It was pouring rain on our small Cities4Life team yesterday as we called out to abortion minded women from the sidewalks of the busy abortion center. For the first hour, there were only two of us there, but two of us PLUS GOD are more than sufficient. When our third team member arrived, we saw a woman come off the RV up the street, which provides free ultrasounds. The woman got in her car, and drove towards the clinic.
As she approached the clinic, she slowed down at the driveway and we feared she would pull in. We see this sometimes. The pull to abort even after seeing the baby can be very powerful, particularly if the woman’s support system is clamoring for abortion. In this case, she slowly drove on to the next street and turned in. It is a dead end street. We see this quite often as well. The women drive to a quiet spot up the street to consider what they are going to do. Sadly, many decide to abort.
Knowing all this, I headed up the street to see if she would be willing to talk with me. The rain was relentless. I approached the car and called to her from across the street. I didn’t want to frighten her. She instantly rolled down the window.
“I saw you just came off the RV. Were you headed to the abortion clinic?”
She nodded, tearfully.
“I don’t want to abort...but i don’t know what I am going to do.”
I cannot tell you how many times I hear that. This woman had been raised “in church” and knew abortion was wrong. She had already had one abortion. She didn’t want to have another as the first one was a torment and sorrow to her. However, her circumstances were not ideal, and the father of the child would not help. She lived with her grandparents, who she told me would be “very upset” with her.
“Do they love God?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, “They are the ones that took me to church.”
“Then tell them they raised you to know right from wrong, and God’s clear commands regarding the protection of innocent human life. Tell them because they taught you to honor God, you could not disobey Him and kill your own baby. Will they listen to that?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know God?” I asked.
She said she was raised in church, but she had made disastrous decisions against God’s will. She did not know how to claw her way back and she knew she had walked away from Him to her detriment.
God always opens a door for the Gospel. I shared the truth of sinning against a Holy God who is perfect in Love, but also perfect in Justice. I explained how sin must be punished or God would not be just. I described the penalty for sin: death, eternal separation from God. Then we discussed Jesus’ unbelievable offer to pay the penalty for sin on our behalf and how horrifically He suffered for us. Then, finally we reached the good news, the BEST news. I shared Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
“My grandparents told me to say Jesus is Lord,” she told me, “And I did...but I made the worst choices after saying that!”
“Was Jesus really Lord of your life then?” I asked.
“No.”
We discussed what lordship really means, and how serious it is if we proclaim Him as Lord to desire to do what He says. Jesus Himself cries out, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?”
I told her that those who truly desire Jesus to rule their lives will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit who will comfort, and guide them into all righteousness. We do not fight this battle against sin alone. God is with us.
She was so attentive and sweet throughout this presentation as the rain poured down. She was often tearful, confessing her own sins against God.
A humble, contrite heart God will not despise.
“Do you want to ask Jesus now to be your Lord, recommit your life to Him?” I asked.
She did.
So we prayed, and then she spoke to Him out loud, submitting her life to Jesus, while her small son in the backseat listened.
I shared our resources with her and the offer of a mentorship program with Lovelife Charlotte. She told me she really needed a friend, a mentor. She felt so alone and struggled so hard. As I told her of all the ways we could help, she told me, “I need to hug you.” She got out of the car as the rain pelted us both, and threw her arms around me.
THIS is why I love Cities4Life. We see this story over and over again. The woman doesn’t really want to abort, knows it is wrong, has wandered from God and is grieved by that but doesn’t know how to get back to Him, is overwhelmed with her situation and unaware of resources that could help her, feels friendless, abandoned, and hopeless.
Cities4life meets those desperate women with the truth and love of the Gospel and then the provision of tangible resources that can help their situation. I don’t love standing for hours in the rain, but I can tell you with absolute sincerity every raindrop trickling down my soggy back was worth it.
Please consider joining us. Our goal is to be on the sidewalks of every abortion center every hour they are open to offer hope and help. We have an open house/coffee/info session May 10 and would love for you to meet some veteran counselors and hear about this life-saving ministry. Click HERE for further information.
Romans 10:9
Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
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