Hot Chocolate Proved A Commitment for Life Over Abortion

Yesterday, I was standing in a cold, icy downpour with our Cities4Life team. We were all soaked and chilled. Our nurse, Courtney, who does the mobile ultrsounds on moms who choose life was lamenting that since she had switched days on the sidewalk, no women had come aboard the RV. No sooner had she said that when a car pulled out of the parking lot of the abortion center. The car stopped in front of the RV for one of our counselors, and told her she had changed her mind and would like to have an ultrasound.

Since I am responsible for training our volunteers, I was the lucky one that got to counsel this mom on the RV, and have Kyndra, newly trained for RV counseling, shadow and learn the flow of how we work with the women who come aboard. Kyndra immediately asked the young lady if she would like some coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.

The woman who thus far had shown little emotion perked up at the word hot chocolate on this drenching cold day.

“Hot chocolate! But can I have hot chocolate?” she asked.

Since we had just offered it, I wondered why she was asking.

“Will it harm my baby?”she clarified.

Remember, just ten minutes ago, this woman had been sitting in an abortion center ready to destroy her baby. Now, sitting on the RV surrounded by people telling her she could be the mama God designed her to be and we would help her, her focus and concern was to protect her baby.

God was not done with touching moments to warm my heart. We all went to the back room to do the ultrasound. Kyndra stood beside me, quietly observing as she had been told to do. The image of the baby appeared on the screen. I heard an intake of breath by Kyndra. 

“That’s the baby?”she whispered to me.

“Yes,” I said, “Is this the first time you have seen an ultrasound?”

She nodded.

And then Courtney pointed to the tiny beating heart. “That’s the heart,” she said.

Kyndra burst into tears, covering her face. “These are tears of joy,” she explained, wiping her eyes.

“She’s crying over the miracle of seeing your baby’s heart,” Courtney told the young mama.

“AWWWW,” the young woman said.

I think Kyndra’s tears over the miracle of the heartbeat of a baby who a few minutes before was doomed to die was perhaps the most pivotal moment on the RV that day. The mother made a solid choice for life, and Cities4Life and Lovelife Charlotte will help her in the journey before her.

But God was not done with this string of miracles. The friend who accompanied the young lady told us that she had come to this abortion clinic over a year ago, intending to abort. She had taken one of the pamphlets that our counselors hand out to the women, and changed her mind! She left the clinic, telling no one she had chosen life. She still has our pamphlet.

Christmas is when we celebrate the greatest miracle of all. God became flesh, born a tiny baby who became a man who knew no sin, to pay the penalty of sin for us. By His sacrifice, we would be saved when we put our trust and our hope in Him. It is incomprehensible that He would do that for us, but He  did.

But miracles abound every single day, and all the more astonishingly in the darkest places like an abortion center. God instantly encouraged a faithful nurse who needed that uplift. He turned the heart of a woman bent on death instead to life. He gave a new young counselor the privilege and joy of being an integral part of a little baby living to see her first Christmas.

Our ministry is dependent on volunteers and donations to continue to bring hope and help and the light of the Lord to this dark place. Please consider donating in our end of year matching funds opportunity. Click HERE for information. Or join us, and be a brave voice for the voiceless like Kyndra whose tears bathed the soul of a conflicted new mother.

Merry Christmas.

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Luke 1:44 

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

I Cancelled My Abortion, Not My Baby

Some choices for life at the sidewalk of the abortion center are sweeter than others. All the babies are precious souls saved from a barbaric brutal death and our Cities4Life teams rejoice over every one. This woman looked at me as she got out of her car, and the conflict in her soul was palpable. I was there on the sidewalk of the abortion center earlier than usual. If I had not been, I would have missed her. I called out to her and I knew she was listening. She walked into the abortion center anyway. I then lifted my hands to heaven and prayed out loud. I don’t often do that, mostly because I am self -conscious and don’t want to be too weird,  but I knew in my soul this woman was on the fence. Divine intervention was crucial.

A few minutes later she came out. “Please, let us help you,” I called.

“I’m okay,” she said, getting in her car. 

However, as her car pulled out of the driveway, I approached her again and she rolled down her window. She took our pamphlet. I asked if she chose life, and she didn’t answer. She and her friend said, “It is very hard.”

To my amazement, she pulled to the side of the road, and listened to me as I shared our resources. And then she agreed to go on the Monroe HELP RV to see her baby on the mobile ultrasound. When she saw her acrobatic, active child on the ultrasound, she said, “Seeing my baby already loving his life...it makes what was uncertain in me a certainty now.  Even though I don’t know how I will get through, I know this first decision is right.”

I asked her and her friend what made them leave the abortion center. They both agreed it was God...but more specifically, “When we walked through that door, you could feel a weight of heavy despair. Maybe in some there was relief, but it was only temporary. I mean, at the end of the day, it is a LIFE. As a mortal, do we have the right to take its life? No. We don’t.”

The “prochoice” people told them not to stop, not to talk to us. But our offers of help were compelling, and welcome. They stopped, and were so grateful they did. We talked a long time about God, how righteous lives are built on one righteous step followed by another, and the myriad resources that could help. 

After the sweet young mother, relieved and joyful left, I read what she had written on her intake form answering what she felt was the best decision regarding her child:

I cancelled my abortion...not my baby.

1 John 3:7 

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

Cities4Life

What Kind of Hard Boiled Egg Are You?

My grown son requests my Deviled Eggs each Thanksgiving. I can really give my brilliant and well-married son nothing that he doesn’t already have in abundance, except my Deviled Eggs. I am pretty good with Deviled Eggs.

So it is a labor of love and one I joyfully tackle each Thanksgiving. I may have failed in most of my parenting endeavors, but I made delicious Deviled Eggs for my children.

This past Thanksgiving, I was as usual busy before Thanksgiving with the single task assigned to me by my precious daughter-in-law. I was whipping up 4 dozen Deviled Eggs. All the eggs came from the same carton. All were boiled together in the same pot for the same amount of time. All were then submerged in the same cold water.

Yet when I peeled the shells from the eggs, they were decidedly different. They basically fell into one of two camps: the incredibly effortless easy to peel egg, or the rebellious impossibly hard to peel egg. 

Why? How? 

I cracked the eggs using an identical procedure, rolled them all gently in my palms in the exact same manner. Nonetheless, while some eggs’ shells glided away in two easy halves leaving perfect hard boiled eggs behind, others splintered and each small millimeter of egg shell had to be painstakingly peeled away, often pulling chunks from the white of the egg. Sadly, in many cases, what remained were deformed and pitted eggs that sometimes had to be tossed in the garbage.

Why? How? 

Why were some eggs almost begging to be effortlessly peeled, and others fighting me every step of the way?

I don’t know. I was the same Deviled Egg Cook using the exact same methods for all the eggs God had given me.

Some emerged as masterpieces. Some were utter disasters.

What was God telling me?

Sometimes, the best I can do is show up in obedience to do the work set before me. I cannot guarantee the results. Unique, intangible qualities that I have no control over may affect the outcome. For me to take credit for the easily peeled egg is as foolish as for me to be punished for the hard to peel egg.

The Holidays are fraught with emotional baggage. Some of us are struggling with wounds we don’t even know we have that bring inexplicable pain to a time when everyone else is rejoicing. Some of us have experienced loss, or unrealistic expectations, or deep disappointments over things we cannot control. 

Some of us have been given easy to peel eggs, and some of us have only had the hard to peel variety.

My suggestion is to recognize that we probably cannot control which type we are handed. What we can control is to peel them to the best of our ability and make the best Deviled Eggs we can with the tools we have been given.

I hope that helps you.

Merry Christmas.

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“So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:7‬ ‭

My Confidence is in the Lord

Hebrews 4:16 

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When life takes unexpected turns and we face hurdles our tired bones are not quite nimble enough to clear, God always seems to reach out in miraculous ways to assure us He will lend a hand. Sometimes it is through the kindness of friends, the gentleness of a sweet encouragement from strangers, or just someone who listens to the cries of a weary soul. In my life, nearly always, God intervenes by reminding me I have purpose before Him, and if I obey His call, He will confirm the source of my confidence. Him.

I was on the sidewalk of the busiest abortion center in the southeast all but one day this past week with our awesome Cities4Life teams.  I will admit, my heart was heavy with many struggles and as I drove to the place that God has so clearly called me, I wondered how my distracted soul could be of any use. Yesterday, it was very cold and our team was very small. At one point, a couple stood on the porch of the abortion center, clearly conflicted. I called out to them the whole time, offering hope and help, encouragement and pleading. They went to their car and sat in the car a long time. My fellow counselor prayed with me as we asked God to intervene.

We rejoiced as the couple finally drove away. They looked at me, troubled, as they pulled slowly down the street. They stopped as they passed our RV parked on the curb, clearly reading the slogans along the side offering help. Another of our counselors waved to them and they stopped and rolled down the window. I was already on my way over as they had slowed at the RV, bringing a blessing bag of gifts with me. I knew they had chosen not to abort.

As I approached, it was clear this couple did not speak English. The man spoke a little and asked, “How can you help?”

After determining they spoke Russian, I pulled out my phone and accessed Google Translator. In this manner, I managed to share our resources and offer hope and encouragement. At one point, in English, I asked, “Do you believe in God?”

The woman smiled and spoke the only clear sentence in English of her entire interaction with me: We believe in God.

The unedited/unpunctuated screenshot of part of our texts back and forth is pasted above. When I sent the portion of my discussion copied above, I handed her the blessing bag. I pulled out a little handmade baby blanket and told her she had a choice. She could wrap her child one day in this soft beautiful baby blanket, or she could instead abort and the child would be disposed as medical waste in a biohazard bag. Which would she prefer?

Her eyes filled with tears and she nodded as she held the blanket. 

“We will call you,” the man said, touching his wife’s arm. “Thank you so much.”

There were many miraculous interventions by God. First, we did not have a nurse for the mobile ultrasound RV that day. Normally, it would not be there if we didn’t have a nurse to do the ultrasound. However,  due to some miscommunication, the faithful driver didn’t know that and drove the two hour round trip anyway to bring it to the sidewalk. He could have gone home when he realized there was no nurse, but instead, he said he would stand with us on the sidewalk.

It was the HELP Pregnancy Center RV with the large message of HELP written on its side that compelled the distraught couple to stop. If Chris the driver had not been there, they may not have stopped to get the help they needed in their choice for life.

If we had been unable to communicate with the couple, we could not have offered help either. But technology aided me...me... who is about the least technologically savvy person on earth.

And when I was speaking to them via Google Translator, Liz, my fellow counselor made some calls and found a Russian interpreter who would help as needed down the road.  Later I asked other friends for Christian interpreters who might be able to help us and at least five people volunteered.

I have NO confidence that I am able to offer anything to alleviate the difficulties we encounter in women each day on the sidewalk. Lord knows I have no confidence I can even handle the situations I personally face. 

But God is able...and my confidence is in Him.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and all our needs will be satisfied when we trust God’s provision. He is sufficient. I am so humbled and grateful for the ministry of Cities4Life where I am daily reminded of this incredible truth.

To volunteer with this amazing ministry, click here for information.

Satan Really Wanted to Destroy This Precious Baby

A year ago, the mother of the baby on the far left, Izzy, met me at the abortion center sidewalk. She was there to abort her child, but God had other plans. She looked at the Cities4Life literature I slipped in to her as she drove into the parking lot. Her heart was convicted and she chose life. She called me, listened intently as I shared the Gospel, asked Jesus to be Lord, and since then, has strived to follow God as best she can.

Recently, she was driving her truck with her boyfriend. Her baby Nazzy was in the car seat in the back seat. The lights on the dashboard flickered, then the truck engine stalled. Izzy noticed smoke oozing out from under the hood. As they pulled to the side of the road, the smoke intensified, followed by flames! Fortunately, it was a quiet back road. Smoke and fire billowed in impressive plumes. Despite the obvious explosive danger of that truck now in flames, Izzy frantically wrenched open the door, pulled little Nazzy’s car seat from the base, and sprinted with the baby away from the truck. Across the field from the truck, she photographed the burning vehicle while her boyfriend ran to summon help.

Later, Izzy sent me another picture. The truck was totaled but she asked her boyfriend to see if any items were salvageable. In particular, she wanted him to see if her daughter’s few things in the truck and a special notebook had been spared. Sadly, the fire had engulfed everything but the notebook. The notebook did not have a single charred mark upon it. It was a notebook where she recorded special Bible verses and her musings about what God was doing in her life.

The fire that consumed everything else in the truck left the notebook with the word of God untouched.

The truck is destroyed, but this faithful little family is safe. The mother who once thought she desired to take the life of her unborn baby now risked her life to save her. Satan has repeatedly tried to destroy this precious little baby, but God has other plans. 

I seem to never face smooth, quiet stretches in life. There is always something on the verge of exploding. Maybe you can relate. Izzy’s story is one of God’s providence and Hope, and inspires me.

Cling to your loved ones, flee from evil, and summon help from the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:29 

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Isaiah 43:2 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.