The Most Important Step of Any Journey

Ragnar, my granddog, is not only beautiful, but has a really nice personality too. And he is super smart. He is always good natured and never holds a grudge. He is always happy to see any human being, and is very polite about food, only snatching off my plate if the need is DIRE.

If he were a person, he’d be my best friend.

He will be with us for the next few months so I am working out a new routine that works for both our schedules. I am up at 5 a.m. usually, which is ok with him. He wouldn’t mind sleeping longer, but he is amenable to whatever I want to do. I feed him right away. Then, he watches me eat my breakfast and when I finish, he knows it is time for our run. He is very out of shape since his mom and dad don’t love long walks and definitely NOT runs of any length. So I run him one mile. He is certain that he cannot go that far because he is so unused to it. However, he trusts me, and it is not so bad when there is someone at your side even when you are growing hot and tired. By the end of the mile, he has gone as far as he can for now. We meander a few more minutes to cool down and smell all the delicious scents creatures have deposited, and then I put him back in the house. He goes back to sleep, and I finish my run. I will add five minutes a week to Ragnar’s run. I feel certain that soon, he will be able to cover the whole distance at my side.

I then head off to the abortion center sidewalk where I will join my Cities4Life team, encouraging women to choose life and offering them resources to make that choice easier. Ragnar lies down in front of the door and from what I can tell, doesn’t move till I return 5 hours later. I assume once he knows I ALWAYS return, he will not feel the need to guard the door in case it should open.

When I walk in the door, he is very vocal in his delight. He talks to me telling me with absolute certainty that life is better now that I am home.

My dogs both died within a few months of each other a couple of years ago. I miss them but not so much that I was eager to get another dog. Dogs are a responsibility I wasn’t chomping at the bit to embrace at this stage in my life. I like the freedom to come or go as I please with no worries about anyone at home starving, pooping, mourning, or rampaging. I homeschooled my three kids for a total of about 27 years which is a very intense life. Additionally, I always had dogs to care for and train as well. I also always worked in some capacity; teaching art, writing books, and a long gone career as an occupational therapist and business owner.

Honestly, at this point, I LIKE not worrying about other creatures.

Except...

I spend every day all day worrying about other creatures. Fellow human creatures. Single moms, and doomed unborn babies. I work with desperate women who feel trapped in a decision to abort. When they choose life, I still work with them to help link them with resources that can help their situations, or encourage them with Bible verses and teachings, or refresh them with lunches out, or pray with them when they feel overwhelmed, or grieve with them when life stinks.  Our Cities4Life teams and partner ministries surround them with love, hope and help. 

Like Ragnar, they are sure they can’t even walk a mile of their future down the road. When they discover all those people willing to walk with them, sometimes they also discover they can do it. I always tell them it is not necessary that they figure out the whole journey when they are just at the starting line. Just be sure the next step is in the right direction. That direction is always towards God. Any journey that deviates from that is doomed to sorrow and ultimate failure.

There is no lack of creatures to worry about on this earth. And honestly, God commands us to bear each other’s burdens. Seek to save the lost. Speak for those who can’t speak for themselves. So many wounded, needy creatures on God’s green earth to care for...

So what’s one more? 

And now that Ragnar is settling in, my worry is decreasing and my delight is increasing. With all the sadness I encounter each day in my work as a sidewalk counselor at an abortion center, it is REALLY nice to come home to a wagging tail and a talking dog who tells me I am the best thing that has happened to him all day. 

But guess what also often greets me? A text from a mom we helped that day or that week thanking us. More often than not it also says if you hadn’t been there, I would have made the greatest mistake of my life. Thank you for helping me know I could walk out of that terrible place.

Already, Ragnar understands the routine and is looking forward to our morning run. He forgets how tired he is at the end of the mile and is excited about the journey! He has learned that the biggest step in any journey is the first one. This is what I pray we can convey to those reluctant moms who don’t know if they can go the distance. 

Please pray for us and consider joining us. We have a special need now for teams from 12-3 pm.

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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.

Proverbs 12:10 

Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

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New novel just released, pro-life, pro-God, pro-dog. Humorous and serious about taking the right steps for the precious life God has created. Click HERE for information.

When Pro-life Message is Heard, Babies Live: An Abortion Pill Reversal Success Story

This is a 19-week-old baby, saved with the abortion pill reversal protocol pioneered by Dr. Matthew Harrison of Charlotte, NC. 

This little baby is the precious, loved child of a couple who were in anguish when the young woman swallowed the abortion pill. She instantly regretted what she had done, and in despair, she and her boyfriend remembered the abortionpillreversal.com sign they had seen on a Cities4Life team member’s car parked just outside the abortion center. They called the hotline. The nurse and sonographer from HELP Monroe Pregnancy Center in conjunction with the Cities4Life counselor spent an entire day working to connect with the mom, and then started the protocol immediately to reverse the pill’s effects.

The baby is thriving. The baby is deeply loved. The couple is sparring over what to name him. Here he is during the 3-d ultrasound provided through the partnership of Cities4Life and Concord Sweet Pea 3-d Imaging  The couple is now married, and committed their lives to Jesus as a result of the Gospel shared by Cities4Life counselors and their conviction to now follow God in ALL areas of their lives.

This couple’s lives are forever transformed by the intercession of a few simple people who love God and know His clear command to be a voice for the voiceless and to be a defender of the vulnerable.  The mom texts me regularly, thanking us. She updates with every milestone her little unborn baby reaches, every encouraging test, every glorious ultrasound. She asked me to be there for the baby’s first 3-D ultrasound. I cannot tell you what an honor it was to see a little life that would not be here if we had not been there for this mom.

Now,  contrast that with what happens regularly on the sidewalks of abortion centers as we offer conflicted women our help and resources along with the life transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This woman prides herself on preventing our message from being broadcast, though we have a legally obtained sound permit to do so. In this photo she is touching our private property, which is illegal, and holding her sign over our speaker system. She calls herself “pro-choice”. 

If she had been successful in blocking our message, this baby and countless others might not be here. Mothers who don’t want to abort but honestly don’t know what else to do would not hear the offers of resources and help if the “pro-choice” crowd were successful. We who counsel on the sidewalks of abortion centers see it every day. A driver stops her car to hear about what we have to offer, and the “pro-choice” crowd ushers them into the abortion center lot, telling the people we have fake RV, fake ultrasound, and lie about our help. 

Tell that to the mother of this little baby highlighted on this blog. This mother and her new husband are enrolled in our Lovelife mentorship program, had free medical help with the abortion pill reversal, will receive a lavish baby shower that provides everything the baby will need for the first full two years of his life, and joyfully received a free 3-D ultrasound package through our ministry.

The “pro-choice” protesters angrily insist the people entering the abortion clinic NOT stop and talk to us, NOT take our information, NOT talk about the resources that could change their choice. Here is an example of one “pro-choice” protester blowing her whistle and shoving one of our counselors to prevent her from handing the mom a rose.

The mother of the unborn 19-week-old baby and her husband hugged me following the 3-D ultrasound. “Thanks so much. I will never be able to thank you all enough. You all have restored our faith that there are still decent people in the world who truly want to help others.”

“All God!” I said, but I sure DO appreciate the encouragement. The opposition out there is sometimes fierce, and it makes it all the more appalling that we know if they are effective, more babies die. 

Consider joining us.  It is a battle worth waging. Click HERE for information on shadowing an experienced Cities4Life team.

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Psalm 37:39-40 NIV

[39] The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. [40] The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

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My Pro-life novel depicting the stakes of the battle has just been released. The story is told with humor and even some cute dogs. 

Click here for information.

Blocking Choice So The Choice Is Narrowed to Abortion

This is what the “pro-choice” folks do when our Cities4Life teams have a legally obtained sound permit to speak to the women at the abortion center. We offer free ultrasounds, free baby showers, free mentors and resource managers, free second opinions from a doctor, and a whole slew of other resources in every conceivable area of struggle.  The “pro-choice” folks don’t want them to hear those options that might compel them to choose something other than abortion, so they try to block our speaker with their signs.

Fortunately, a young man who desperately wanted the baby his girlfriend carried heard us anyway. He told her about all the help we were offering and he convinced her to come on our Monroe Help Pregnancy Center RV parked on the curb to talk to us. As they saw their little baby’s beating heart on the mobile ultrasound unit, they held hands and smiled. 

“How do you feel?” I asked.

“It’s a miracle,” the young man said, “I feel great.”

“I am so excited,” the young mother said.

They wanted the many resources that we had to offer. They talked with me about marriage, following God, recommitting their desire to follow Him. They shared their struggles. The young man wants full time work and is a hard worker, but has only a part time job in his field.  I told him we would help. When I got home, I posted the need to my Facebook group and my Cities4LIfe group. I immediately received leads on businesses hiring which I sent to the young man. The couple both hugged the nurse Sherry and I as they departed. They were so grateful.

I wonder if the “pro-choice” people ever considered helping struggling couples find a job rather than kill the baby neither of them really wanted to kill?

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New book just released about some of the true situations faced by those of us on the sidewalks of abortion centers. Inspiring and funny, with a strong message of the hope found in Jesus. Click HERE for information.

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Romans 8:26-28 

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Speaking and Writing for the Unborn

When I was a young adult, I read a novel by John Irving, Cider House Rules. It was a story of abortion, presenting a sympathetic case for why a doctor would think abortion was a necessary and even noble choice. I was not a Christian at that time. In fact, I was an atheist. I didn’t believe in God and the novel moved me deeply. I bought the whole notion that an unwanted child was worse than a dead child. I was an abortion supporter.

Then in 1986 with the birth of my son Anders, I came to know the Lord. I examined the evidence and realized it required a greater leap of faith to remain an atheist than to embrace the truth of the Bible. My world changed, not only knowing the miracle of that newborn life, but also the truth of Jesus and His redemption of all who believe from the prison of sin. I was horrified by what I had believed and how I had led my life in willful disregard of the God I now wholeheartedly embraced. 

I was astonished how the power of writing, of a fictional novel, had helped sway me to adopt such an inhumane position as the dismemberment and destruction of a living human being in the brutal act of abortion. The plight of unwanted children was masterfully presented by Irving...but I don’t recall any attention given to the plight of the unborn baby during abortion. It is the tactic of all abortion supporters: deny the humanity of the unborn baby and focus on the struggles of the women and children who had managed to successfully escape the womb intact.

For the past nearly five years, I have been a sidewalk counselor with Cities4Life  pleading with women to choose life over abortion. Our ministry offers hope and tangible help to women who feel that abortion is their only option. I feel God has called me to do this work, and I do so with an overwhelming burden to speak for the unborn.

However to be honest, I am not a speaker. I am a writer. I love to write, and have always had stories bouncing about in my head and finding their way into journals, blogs, and manuscripts. Since I was old enough to hold a pencil, I have concocted stories. When I became a Christian, I continued to write, but now my soul became consumed with the desire to write novels that would point others to God. Recently, that desire has narrowed even more to write novels that point people to God and to a defense of the sanctity of life which He created.

The more I see of abortion in all its cruel reality from the perspective of my work with abortion-minded mothers and abortion workers who leave the industry, the more I feel a compulsion to tell that story. Abortion destroys so much more than the baby.

I just completed my latest book. It is a novel about a former abortion worker who finally recognizes she can no longer do her gruesome work. She runs from the images that fill her heart and soul, and encounters a pregnant dog who follows her home . The dog deposits her puppies on the woman’s kitchen floor and a journey back to hope and to God begins.

Click HERE to see print and ebook on amazon.com

I decided that if a fictional story like Cider House Rules could convince me in my youth that abortion was good... maybe I could write a novel that would convince people today that abortion was bad. Very bad. The book is based on a compilation of true stories from the sidewalks of the abortion center, though every character (except Jesus) is a fictional character and not meant to represent any single person, living or dead. The overall plot is fictional (and though a serious subject, told with humor to keep us all from weeping). The  protagonist’s dog is a Carolina Dog, my favorite breed, and does depict the beautiful character of my beloved Honeybun (now deceased) who helped me as much as I helped her when I rescued her from near death on the side of the road. 

My prayer is God would use this book to change minds and save lives. In the meantime, I will continue to stand on the sidewalk of the busiest abortion center in the Southeast and not only speak for the unborn...but write for them as well. Please join us. Summer is coming and needed vacations for our volunteers give new opportunities for others to stand in the gap. Click HERE for information on shadowing a team.

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Proverbs 24:11 

Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

Signs and Truth Spoken in Love Saved a Life: Abortion Reversal Story

The young woman drove down the street filled with people in prayer, all wearing aqua t-shirts that said Love Life. The scene might normally have brought her joy, having just committed her life to God. Nonetheless, her heart was heavy. She was about to do something she knew was wrong, but here she was. The graphic signs of aborted babies made the guilt she had already been feeling even greater. How could she sit in church as an unwed mom? The condemnation would be more than she could bear. Just do the surgical abortion and get it over with once and for all. 

She stopped when one of the Cities4Life sidewalk counselors waved to her. She wasn’t sure herself why she stopped. The counselor handed her a booklet with photos of babies in the womb. She was kind, and told the troubled young lady that there was help available.  The woman took the booklet and went in to the clinic lot. She glanced through the booklet and saw the back page...a photo of an aborted baby. The baby was dismembered through the violence of a surgical abortion.

No. She would not do the surgical abortion. She would do the pill— the medical abortion.

The moment she swallowed the pill, she was overcome with remorse and regret. What had she done? Her sorrow and anguish grew as the day went on. She researched on the internet if there was any way the baby could still be saved if she didn’t take the second course of pills. She found a site, abortionpillreversal.com.  The next morning, she called the hotline which connected her to my friend and nurse trained in the abortion pill reversal protocol, Courtney. Courtney and I were sitting together at a graduation ceremony. Courtney texted me: Want to counsel an abortion pill reversal client?

I texted back immediately: YES!

We met the woman later that day at Monroe HELP Pregnancy Center  She poured out a story of a lifetime of pain, rejection, and feelings of worthlessness that had led her to this moment. However, she decided she could not let sin reign any longer. She would take a stand and do what all the signs had been urging her to do: try to save her baby.

She told me that she had just committed her life to God and it was because a church had extended so much love and acceptance. She said everyone always talks about sin but they don’t live a life of love. “Just love others and let that be the testimony of Christ.” she said.

Some of you may be nodding but I was quaking. I feel a DEEP burden to share the truth of Christ. No one understands the need for Christ if they don’t understand the horrific nature of sin or have rationalized and minimized the reality of personal sin. And this woman, like so many other people we encounter at the abortion center, was leading a life of sin which is what had landed her in the midst of all her despair. Would it be love not to point her to truth? If Jesus is Lord, we are to obey Him. That is what Jesus Himself warns us. 

So I prayed as Courtney showed the young woman her baby on the ultrasound. That little one’s heart was beating. He was still alive. One prayer answered. Now Lord, show me how to speak truth in love that this woman would see the life she is leading is not honoring to God and will only land her back in deeper trouble down the road.

Unfortunately, I could speak from experience. I began telling her my own story as an atheist who knew the stark difference from living life without God to living life obeying God. I told her I looked back on those Godless days with horror and regret. The woman was interested and wanted to know what had caused me to decide to follow Jesus. Through my story, I was able to share the truth of the Gospel and the critical necessity of recognizing if Jesus is Lord, we must do as He says. 

That allowed me to discuss sexual sin and the need to submit our lives to God in this as well as every other area of our life. I was shocked when she agreed. 

“I know you need to be enveloped in love,” I told her, “And I totally agree that those who follow Christ should speak in love. But it is not love to cover sin or to shrink from telling those on a path of destruction that this is not the way God would have them go.”

The woman again agreed and told me it was easier to receive what Courtney and I had to say because of two things: we had sacrificed our time and energy to help her, and our tone was one of kindness.

This is not to pat ourselves on the back. It is to encourage all of us who labor in the Lord. The young lady identified so many key points in reaching the lost:

1. Show the truth. Those graphic signs of aborted babies changed her heart and convicted her of sin. The decision to not do a surgical abortion, which would have been irreversible, hinged on the truth of those signs.

2. Talking the talk is NOT enough. You must sacrifice your time, energy, and resources for those in need if you want to reach the world for Christ.

3. Condemnation will only push others away. Speak truth, but speak in a tone that is unmistakably loving.

4. Trust God. Trust His way is best and His words bring life and hope. NEVER shirk from sharing the life redeeming words of the Bible.

As I drove home, the woman texted me, thanking us again. Now we pray for that little baby and the effectiveness of the abortion pill reversal protocol. But also, we pray that a young woman who seems to be on the right track with God will not be derailed again by the obstacles of this world.

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Psalm 55:22 

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved

Taking Back the Rainbow at the Abortion Center

This photo is of me standing with my Cities4Life team in between downpours on the sidewalk of the abortion center. The “pro-choice” folks carry rainbow umbrellas. Not only do they use those umbrellas to try to block us from seeing or speaking to the abortion-minded women to offer tangible help, but we feel it is an affront to the sacred symbol of the rainbow.

Remember God sent the rainbow after Noah’s Flood to be a reminder to humankind that never again would He flood the whole earth to wipe out the terrible blight of sin. It is a promise of God’s providence and protection, but also points to the future of how sin would be eradicated. In the flood, the sinner was wiped out along with the rampant sin of mankind. In the New Covenant, not yet revealed during Noah’s time, the sinner would be saved but sin would be destroyed.  The necessary penalty for sin must be exacted or God would not be a perfect and righteous judge.  In the atoning sacrifice of Jesus though His death on the cross, He paid the penalty we deserved. He was crucified. We were set free.

Sinner saved; sin slayed. 

The destructive Flood to wipe out sin would be replaced with the redemptive washing away of sin though the blood of Jesus. 

So Cities4life decided it was time to reclaim the rainbow. We have several rainbow umbrellas on our RV for our team to use.

I was not on the sidewalk today, but I received an amazing call related to my work there. One of the moms I work with who chose life over abortion told me she simply had to relay her amazing story of God’s provision. I will not share details that would identify her, although she said one day she intends to tell this story publicly. Since choosing life over abortion, she also committed her life to Jesus. She would be the first to tell you that there were setbacks in her walk with God. Yet her conscience would not let up and she would repent of her actions that led her away from Christ and trudge forward again.

At one point, devastating circumstances shook her world. Out of the blue, I called her, just to see how she was doing. She told me about how she needed some critical surgery, but had falsified some information in order to get the insurance she so desperately needed. I urged her to pursue other avenues and gave her some suggestions. Bottom line, I told her that we cannot dishonor God and ever hope to receive His blessings. We cannot do wrong to bring about right.

Apparently, my words echoed in her soul and she canceled the insurance and admitted she could not legally have it. She said almost immediately, all the shattered pieces of her life suddenly began to reform. She was offered an insurance that would pay for the surgery. She received other unexpected assistance and suddenly, everything she had lost was impossibly regained.

“It happens every time,” she told me, “When I obey and trust God, He ALWAYS makes a way. Why do I forget that?”

We ALL forget sometimes. We ALL fall back on our own resources and lose sight of the incredible promise and power of God’s Holy Spirit in the lives of every believer.

That’s why God sent the rainbow. He knows how easily we forget. 

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Genesis 9:12-16 

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Could a Day Be Any Better?

It was over 90 degrees yesterday with no clouds. Bright, searing sun. BUT I WAS COOL. As you can see, I had my sun canopy up over my kayak and I kayaked for two hours, four miles, under that relentless sun and barely raised a sweat. A fisherman told me, “You bring your shade with you.”

Amen.

But my perennial shade was not the only delight of the day. I went kayaking after spending the morning on the sidewalk of the busiest abortion center in the southeast with my Cities4life team.

GET THIS:  EIGHT women chose life. 

There were only about 30 women there on an atypically light Monday. A FOURTH of them chose life. Our team was flabbergasted. Often, the women leave and don’t tell us, but yesterday, nearly all did stop to tell us! And those who didn’t stop either never went in the center, or left before the abortionist arrived. We were very confident that at least 8 babies who were slated to die were spared!!!!

And then I got this glorious picture sent to me via text message:

This is the seventeen-week-old miracle baby of a women who did the Abortion Pill Reversal Protocal after calling us when she immediately regretted taking the abortion pill. She just found out her little munchkin is a boy! She wanted me to know since we have become friends, but also will be providing the baby shower for this precious boy.

Could a day be any better?

One conversation at the abortion center demonstrated the spiritual confusion that leads to so many “Christians” showing up at abortion centers. The woman was polite and engaged in a long discussion with us. She told us she didn’t believe abortion was good, but didn’t feel we could judge anyone’s decision since we didn’t know the situation. 

“You claim Jesus is Lord, correct?” I said.

“Yes.”

“What does that mean to you? That Jesus is Lord?”

“That He understands me, and He knows my struggles and He forgives me, and He helps me no matter what I decide.”

“Do you know the Bible tells us what it means when Jesus is Lord? In fact, Jesus Himself tells us. He says, ‘Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say?’ If Jesus is Lord, you will do what He says.”

In other words, this woman thought that if Jesus is Lord, He was all about helping HER do what she wanted to do. This is exactly the OPPOSITE of what Lordship means. If Jesus is Lord, we do what HE wants us to do.

I told her that, and she said she did not disagree with anything we said. She even respected what we were doing. I hope she will reconsider her choices in the light of the Biblical truth she could not challenge. But it worries me that so much of Christianity today seems to revolve around how it helps ME...instead of how we glorify God.

People are constantly patting me on the head and saying, “I am glad you found something that works for you.”

My relationship with God doesn’t work for me. In fact, it usually involves self-sacrifice, struggle, conflict, and confrontation. If I wanted something that worked for me, the last place I would find it is in a relationship where I am told to “take up my cross” daily, and “count it all joy when I encounter trials.”

My relationship with God works for Him. Glorifies Him. Magnifies Him. I humbly bow before His will, His desires, His plan because I am NOTHING. He is everything. I can create NOTHING. He created EVERYTHING.

Now,  don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of verses about how Jesus is our savior, our helper, our peace, our comfort...but that does not mean He is our genie who gives us our wishes and makes life nice and easy so we can do all we want to do. He is pretty clear that if He is Lord, HE is the one that calls the shots.

Nonetheless, it does give me boundless joy when He allows me to be a part of His miracles. When He turns a little darkness into light and eight babies are saved from death and I get a front row seat, I am overcome with wonder. Awesome wonder and delight.

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Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Matthew 10:38 

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Galatians 2:20  

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 8:31-32 

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The Mixed Emotions of Mother’s Day From a Sidewalk Counselor to Abortion-Minded Moms

God has called me to speak to mothers, to turn their hearts from abortion to life, from darkness and despair to the light of Jesus. Many of the moms I follow and minister to are post-abortive by the time they meet me. Many struggle. Some of their children are in rebellion or worse. None I work with regret the precious children they ushered into the world rather than aborted, but most are scrambling on stones of blessings too widely spaced across frothy rapids of troubles. 

It is hard to know just what to write to them on my daily email I send them all, since for many, Mother’s Day is filled with mixed feelings or outright sorrow.

These Hallmark Card days when we honor special people in our lives always cause angst for me. In each case, the imperfections in the relationships of our fallen world seem more glaring. Maybe some of your lives are perfect, with those special days unfolding like the happy verses and pictures on the special cards. For those whose are not, I pray God will whisper in your spirit, “It will be ok.”

I had a strange thought on a walk yesterday. I was thinking of those times in my life when every relationship was perfect for however brief a time. All was harmonious. Our thoughts and spirits were in perfect synch and love was exquisitely wholly present. Since God who created time and space is not bound by time and space, in a sense, He is always in every moment. 

I wondered if Heaven would be like that for us. Sin will be vanquished and the Bible says it is completely forgiven and covered by Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross which paid the penalty for our transgressions. Therefore, in our redeemed bodies with God, will we be able to capture forever those glimpses of whole and perfect moments that passed so quickly... with none of the nagging taint of sin marring the joy? No longer bound by time, will all we yearned for that we only caught for a second out of the corner of our eye then be our eternal reality? Will those perfect, joyous seconds in our lives that we wished we could hold on to forever really be ever before us? Is that what God means in the verse about how the years the locusts have devoured will be restored?

I am blessed that my sweet, gentle mom is still alive. She is a wonderful mother, and someone who I would have sought as my friend even if she were not my mother. I thank God for her and am grateful I can still call her in person to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. I know not everyone today will be able to do that, and my heart breaks for them.

However, take heart all of you who struggle with sadness on this day for whatever reason. To those who put their faith in God we are promised that all shame of our youth, all reproaches of our wounded relationships, all barrenness and desolation of our lives will be remembered no more. God will redeem all we have lost and He Himself will be our eternal joy.

Isaiah 54:1-10 

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. ...

The Final Journey

Years ago, I wrote my first book about my difficult but beloved Carolina Dog, Honeybun. The book was astonishingly successful, the number 1 dog book on Amazon for months following release. It caught the attention of a Carolina Dog Group on Facebook, and they reached out to me. I became fast friends with a group of strangers, united by our love of this amazing breed of ancient dogs.

One of those friends, Carrie, had a particularly lovable Carolina Dog. Poppy was the delight of Carrie’s life and a constant source of despair. Poppy was forever digging out of her spacious backyard to go and explore the world around her. Carrie would build increasingly massive barricades hoping to outwit Poppy...always to fail. Poppy got out of EVERY barricade. Concrete, wire, trenches, pallets stacked 4 high against the fence, electric collar...you name it, Poppy escaped it. Her escapades were an endless source of laughter for me and I even wrote a children’s book about her.

Poppy had an indefatigable wanderlust. She could not be contained.

When Poppy met an untimely death, Carrie was bereft. For all her trouble, Poppy was loved beyond measure. I know the feeling. My Honeybun was the same way. In fact, that is true of most of those I love deeply. For all their trouble, they are MORE than worth it. I guess in fact, Jesus says the same about us. All we have to do is look at what He suffered on the cross to pay a penalty He didn’t owe for crimes He didn’t commit. We did. He suffered terribly for the troubles we caused...but obviously believed we were worth it.

Anyway, Carrie had Poppy cremated and grieved her absence terribly. Then she came up with a brilliant idea. She contacted friends all over the nation who knew Poppy and loved her. She would split the ashes among all these friends, and asked that we bring Poppy to a special place for her final journey. She would  finally be unrestricted. She would be free to roam far and wide.

I received my little packet of ashes a couple of days ago but it was too windy to scatter them where I knew Poppy would want to be released. Also, I had come down with a knock-me-out killer cold. I felt wretched. However, yesterday, the weather report was for low winds and a nice hot day with no storms in sight. I knew, sick or not, this was the day Poppy and I were going kayaking.

I went to my favorite launch site. I shared the entire adventure on Facebook Live with Poppy’s Final Journey group. We set off in my kayak for a beautiful island that I kayak by all the time. I knew that was where Poppy would love to run free. She enjoyed swimming and she loved people. People were just a short swim from the island, and critters galore populated the island. 

I circled the island till I found the perfect spot to release Poppy. She would have a great view of the open river, and even a large Great Blue Heron rookery just off the tip of her island. 

I had not really prepared a send-off speech, but spoke off the cuff since I knew Carrie would be watching. Surprising myself, I choked up at the end, and spent much of the rest of my kayaking trip wiping away tears.

Carrie calls it Poppy’s final journey...but I actually like to think of it more as the beginning of her greatest journey. I hate death, but that is because I can only see it from my earthly perspective. All I can grasp with my senses is LOSS. Unbearable LOSS.

But the Bible reminds us that Jesus died to set us free forever from the penalty of death, of separation from God. Death will usher believers instantly into the presence of our Creator. All eternity awaits us. Infinite love. Release from the burdens of our mortal, failing bodies. No more constraints of Time, or Space, or Sin. We will be finally free, released to be who we were always intended to be.

Now I understand some people may challenge me on the theology of dogs in heaven. Don’t bother writing comments on that. There is no doubt there are animals in heaven, and actually, I can support why I believe dogs will be in heaven as well. But this is not a point worth fighting over since it is not critical to our salvation. So just dwell on the deeper meaning of your relationship with your creator.

Later, as Carrie watched the video of Poppy’s ashes floating away, she said, “Thank you so much. My heart feels lighter. I shall forever call that "Poppy's island.”

And so shall I now. When I kayak by, I will think of Poppy and her exciting new world with no more fences. There will be no more yearning for what is outside her boundaries. Eternity with God will be her home...as it will be Carrie’s...and mine. I pray it will be yours as well.

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Isaiah 11:6-9 NIV

[6] The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. [7] The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. [8] The infant will play near the cobra's den, the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest. [9] They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Whose Side Would You Rather Support? Life or death. God or Satan.

At the recent LoveLife prayer march in front of the abortion clinic on Latrobe drive, the pro-choice crowd spray painted these upside down crosses on all the trees. The upside down cross is a symbol of  disdain for Christianity, of the occult or Satan. Most of the women who come to abortion centers claim to be Christians. If the pro-choice crowd is so committed to helping women, why are they mocking the proclaimed faith of the vast majority of those who come to the clinic? When our director, Daniel Parks pointed this out to one of the pro-choice protesters, she spray painted a circle atop the cross to make it look like the symbol for women. Unfortunately, for her, a policeman saw her doing so and seized the spray paint bottle. This is against the law folks, to desecrate public property with graffiti.

The chalk messages left on the street by the pro-choice people to welcome the peaceful prayer walkers was equally telling.

You can draw your own conclusions.

Meanwhile, a woman who chose life for her son through the efforts of Cities4Life volunteers sent me a text with this picture:

She told me I could share the photo. Her text simply said, “I love him.”

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Joshua 24:14-15 

  “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

I Felt So Good When I Walked Out of That Abortion Clinic

Some days are five star days, and some are off the chart star days. Yesterday was a day for the record books of my life. God is an ever-present miracle maker, and the more we seek Him, the more abundantly He lavishes His presence upon us. Yesterday, a woman I first met at the abortion center as her family member went in for an abortion volunteered with Cities4Life  for the first time. This woman, S, was ON FIRE for God. She was there four hours, and I finally had to tell her she needed to go home, have lunch, rest....

She is the woman in orange in the photo above. She is as eager as any volunteer I have known to stand in obedience to God to pray for the unborn and encourage the abortion-minded moms to choose life. I felt like she was training ME rather than vice versa. I got called into our Monroe HELP Pregnancy Center RV to counsel a mom who wanted to see her baby on our mobile ultrasound unit. The training of our new volunteer was cut short. I could not believe it when she was STILL there when I came off the RV an hour later. She was still praying, and singing worship songs with our other team members.

The mom on the RV was keeping her baby, and two other women left with their precious children safe in their wombs. Three precious babies spared! I thought my day of speaking for the unborn was over, and went kayaking.

While I was on my boat, I got a call from yet another mom who had gone to the abortion center, taken our literature (with my name on it), gone in the clinic, but then, could not bring herself to abort her child. Despite significant fears for her health with this pregnancy, she stood firm. She would not abort. She called me for resources to help her.

As I shared the resources, we talked about God. As almost always happens, ( I always pray and beg God to engineer the situation), I was able to share the Gospel. The woman was hungry for the truth of God, and instantly asked to pray to change her life so that it was aligned with God. She humbly and beautifully prayed to submit her life to Jesus as Lord.

“I felt so good when I walked out of that abortion clinic,” she told me. 

When I shared God’s word regarding sexual purity outside of marriage, she told me she had been with her boyfriend for years. He wanted to get married. She hesitated. For years. But NOW, after proclaiming Jesus as Lord of her life, she was ready to move forward with marriage. Fear had held her back...and led to her disobeying God.

No more. She prayed: “Lord, guide me and use me the way you want me to go, my Lord and my savior.”

I am constantly humbled and inspired by the people I serve alongside, and by the women who turn their lives around in a single moment despite terrible circumstances. The mother told me that despite overwhelming temptation, when she turned away from her fear and to God, her entire outlook on life changed. 

“I feel so good. I can do this! With Jesus, I can do this.”

“Amen,” I said, “And we will help you too.”

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Psalm 123:1-2 

A Song of Ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.

Psalm 121:7 

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

Psalm 121:4 

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121:2 

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 119:105 

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 107:20 

He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

When God says COME...GO!

The sun is just barely risen. I  sit on my back porch listening to robins and cardinals greeting the new day. A woodpecker is the background drumbeat to the chorus of bird songs.  I woke up with a different song bouncing around in my head. I can never remember the lyrics of songs, but the refrain echoed over and over again, escaping the tomb of my feeble memory...

O come to the altar:

The Father's arms are open wide 
Forgiveness was bought with 
The precious blood of Jesus Christ…

We sang that song yesterday while a thousand women walked along the street upon which is nestled one of the busiest abortion centers of the Southeast. Our mission for the Love Life Charlotte Women’s Prayer Walk: pray. Pray for the women who would abort their precious child; pray for the fragile innocent babies; pray for an end to the horror of abortion.

I almost didn’t go. I had been there every day of the week except Wednesday when I had minor surgery on a basal cell carcinoma. I was feeling worn out.  Besides, I pray there every day, hours a day. However, when the morning dawned, I felt the pull of God.

Go.

So I went.

I was glad I did. The Bible says where two or more are gathered in His name, Jesus is among them. Imagine the palpable sense of God’s presence when a thousand are gathered in His name.

While standing in front of the abortion center with the thousand praying women, one of our Saturday Cities4Life sidewalk counselors came over to me. She told me she had spoken to a woman who was overwhelmed and there to abort, but Sara felt the woman was conflicted and might leave. 

“Please watch her car,” Sara told me, “We might need you to counsel her.”  Sara was returning up the street to try to encourage other abortion minded women streaming in to turn away.

So I watched. Just as the prayer group was filing slowly away up the hill, the car pulled out of the driveway of the abortion center. I was not able to reach the car in time to offer she come on our mobile ultrasound unit on the Monroe HELP Pregnancy Center RV. I texted Sara, “She left!”  I left the prayer group and joined my fellow sidewalk counselors.

Shortly thereafter, I was summoned to the RV. A SECOND mom was on the RV and they needed me to counsel. It turns out, the conflicted woman Sara had initially talked to had gone in the abortion center, but once inside, Sara’s words echoed in her head. So she left, deciding she should go on the RV. However, it was parked just out of sight and she didn’t see it. As she drove, she stopped to ask a woman from the prayer march if she knew where the RV was. That woman was Tara Quinn, the director of HELP Pregnancy Center whose vision had been the impetus for the first mobile ultrasound unit in NC to be outside an abortion clinic.

Tara hopped in the car to direct the woman to the RV. When I arrived, the woman was sitting in the RV, overwhelmed still, but knowing she could not and should not abort. Sara appeared a few minutes later, and with the nurse Courtney, we counseled this woman, sharing resources as well as the Gospel. She knew God but had clearly taken her eyes off His promises and put them on her struggles. Her struggles were not terrible. Honestly, she faced what nearly every new mother faces: Fear she was not up to the task. Wondering what the future would hold.

We talked about how easy it is to take our eyes off of Jesus. I reminded her of one of my favorite Bible stories that illustrates the danger of doing so. When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on water. When he put his eyes on the storm, he sank.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Then we took her to the back of the RV to the mobile ultrasound unit, where she would see her baby. She was very early in the pregnancy, but Courtney found that tiny baby and showed the mother the little baby, the yolk sac, and the clear embryonic sac which is a dark circle on the grey background of the rest of the uterus. The beating heart in that tiny little baby was instantly visible, a metronome of life!

I asked the mother what she thought of her baby now. 

“I am already in love,” she said.

I am so glad I went when God nudged me yesterday morning. Someone else would have counseled this sweet woman had I not been there, but then I would not have received that blessing.

And so here I am sipping my coffee, listening to the chorus of creation as the sun rises, with my head filled with refrains from yesterday’s worship songs and my heart filled with gratitude for the precious truth of Jesus Christ.

*******

Psalm 121 English Standard Version (ESV)

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.