help other women understand there is real help, resources, and hope. They do not need to kill their child. 

As we do at every baby shower, we shared the gospel and the hope of Jesus to renew and redeem shattered lives. P had many questions but told us that from the moment she chose life, “Things started falling into place. It was really weird...like every issue I faced was working out. And I started going to church and the pastor...it was like every question I would ask on Tuesday, he would preach about on Sunday. It was like he was talking directly to me.”

“P was so worried,” her aunt told us, “Wondering how she would possibly be able to get all the things a baby would need. But you all...you got her everything. Even things I would never have thought of!”  We offer this to every woman who leaves the abortion center and chooses life.

Nonetheless, the 'pro-choice' crowd warns women who come to the abortion center they should avoid us and anything we offer at all cost! “They are crazy people,” I heard them say several times last week, “Don’t talk to them.”  It is our resources the city is attempting to shut down through Zoning Officials seizing our signs and writing expensive citations, with the City Council discussing behind closed doors plans to turn Latrobe Drive into a no parking zone so our mobile ultrasound unit will not be available for these women on the curb of the abortion center where it is most critically needed. (Click HERE for backstory.)

“I saw my baby on the ultrasound,” P told us, “And he was dancing! I was so excited. I called my aunt and said, you should see this! My baby is dancing!”

“Praise God you all were there,” P’s aunt told us, “I had a whole team of prayer warriors praying but when P called me to tell me all you had done for her...what an answer to prayer. Thank you for being there. What a blessing this is!”

Join us saving lives and speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. Click HERE for information. And call City Council to express your support of Cities4Life and urge the mayor to put an end to any attempts to curtail our ability to reach abortion-minded women with help and resources.

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Deuteronomy 31:6 

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Isaiah 40:31 

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 39:7 

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

Rejoicing in Hope

I will be co-hosting a baby shower today for a wonderful woman who chose life a few months ago. Our Cities4Life team intervened when P showed up to abort her child. She was moved by the words of hope and help, came on our Monroe HELP  Mobile Ultrasound RV parked on the curb of the abortion center, and when she saw her baby, knew she could not take his life. Like nearly every mother who stops and talks with us before aborting, she told us she felt she had no other choice but abortion. She had no hope of the life she had planned for herself unless she aborted. But God is a God of Hope, and His plans are always best. In the end, P agreed. This baby shower today is a celebration of Hope.

Switching gears to another hope, I had hoped to kayak this weekend, but my one free day in the next two weeks was yesterday. The rain started early and went on all day. So instead of kayaking, I decided to play with a new art program that was on my iPad. When I started drawing with it, my lines were wavy and I could not make them straight. I was distraught since NONE of my art programs are working well on my iPad and half the reason I got the iPad Mini is so I could draw, especially when traveling. The iPad Mini is as small as a sketchbook and light. But if I can’t draw a straight line....

I googled ‘iPad Mini and wavy lines’. It turns out, I am not the only one with this issue. The tutorial I read gave the technical details why the processor and size of the iPad Mini makes drawing straight lines slowly difficult. The trick is quick, confident strokes. PRACTICE the tutor advised. It can be done, but it takes practice.

Sigh.

However, and this is KEY, the tutor gave me HOPE. My Bible study this morning on that very topic pointed out that we do not hope for things we cannot even conceive of. We hope for things that are real, tangible, that could conceivably be satisfied. We may not yet see them, but we can conceive of their possibility, however remote. 

Hebrews 6:17-19 says:

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.

‭God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

In the context of those verses, God had made promises with an express purpose: to give us hope as an anchor for our soul. When the tumultuous waves of adversity slam against our weary hulls, God has assured us so that we will NOT be washed away. He anchors us in His promise of an eternity where all things will be made new, what we have lost will be restored, and redemption will trample destruction.

This is perhaps what happened in the heart of the woman upon whom we will be lavishing two years of all her baby’s needs in the baby shower today. There is a hope that is greater than all her plans. God will bless this choice to follow Him in this very critical decision for her child. He has promised to all who follow Him a future and a hope, plans to prosper and not to harm. My prayer is that P will grab a hold of this promise, and choose to place her faith and her life once and for all in Christ, the author of all Hope.

Meanwhile, I too was seized with hope. I CAN draw a straight line. I WILL persevere and overcome the limitations of this iPad Mini. I lost all track of time and spent three hours on the simple drawing above. In the end, not only could I draw a straight line, but I created a little piece of art that I was happy with. I added a verse using that same wonderful art program, and felt I understood the essence of hope a little better.

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Romans 12:12 

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Romans 15:13   

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.