Advocating for Those Who Have No Vote, No Choice

Today Charlotte elects a new mayor. This election matters to me. The Democrat city council and mayor have pushed to enact unnecessary zoning regulations as well as unfair misapplication of city codes to make it very difficult for a Cities4Life presence on the sidewalks of the busiest abortion center in Charlotte. The ‘pro-choice’ crowd that tells women NOT to talk to us, not to get our resources that could help them have been visited at the abortion center by Vi Lyles, the Democrat candidate for mayor. She spoke not a word to us, except to chastise me as I counseled a weeping, depressed woman curbside. No one has to guess where her loyalties lie. 

One woman we know of chose life yesterday. Over 420 women chose life  this year at the two Charlotte abortion centers where we offer hope and help other than abortion at that place of pain and destruction. All those precious babies born to mothers to whom we offer tangible help! Yet the ‘pro-choice’ group fights vigorously to deny them the choice we offer.

Yesterday, a woman was weeping in the parking lot. Her friend hugged her and was trying to comfort her. The girl, a frightened teen, didn’t know how to tell her parents she was pregnant. So instead of facing them, she was going to kill her baby even though she knew it was wrong and was already crying over the decision. How is the choice to go against one’s conscience out of fear ever a wise decision?  Sadly, as far as we knew, she went through with the  abortion. 

If only she had talked with us...

It certainly appears that if Vi Lyles and the ‘pro-choice’ crowd have their way, girls like that one will not have any opportunity to talk to us before the decision is finalized. Terrible consequences no longer reversible. So many stop on the way out and tell us, “I wish I had listened to you.”

Elections matter. Please vote today and please consider that our tiniest neighbors who have no vote, no voice, could lose their strongest advocates if the ‘pro-choice’ party continues in power.

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2 Thessalonians 2:10 

And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved

Instead of Self-Pity, Praise God

More fun with my new stylus and art program on my iPad Mini. I bought the mini with the intention of having a portable sketch pad only to discover that it was impossible to draw a straight line on the mini with a variety of styluses. I was feeling MIGHTY sorry for myself. Discouraged, I kept researching and saw the 53 Pencil stylus on sale on Amazon. Fully returnable, I decided it was worth a try. 

It worked!!! I could draw anything! I don’t love all aspects of the 53 Paper art application that is specifically made for the stylus. For one thing, I cannot change brush size so I am limited in applying color with it, but it has a very nice watercolor effect. I had a lot of fun playing with it despite its limitations. 

It proves one of the important lessons of life. Nothing is perfect so you do the best you can with what you are given.

Here is another example of that. I am on a cancer drug called Arimidex  for four more years. I have been on it about a year since my bout with breast cancer. In the past year, my normally very low blood pressure has been steadily rising. At the doctor’s suggestion, I bought a blood pressure cuff last week to start monitoring my BP. I have gotten readings like 160/100 (gasp!) and this morning, 150/30 (???). It is possible I am doing it all wrong...but more than likely, my blood pressure is going crazy.

I had asked one of my many doctors last week if the Arimidex could cause high BP and she said NO.

So this morn, I researched it myself. Get this!  It is well known that arimidex can cause high BP and it becomes tricky controlling it since so many meds interact. I will be calling my oncologist today.

But my point is, (besides requesting prayer), both high BP and cancer are very terrible. It may be difficult to treat both. Somehow, the doctor and I will have to arrive at a reasonable compromise that is the best of an imperfect situation. I could wallow in self-pity. I could seek revenge and be bitter towards the doctor who said there was no link between the drug and high BP, or the doctors who prescribed it in the first place without warning me. Would any of those responses help deal with the issue now?

All of us struggle to live in the best of an imperfect situation. We exist in a world that is tarnished deeply by sin. Evil, the result of sinful choices, destroys any hope of a peaceful, harmonious society. We all rail against it, knowing this is not fair....this is not how it should be. We know that because we all have that standard of what SHOULD be since God has planted that in each of us. 

We long deeply for what we cannot have here on earth. God warns us in this world you WILL have trouble...

Our sermon yesterday was wonderful (as usual) about the weeping prophet Jeremiah. We are in a section of that book where poor, suffering Jeremiah sees no end in sight to his troubles  and is overcome with self pity. He is indeed pitiable. He does not deserve what he is getting.

But the pastor made the point that while we cannot always change our circumstances, we can affect how we respond to them. Self-pity will never bring us to the place God wants us to go. In fact, instead of pitying Jeremiah, God responds with this: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.”

Mind you, Jeremiah has been speaking God’s word to a stubborn, rebellious people for forty years. They have persecuted and ignored him. God’s response at first blush seems a little harsh. But God recognizes that when we become self-pitying with a self-righteous cry about the unfairness of our situation, bitterness quickly takes root. Bitterness and desire for revenge is exactly where Jeremiah was headed. God knew the only antidote was to return to God, keep the focus on God, trust God. 

The takeaway: Repent of how we have wandered from God in thought or deed, and He will restore us that we may serve Him. 

The chapter ends with God’s promise that He is with Jeremiah to rescue and save him.

That is His promise to all of us. He doesn’t say when and He doesn’t say that He will alter the terrible situation we face. He says He will be with us and will not let the enemy overcome us. That thought in and of itself is bringing my blood pressure down. And my new stylus works on other art programs that are much better than the 53 Paper limited one.

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“Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails. Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭15:18-20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Trees Rejoice at His Coming Judgment

The trees are changing color here in subdued tones. Not the most spectacular fall I have seen. Already our birch tree in the front yard has lost most of its leaves. As the leaves flutter to the ground exposing the slim bare limbs, I imagine the trees clapping and stretching worshipful tendrils to God. Like in the verse above, the trees are shouting for joy, singing to God for His judgment is righteous and true.

I have been thinking a good bit about truth. What I believe is true is challenged daily on the sidewalks of the abortion center where our Cities4Life teams speak truth on behalf of the babies who cannot speak for themselves. Sometimes, I am stunned by the denial of truth, common-sense truth, that I see play to a gruesome conclusion each day I am there.

The ‘pro-choice’ activists there are continually mocking us and saying we lie. I certainly don’t ever intend to lie, but when one speaks as many hours as I do over the microphone  and calling out to the women, it is entirely possible I have said something inaccurate. If called on it, I would certainly check it out! However, what we say about the truth of God’s word is the only truth I know I can trust. It is solid. The relativistic truth of the ‘pro-choice’ movement is shifting sand.

But one of the men who was trying to shout me down for an hour one day this week as I spoke said something very interesting. I was speaking about absolute truth, absolute moral rights and wrongs. I believe they do exist, and logically must exist. I said, “Abortion is one of those things that at its core is wrong. Taking innocent human life is wrong, and we can help you so you don’t feel you need to do this.”

To my surprise, the “pro-choice” advocate shouted, “Of course it’s wrong. We all know abortion is wrong!”

Now he said more, maybe that we had no right to tell anyone not to do it just because it was wrong...but his admission stunned me. If it is wrong, he knows it is wrong, he publicly admits it is wrong, why is he so vigorously preventing women from speaking to us who have so many resources to help them make a choice for life?

Even the trees know a day of judgment is coming. They sing for joy before the Lord, heralding the day when He comes to judge the earth. That man will stand before a holy God one day, as we all will, and give an accounting of his life. We will all list what we have done, both right and wrong, before the Perfect Judge one day.

We will all see Jesus face to face on that day. We will all know then with no doubt that He is real, and that He has been beckoning to us for years, decades, epochs, to come to Him. To do what is right and flee from what is wrong. First and foremost, we will have to answer the question of how we followed and loved the creator of the universe and all life...or how we defied, mocked, and ran from Him.

The trees clap their hands in anticipation. Do you?

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Psalm 52:8 

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.

The Blind Allegiance of the “Pro-Choice” Movement

While we offered hope and help to women other than abortion on the sidewalks of the abortion center, the “pro-choice” crowd mocked and laughed as usual. I ignore them most of the time and stick to my message. However, what they say is a barometer of what some people believe and I like to have research and facts in hand to help dispel myths.

For example, one was adamant that a recent study showed only 5 % of women regret their abortion. When I got home, I looked at that study she cited. Not just the Times Magazine or Planned Parenthood take on the study, but the study itself. The sample was not a blind, random sample, but  was comprised of women who agreed to do the study, and who were paid after each follow-up interview. This is problematic from the get-go. 

Approximately 37% of eligible women completed the study. NEVER do I see the researchers pose the question what might make that 37 % agree to do this study, but not the other 63% ?  The answer is obvious to me. The women who were most deeply traumatized by the abortion are the ones least likely to want ANYTHING further to do with the source of their trauma. I sure would NOT have completed such a study. The sample size was 667 women.

In the USA this year alone, there have been about 780,000 abortions. World wide this year: about 34,000,000. How any legitimate researcher could make a sweeping generalization that women do not regret abortion from a sample of  667 self-selected women boggles my mind.  Of that sample, only 633 completed the full three years of interviews. 95% of  that small sample size reported not regretting abortion. Thus, from a self-selected sample of 633 women out of 34,000,000 women who abort each year, the researchers concluded that women do not regret abortions. 

They also found that women who had prior abortions reported less negative emotions. Isn’t that interesting? This may give a greater understanding of those most likely to participate in this study. Listen to this tidbit quoted from the end of the research study: Loss-to-follow-up did not differ by study group, sociodemographic characteristics, nor baseline decision rightness or negative emotions. However, women feeling more relief and happiness at baseline were less likely to be lost (mean score 3.8 for those maintained versus 3.0 for those lost, p = 0.03). 

In other words, those who felt relief and happiness after the abortion were the ones most likely to complete the research study. Again, no conclusion about how the study sample was thus biased from the beginning and likely to give the researchers only results of those who did not regret abortion, as opposed to a sample representative of all who abort.

Let me state the findings another way. About a third of the women who aborted in a small sample of abortion clinics agreed to do the study. As far as I could discern there was nothing to determine if there was a difference between those who chose to do the study and those who did not. Out of that third who agreed to do the study, the  3-year follow up was only completed with 633 women. Most of those who provided three-year interviews were those who did not regret their abortion, showing sample bias. Those who DID regret, were less likely to complete the study, in other words.  633 women total said they did not regret their abortion. That is .0018 percent of all women who abort. 

This is the finding upon which the “pro-choice” crowd was crowing proves 95% of women do not regret abortion.

Now let’s look at a studies in Finland from 2015 and 2016. They looked at national medical records. This was a truly random sample selection since all medical records of suicide victims were studied. In that study, they found that women who aborted were six times more likely to commit suicide than women who gave live birth. That sure sounds to me like women regretted their abortion. Click HERE for reference.

Other studies show regret plagues 25-50% of women who abort, and manifests itself in many areas of physical and emotional trauma. Click HERE for a description of those studies and references.

What this study DOES not examine or even mention is that even if women do not regret their abortion, (which I reject), is that what should determine the validity of the taking of innocent human life in the womb? The mark of a sociopath is lack of regret. Does that make his decisions to harm others valid or moral?

One of my counselor friends challenged the “pro-choice” woman to stay till the people who were aborting began to leave. Watch their faces, as we do. Then decide if they believed that flawed research study with sweeping generalizations and conclusions based on a small, biased sample. She laughed, and left before the wave of abortive women began coming out. The “pro-choice” advocates usually do depart early. When they have successfully ushered past us the women arriving to abort, preventing them as best they can from talking to us or receiving our resources, they leave.

I stay till about 1:00 usually, and yesterday was there till 1:30. Several women, as usual, drove out with pain etched on their face or tears streaming down their cheeks. One stopped in the driveway as I approached, and she rolled down her window. 

“Did you go through with it?” I asked.

She nodded and then began crying. I clutched her hand which she reached out to me.

“Take this booklet,” I said, “It will help you through this. My name and number is on it and you may call me any time. May I pray with you?”

Crying too hard to speak, she nodded, gripping my hand as though it were a lifeline.

As I prayed with her, the security guard came over. Interrupting my prayer as tears coursed down the woman’s face, he told her she could not block the driveway. (Not a single car was coming or going other than hers.)

I finished the prayer quickly and squeezed her hand. “Please call.”

“Thank you, honey,” she said.

Not a single “pro-choice” person remained to offer comfort. Their job was over that day as the door closed on the last patient entering the building where her baby would die.

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John 16:13 

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

A Dog Named Grace

I met an inspiring woman and dog on my walk yesterday. I first met the dog a few months ago while walking in our adjoining neighborhood. Each time I pass her on my regular route, she watches me eagerly. She wags her tail and looks at me with such longing that I almost stop to pet her. However, I know better than to pet a strange dog inside a fenced area. They can be territorial and many will bite as a result. 

So I always tell the dog what a good dog she is and how I wish I could pet her, but I hope she understands why I cannot. She looks disappointed, but the sweet friendly eyes watch me till I round the corner. Anyway, a couple of days ago, I met her owner walking her!

“I talk to your dog across your fence all the time!” I said. “I have always wanted to pet her but since I didn’t know her, didn’t feel it would be wise.”

The friendly dog was straining on her leash to come say hello. Her tail was wagging like an egg beater.

“Would you like to pet her now?”the owner asked.

“Yes!”

And so that is how I finally got to pet Grace. The owner and I exchanged names and I told her I loved her dog’s name and how apt it was for such a lovely, friendly dog. I learned she was a rescue dog, and newly acquired a few months ago.

“She is friendly,” the owner said, “In fact, I am thinking of having her test to be a therapy dog.” (Therapy dogs travel to places like nursing homes to be a comfort and joy to the senior citizens there. They must be well-behaved and love people.)

“Good luck!” I called as we parted ways.

Then yesterday, I met the pair again. This time we stopped to talk for a longer stretch. I found out that the owner had undergone a very serious surgery just weeks ago. The doctors found more troubling issues when they opened her up, and she faces a daunting future. However, she did not dwell on it, nor express concern. She said that she had other exciting news. She took the plunge and signed Grace up for the therapy dog test next week. This lovely woman who could rightfully hide away in her home and feel sorry for herself with her serious condition was instead determined to bring her sweet, friendly dog out to help others.

“Well I will be praying she does well!” I said.

“She is an amazing dog,” the woman said, “She’s only fifteen months old and she’s so calm and so gentle... I’ve only had her four months and look at what a wonderful dog she is.”

“I guess God knew what you needed,” I said.

She clutched my hand, looking into my eyes. Sometimes you know without a single word of confirmation when you have met someone filled with the Holy Spirit.

“You got that exactly right,” she said.

Grace. Beautiful grace that abounds with hope.

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2 Corinthians 12:9 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

What Would the Baby Choose?

The sidewalk of the abortion center was filled with pro-life volunteers yesterday. There were two different large groups there learning about our work and praying as well as several of our regular volunteers.

Two women chose life, and several took our information. There were double the number of pro-life volunteers than abortive moms. It was an amazing show of concern for the unborn and I was glad to be a part of it. 

Near the end of the morning, one woman stopped her car and rolled down her window. 

“Hello,” I said, “Here is our information with my name and number on it. We have so many resources to help you. Would you consider coming on our RV for a free ultrasound of your baby?”

“Oh I’m not pregnant,” she said.

I turned to her friend in the passenger seat. “How far along are you?” I asked.

“She’s not pregnant either,” the driver said.

“I see. Well all they do here are abortions,” I said. 

The woman opened her mouth, but snapped it closed.  Pause. “I have to go....I have an appointment.”

“Do you believe in God?” I asked. “I see you have a cross around your neck.”

“I do believe in God but it’s not a cross. It’s an Egyptian Ankh, the symbol for LIFE.”

I raised my eyes brows and waited with the proverbial “pregnant pause.”  She smiled, uncomfortably.

“Look, I believe in the right to choose,” she said.

“How about the baby’s right to choose? Does she get a choice in this? What do you think she would choose?”

The woman again opened her mouth to answer, but confused, closed it again.

“I don’t want to be rude, but I have to go,” she said.

“I pray you will reconsider and call me,” I told her.

That woman was in and out of the abortion center several times. Each time, we called to her. When it was time for all of us to leave, the woman was still sitting in her car. I pray that she was trying to discern what the baby’s choice would be.

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Job 34:4 

Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.

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.”

Never Give Up Because You Never Know When God Might Intervene

The adorable boy in the photo is here because Cities4Life was on the sidewalks of the abortion center when his mom feeling desperate and trapped showed up to abort her baby. She came with her own mom. Her mom stopped on the way in to the abortion center,  and took a pamphlet from me with my name and number on it. I knew she was conflicted, though she seemed to feel her daughter had no choice but to abort. Still, she claimed to know God, and she was sorrowful over the choice. 

I was sad when it was time for our Cities4Life team to head home, and the mother and her pregnant daughter had not emerged. We had hoped they might choose life. However, as far as we knew, they had gone through with the abortion. They had been in there a long time. We had all spoken and pleaded  with them on the microphone and called out to them as they walked from their car. All to no apparent avail.Our mobile ultrasound RV packed up, and drove off to Monroe while we all dispersed for home.

I had just walked in my door when I got a phone call.

“Hello,” the woman said, “We are following the bus.”

“Excuse me?”

“We are behind the bus...the one that was at the abortion clinic. We want an ultrasound. Can you call the bus driver to pull over?”

I was totally confused. “How did you find the RV?” I asked.

“We saw it pull out of the abortion clinic street.”

“How do you have my name and number?”

“You gave us a pamphlet. We want to see the baby. Can you stop the bus?”

Now I understood what had happened. The woman had changed her mind after hearing our words as well as her mother’s prayers. She wasn’t convinced she could do this...not by a long shot...but she was willing to see her baby. 

I called the bus.

However, the driver didn’t answer. So I called HELP Pregnancy Center, our partner ministry that sends out the RV. I told them the situation. They urged me to direct the mom to their building. They would show her her baby.

This was two years ago so the details after that are a little fuzzy. I know at one point, they did see their baby but I don’t believe it was that day. However, I gave them a couple of hours, and then I called them. The pregnant lady, who I will call Abigail to preserve her privacy, answered. She was distraught. She faced very dire circumstances. However, she had been raised in a Christian home and knew abortion was wrong. What could she do?

It was a long time ago. I don’t know what I said but I know I shared our resources and promised that even though she lived over two hours away, we would find a way to help her. I prayed with her and we talked about God and in the end, she shakily agreed to give us a chance, and the baby a chance. Shortly thereafter, we were able to help her into an apartment, Cities4Life supporters fully furnished the apartment, we sent her all she needed for the first two years of the baby’s life, and even helped her mom into an apartment. 

We stayed in touch off and on. I send her daily Bible verses and she contacts me with photos now and then of her son and with gratitude of all we did to help her. Recently, she had a burglary in her home and lost $2000 worth of possessions. She is on a shoestring budget and this was a terrible blow. She didn’t know how she could provide anything to her kids for Christmas. I told her I felt certain our generous supporters would help, and put a plea on facebook. Some of her wish list has already been promised by our generous donors. Others are considering “adopting” her family for Christmas and taking over the entire list. I am praying that will happen.

While I was on the phone with her, as often happens, we began talking about God. She told me that if she were to die today, she would go to hell. She told me she tries so hard, but is never doing all she knows she should be doing for God. This poor woman was working so hard to earn her way to heaven when the Bible is clear that she would never succeed. None of us can do that. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our eternal salvation is not dependent on our works which are filthy rags to a perfect God, but on faith alone. Over the next hour, I presented the incredible truth of the Gospel, and this lovely, weary woman prayed with me to ask Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.

If the pro-choice folks had their way, I would never have been able to have given that sweet woman our pamphlet, she would very likely have aborted, and she would have none of the vast range of resources and things that our ministry had supplied for her. What is perhaps most tragic is she might not have heard the redemptive message of the love of Christ and laid aside the burden that was crushing her soul.

All you who labor in God’s work and wonder if your efforts are worth it or if maybe you should just give up, take heart. You never know when or how God is preparing those who need you to persevere on their behalf. 

If you have a church group that would like to take over and adopt this precious family to help with Christmas, please email me at vkaseorg@cities4life.com 

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Ephesians 2:8-9 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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.