What if No One Had Been There to Offer An Alternative to Abortion?

We had a baby shower yesterday for a mom who chose life over abortion. The mom lives in a neighborhood where a murder recently occurred. I have to admit that I asked a few people for prayer. With racial tensions on edge lately, I was concerned about how my presence would be received. 

I needn't have feared. My partner, Sheryl of Truth and Mercy Prolife Ministries, and I were the only white people I saw in the entire area. However, the sweet woman I will call "Y" greeted us with an apartment filled with welcoming friends. As they entered, they gawked at the lavish display of baby shower items, everything the baby would need for two full years. Every friend, the mom, and the grandmom were crying. Not only had we brought baby things, but also bags of clothes and items for the other children as well.

"Bless you, bless you!" they all told us. They hugged us and told us they could not believe the abundant outpouring of tangible love they were seeing. All of them gushed tears.

"Are those happy tears?" Sheryl asked Y.
She nodded, dabbing tissues against her eyes.
"I don't know what to say," Y told us, "I am overwhelmed."

Mission accomplished. Our goal is to show the moms who choose life how lavishly God loves them and their child. God's love should move us all to act when others are in need. That is the mission of Cities4Life and its partner ministries. Show Christ's love through us. Transform a hurting world, a fractured city and nation through the transformative love of Jesus in tangible ways through His people.

Everyone in the neighborhood waved to us, and smiled at us. They all knew we had come to bless a young, unmarried mother in need...a mom who had considered abortion in a battle over two precious souls: hers and the baby's.

"What changed your mind?" Sheryl asked her later as we sat down to a quiet dinner with just Y while her mother watched her other children.
"I wondered what made the baby in my womb any different than my other children," Y told us. "And I thought: would God consider it murder? What would He think if I took the life of my own baby?"

Amen.

Here is the very sad truth. If Cities4Life hadn't been there on the sidewalks that day, what would have happened? Y was in difficult circumstances with a newly fractured relationship that had broken her heart. She responded to the immediate crisis by an emotional decision to abort because everything at that moment looked bleak.

As soon as she met us, went on our mobile RV, saw her baby on the ultrasound, heard about all the hope and help and love that was there to encourage her, her entire outlook changed. All of her other children were at the shower, delightful smiling well-behaved cherubs.
"Who is this all for?" one of the little children asked. Then she patted her mom's belly, "For her?"
Y nodded, one hand resting on her belly, the other on her young child's head.

What would she have had to tell the siblings if Cities4Life hadn't been on the sidewalk the day she came to kill their sister?
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Matthew 25:35-40

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ...

Galatians 6:2

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Deuteronomy 15:11

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

Each Time Someone Chooses Life...It All is Worth It

Juli shares why she stands so boldly on the sidewalks of the abortion center

 Yesterday, our team fought a hard battle at the abortion center. Our Cities4Life director, Daniel Parks, and I tag-teamed speaking for hours to the friend of an abortion minded woman. She went from refusing to approach us, to praying with us, and to agreeing if her friend came out, she would bring her to us. We all paced in prayer when the abortive mom came out. I NEVER shut up when a mom is in sight, but I felt God telling me JUST PRAY and be silent now.

Our heavenly choir of young people sang songs of hope. Our new counselors spoke on the microphone to other moms, with a message largely intended for the women Daniel and I had been trying so hard to reach.

In the end, that friend talked the abortive woman into leaving with her baby safe, and our team rejoiced. She was one of two women who chose life. Sometimes, listening to my team members speak so eloquently and gently for the life of the babies makes we want to cry. So much love is present in this ministry. Such deep desire to help and to express the magnitude of God's love for all humans, made in His image. When a soul that was on the road to terrible destruction turns because they heard something from us that made them reconsider, I can hardly contain my joy. 

Below is the testimony of one of our counselors, explaining the circumstances that led her to volunteer with Cities4Life.

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After several years of rebellion, God graciously saved me at the age of 15. My second oldest sister, Pat, faithfully shared the Gospel with me during the years of my teen angst. When I made a decision to follow the Lord, I also decided to move in with my sister’s family and attend their church in Boone, NC. That same sister told me about the hidden atrocities of abortion. I was shocked to learn the truth of this socially accepted tragedy. I will never forget the graphic brochures my sister shared with me of tiny human extremities ripped apart from surgical abortions, intact full-term infants in trashcans after prostaglandin inductions, or the disfigured remains of a child burned to
death during a saline procedure. 

For my senior year project, before high school graduation, I chose abortion as my topic. I still remember my teacher tucking away the poster, covered with graphic pictures of the tiny discarded human beings. Although she was pro-life, I’m not sure she appreciated my tactic. Since then I’ve had dreams of being involved in the care and rescue of “unwanted” children.  God made this desire even stronger as my husband, John, and I walked through infertility and realized we couldn’t have children of our own. By God’s amazing grace and kindness, we have since adopted five children locally. 

Throughout the years, my husband and I have also participated in several pro-life prayer walks, but I wasn’t sure how else to get involved. Eventually, a friend from church appealed for people to join her to peacefully protest at Hebron abortion center, which then led me to Latrobe (one of busiest abortion centers in SE.)

I’ve been serving at Latrobe since that time.

Although the atmosphere is heavy whenever I’m at the clinic, each time someone chooses Life it makes all the seemingly fruitless hours worth it. Also, the fellowship I’ve experienced with fellow believers on that dark street has been a rich balm to my soul. I love interacting with and seeing the body of Christ join together for so great a cause. I’m grateful for the opportunity to make this stand for Life with all of you. 

Thank you for your regular example of bravery, self-sacrifice, love for the Lord, and care for the lost. You are my heroes. An encouragement to my soul. More than that, I’m confident that your efforts have not gone unnoticed by our Savior. Keep fighting the good fight! (1 Tim 6:12)
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James 5:20

Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth 

Choosing Light Over Darkness on the Day of the Eclipse at the Abortion Center

Eclipse shadows all over my face and our deck during the totality of Eclipse in Charlotte

The talk of the nation was all centered on the eclipse yesterday. I was prepared, having made a viewing box per the Boy Scouts instructions. Maybe it wasn't as fancy as solar eclipse glasses, but those were sold out and cost money. My box was free.

But first, as on all Mondays, I went to the sidewalks of the abortion center to plead with the women to choose life. Every one of our team members spent time calling out to the women, and most of us mentioned the clear symbolism of the eclipse. The sun would be darkened, but then would pass into light again. Please Mamas, choose light, choose life. Run from the darkness of sin and the evil of abortion. Run to the Light of the Lord!

In truly miraculous succession, three women in a row left the abortion center! Two told us they chose life. A third drove away, and then came back to tell me she had chosen life as well. We had worked so fervently to speak of Jesus, hope, and His light shining in the darkness that this precious woman felt compelled to tell us she had changed her mind; she wanted us to know.

I offered her our full complement of resources, all of which she needed. She was overcome with gratitude, having no idea so much help was available. Then we began talking about God and I shared the truth of the Gospel with her. She told me she had wandered from God, let the desires of the world pull her away from what she knew God wanted for her life.

"If I act, dress, and look just like the world...is Jesus really who I am following?" she asked herself. What a beautiful, insightful opening for me to share the wonderful truth of the Gospel.

 I asked if she would like to ask Him now to be Lord of her life, to repent of her sins, and to live now in submission to His will. She would! There, in her car, in front of the very place where she had faced her greatest temptation yet to disregard God, she prayed to ask Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.

After we prayed together, she told me that now she just needed strength to stay true to God. I told her our strength would always fail, but God's NEVER would. She had not known about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit which indwells every believer. I think she was comforted to know that in the Holy Spirit we have a friend, a guide, power, and strength to lead us to righteousness. We do not walk alone.

A fourth person left the center without aborting! Now it was time for the eclipse. I hurried home, and sat in my back yard with my eclipse box, guaranteed to work by the Boy Scouts of America.

As the eclipse progressed, I gazed in my box and saw the moon slowly eating away at the full bright image of the sun. It reminded me of how insidiously bit by bit sin robs us of the light of truth, of God. Our world becomes darker and darker as we fall prey to the enticement of sin's pleasures for a season, losing the vision of what the full bright glory of God in our lives is meant to be.

It was a small image in my box, but clear. As the moon continued to move across the blazing sun, the sky slowly darkened. The Mourning doves, which I usually only hear in the morning, began to coo. And then, as the eclipse was about 5 minutes from totality (which in Charlotte was 98% occlusion of the sun), the crickets began chirping. The video below does not really capture the eerie lighting, but you can hear the crickets.

I was a little sad I could not look at the sun, and was wishing I had managed to scrounge up some glasses. As totality hit its zenith, I returned to my porch and saw a miracle. THOUSANDS of little crescent corollas of the sun danced across my deck.

I had not expected that AT ALL! It was spectacularly beautiful, those cast images of the sun!  I could not look directly at the sun or I'd be blinded, but God had let me see it's glory in a completely unimagined way.

Isn't that just like God? To take the darkness and shatter it with glimmering pieces of light to fill us with joy, with hope, with life! And not as we anticipate God might send us revelation, but in a most unlikely manner....like a baby who would be born to save the world.

My son posted a picture on Facebook similar to the one above. He too had seen the beautiful images of the sun in his city, five hours from me. He too was awed by the beauty and wonder of it. It warmed my heart to know my dear son gazed on the same shimmering waves of beauty and was moved by them as I was.

It was God proclaiming, "Out of the darkness, light! Out of ashes, beauty! Out of death, life!"

All the universe was shouting His glory, on the sidewalks of the abortion center in the heartbeats of four saved babies, and in the crescent gleams of light on my porch. To God be all glory and praise!

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Ephesians 5:14

For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Running to Incomparable Joy

I love my kayak. Here I am, leaning on my beloved kayak, sitting in the incredibly refreshing water of the Catawba. It was such a beautiful day, and the peace of God was so present. I could have burst with the joy of it all.

And then how could I NOT be filled with joy seeing giant rubber duckies on the river? No ONE could pass this pair of six foot high ducks and not giggle.

Then I passed THIS. If you look closely you will see this is a boat with a TREE growing out of its motor. How long has this boat sat unused in the dock for a TREE to be growing in its motor? Here is this gorgeous lake and someone who owns a wonderful boat...and it is UNUSED...likely for months, if not years.

This is the sad state of most people. Most of us have ALL the power, joy, delight, beauty, and transformative truth of God right in front of us...and we ignore it. We don't claim it. We don't use it. We deny it is even there.

And a world of delight is denied us through our own foolish lack of vision and neglect of the most important thing on earth.

Open your eyes! Seize the offer before you. Turn from the fruitless defiance and sin against God who longs for you to join Him, not oppose Him. Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sin. Do you accept? Yes or no? Please don't say no.

All who seek the Lord will find Him. All who knock on the door will watch it spring open. He is so eager to lavishly, abundantly bless you. Don't let a tree grow while you tarry. Today is the glorious day of salvation. My prayer for you all is that the incomparable joy of Jesus will overwhelm you today and you will run, RUN, to Him. Now!
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I will be on the sidewalks of the abortion center during the eclipse today. I am hopeful that those blinded  not by closing their eyes while gazing at the sun but by closing their eyes to the redemptive truth of the Gospel and the sacred value of human life will OPEN their eyes to the miracle of grace, mercy, and love that awaits them. As they pour out of the abortion center,  our Cities4Life teams will offer them a wealth of resources to help them in their walk with God and with their life with the babies still safe in their wombs. I will also share my homemade eclipse box so they can look at the eclipse and not be blinded.

Psalm 16:11

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

Nehemiah 8:10

Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

A Man of God

Patrick drives the enormous new state of the art RV an hour each way from HELP Pregnancy Center to Latrobe Drive abortion clinic nearly every day. My understanding is he retired from his work to be able to do that since he feels so strongly that the mobile ultrasound unit upon that RV must be available to help abortion minded moms choose life. It is not easy for Patrick financially, but he always puts God's call before all else.

When it is beastly hot, as it has been all summer, Patrick follows me like a hawk. He asks me often if I am staying hydrated and then hops onto the RV and gets me water if I pause in responding. He does this for all the Cities4Life sidewalk counselors.

I often stay later than the others, especially if I have managed to get someone to talk with me from the abortion center. Patrick NEVER leaves until I am safely in my car again and heading home. If I am counseling someone that worries Patrick, he hovers nearby keeping an eye on me. I am safe in Patrick's presence; he is an ex-soldier and firefighter.

Why does this brave, committed Christian sacrifice so much for ministry on the sidewalks of the Southeast's busiest abortion center? Patrick tells us .

Grace and peace to you from the Savior Jesus Christ,

My sister in Christ, Vicky asked me to write on her blog about what brings me to this abortion clinic and why I keep coming back. Those are some very good questions, however the answers are as not as simple as I would like them to be.

You see, my Lord Jesus said, "As my Father sends me, so I am sending you." And as my Lord came from heaven sent by His Father, so the Lord Jesus is sending me. It is my responsibility to share with all, the good news (the Gospel) of my Master Jesus the Messiah.

I always start the day early in prayer and asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom to speak to all that I come in contact with. It is not always on the best of terms there, but it is on the terms in which we minister. It is a place where the spirit of murder dwells, and the spirit of child abuse and the spirit of rebellion and witch craft run, and try to impose themselves on all that come to that location.

It is truly a matter of life and death, to those who come as clients, as workers inside the building, for those who escort the ladies from the cars to the building, to the two security guards and to the doctors who actually take the lives of my precious brothers and sisters. It breaks my heart knowing how the little ones are suffering and who are crying out in their mother’s womb, "Help me! Help me! Please help me!"

The Lord told me that this is where He has placed me along with the other members of the body of Christ that minister there. Jesus the Lord gave me this verse from the book of proverbs: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter." (Proverbs 24: 11)

It is truly the gates of hell there, where demons run free and where sin abounds. However, where sin abounds grace abounds all the more. It is to show all that the body of Christ is there to fight the dark ones, but more importantly, to minister the blood of Christ to that place, and to allow the Holy Spirit to bring the hearts he has prepared to receive the word of the Lord so that they too will never perish but have life eternal with Him who saved them. 

In the steps of whom I follow, 

Patrick 

Missionary for the Lord

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WE would love to help raise money to help Patrick so he can continue this incredible ministry of bringing the RV to the sidewalks. If interested in helping, please visit Here and designate your donation for Patrick C., RV driver.

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Hebrews 12:2 

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Our Youngest Sidewalk Volunteer

The little boy in the video above is 7 years old. He came with his mom, one of our wonderful new Cites4Life volunteers on the sidewalks of the busy abortion center. She told me that when they arrived, he asked his mom if she was here to work with patients. He could not understand why she was standing on the sidewalk. His mom is a nurse, and he knows that patients usually come to her.
She explained that the people who came here were moms, but moms that did not want their babies. They came here to take the babies out.
"But that will hurt the babies?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Don't they know about Jesus? I can tell them about Jesus," he said. "Let me talk to them."
He was very insistent and very bold. We gave him the microphone. First, he said a prayer thanking Jesus for everything in his world. Then, in the segment above, he told the mothers they are mothers. They would have their babies, and God would help them.

After that little boy made more sense than all the crazy pro-abortion arguments on earth, another incredible young man, the son of yet another wonderful sidewalk volunteer sat down with his guitar and sang of hope and redemption to the mothers who would tell the abortionist to kill their babies.

His voice and sincerity was so beautiful. I was shocked the abortion center doors did not slam open with an avalanche of women streaming out, clutching their wombs, and crying to God for forgiveness and help. Sadly, only two did. Nonetheless, seeds were planted of the simple truth that God loves them, loves their babies, and would help them, if only they would turn to Him.
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Last night, I had a dream that my family and I were waiting at a bus stop to board a bus. We were not at the back of the line, but kept waiting. We weren't sure there was room for all of us on the bus, so we didn't want to get on and find out there wasn't enough room. We waited and waited. And then the driver closed the door and drove away. He told us there was still room, but it was too late. He had to leave.

Don't miss the bus. There is still room. There is ALWAYS room in God's kingdom for every precious soul that wants to be with Him. Get on board. Please. Now. Before it is too late.
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To join us and these young amazing volunteers, please click HERE for information.
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1 Timothy 4:12

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity

The Scars of a Mangled Tree

Tree hit by lightning had its bark blown off

I was on a walk when I saw this tree. It is a huge tree, very tall, and all along it's trunk, there were bits and pieces of bark shredded off the tree. I stood staring at it, wondering if it had been hit by lightning. Bark was blown off in various sections, and a large hole in the dirt at its base also gaped inexplicably. What had happened here?

Fortunately, I didn't have to wonder for long. A man who was working on cleaning up the mess asked me if I had ever seen the effects of lightning.
"This is why my mother told me not to take a bath in a thunderstorm. See that bark? Where it is blown away is the path the lightning followed of the wet bark."
"And what's the hole in the ground from?" I asked.
"The lightning followed the roots and blew out the dirt."

The power of the lightning was terrifying to behold.

"Is the tree dead?" I asked.
"Oh yes. It will have to come down. Would you like your picture by the tree?"
"OH no...that's ok."
"Oh come now," he said, "You must have a kid at home, a ten year old or less, who would like to see this."

I believe he was flattering me. My youngest is 20. My oldest is 31. But to humor him, I posed for the picture.

Imagine being that tree. There you are, minding your own business in the midst of a violent storm, and just because you have the misfortune to be tall and therefore a target for lightning, it blows off all your skin and you are now still standing looking every bit alive ... but dead.

I don't know about you, but I have been that tree. A target because of some difference from the surrounding trees, and despite doing nothing to provoke attack, attack comes and destroys. You may look alive, but something critical in your life has been violently snuffed out by a power you have no control over. Even worse, sometimes you are a target because of things you have done. Then the punishment is deserved, but no less unwelcome.

THIS is why we need Jesus. All of us have been that tree. None of us can control the forces that seek to destroy us to separate us from the love of God.  Sin is like the dampness in the bark that allows the destructive force of the lightning to find a path in our lives that destroys us.

BUT here is the good news. We are dead in our sin, a tree with our bark blown off and our roots destroyed. But Jesus took all that horrific, dangerous sin that is a conduit of Satan's power in our lives and He bore it on his mangled body on the cross. (The Bible even sometimes refers to the cross as a tree!) Jesus died to pay the penalty we deserved and the full wrath of the judgement for our sin fell on Him. The lightning struck Him, and left us unscathed. We were set free by His sacrifice on our behalf.

All we have to do in return is say we accept what He did for us. That is the remarkable gift of God, who loves us so much that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.

Why would anyone refuse such an incomparable gift? I know in my case, I was too proud to admit I could not save myself. I would not humble myself to submit to God. How much I wish I had before my sin so disfigured my soul. As I looked at the scarred tree, I thought of how foolish I had been.

All that pierced my heart as I gazed at the stricken tree.


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1 Peter 2:24   

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Ephesians 2: 4-7
⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,