My dear friends ... my brothers and sisters in Christ,
Abortion is wrong. It cannot be defended or justified. The huge increase in abortion rates over the last several years is an abomination. We must devote ourselves to reversing this trend. I know that all of you agree. I know that all of you are sincere in your beliefs and each of you has given much prayerful thought and consideration to your stand. You are to be commended for your courage and your devotion to upholding God╒s will and protecting His sheep.
But, please, in your zeal to right this wrong, open your hearts and listen to my testimony, which mirrors that of many. It is not important who I am or who the other people involved in my story are. We are human beings, Children of God, and sinners, just like you. All the good that has been done was done by God. To Him only belongs the praise and the glory.
I have blood on my hands that I can never wash off. I participated not once, but twice in that awful decision, using human logic and reasoning to justify my position. I will go to my grave with the knowledge that I have done terrible wrongs. Only God can forgive me. Christ gave up his life for my sins. I cannot earn His forgiveness, but I can and I do confess my sins and profess my faith in Jesus Christ who is my only salvation.
My testimony is important only in that it points to the message. Do not attach any importance to me or my deeds. But please, in your hearts, consider the message from my testimony and how you can make it a mission for God. I have done only what God wanted me to, often times not even knowing that it was He who was leading me. I deserve no credit at all. Thank God. Thank you. May God Bless you for listening with open hearts to the story I have been led to share with you.
A few years ago a friend of mine had an unexpected pregnancy, by a man she loved dearly. But he had other ideas and wanted no part of the responsibility. My friend was a divorced, single mother, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her two teenage children. She had a steady job, but was in that ╥between the cracks╙ position where her income was not quite enough, but too much to qualify for any aid programs.
When she told me she was pregnant it would have been easy for me to wish her the best of luck and walk away. It wasn╒t really my problem. I had loved her but she had rejected me for the other man and I really wanted to be away from her. But God worked in me and I told her I would do everything I possibly could to help. ╥I know what you╒re asking God, and I need your strength to do it. Help me ... Please.╙
About five months into her pregnancy she developed complications which caused her doctor to recommend that she change her working conditions or stop working altogether, as she could not physically handle the demands of her job.
The company would not transfer her to another job but instead suggested a leave of absence. They would not guarantee her job would be there later as that leave would be longer than their policy manual provided for.
She left the company, losing her group insurance in the process, and went on state aid. Her doctor would not continue treating her as she was a Medicaid patient and the group practice did not accept Medicaid ... only cash or real insurance please.
My friend was 38 years old, alone ... and desperate for help. I helped with what I could. It wasn╒t much. Her family helped as they could, but it wasn╒t enough. She was drowning in an uncaring sea of indifference. Having made the right choice, she was facing the cold hard realities of life. She needed more help than I could give.
I appealed everywhere I could think of for financial help for her. ╥Just a few dollars, please ... anything you can spare.╙ I asked individuals (friends, relatives and strangers), agencies, foundations, churches, ministers, you name it ... I pleaded.
Only the Salvation Army (who paid an electric bill) and the Christian Sharing Center, (who paid her water and phone bill) came across with any tangible financial help for her and her unborn child. Everyone else had their excuses.
That year there was a demonstration in Orlando by a group of Pro-Life forces. I just happened to pass the group as they walked down Colonial Drive east of I-4. I stopped my car and got out. I begged for my friend ... for anything. Please! ╥She╒s a good Christian woman. She╒s made the right choice and needs help. Please.╙
╥No. She shouldn╒t have gotten pregnant in the first place. She is reaping what she sowed. God is making her pay for her sin. Sorry, we don╒t have any money for that. Call Social Services. Don╒t bother us, we╒re busy saving lives.╙
I was more than angry. I was bitter. ╥You hypocrites! Do you not understand? Take your signs and your slogans and your attitudes and present them to God. Ask Him what He thinks. And in the meantime ... Oh forget it ╨ you just don╒t understand.╙
I gave up on finding help and concentrated on doing what had to be done in whatever way it could be done. I stole toilet paper and soap and paper towels from public restrooms. I took ketchup and mustard and salt and pepper and mayonnaise from fast food restaurants. Food stamps only go so far you know.
I borrowed money from friends and co-workers. Five, ten, twenty dollars, whatever I could with whatever lie I could think of that would cause them to part with their precious and hard earned money so she could pay her bills and keep going. I negotiated with her landlord and the finance company that held the paper on her car. Deaf ears. She lost her car. I paid her rent. She cried. And she prayed.
The biological father stayed far out of sight. His solution had been abortion, and if not abortion, adoption. He couldn╒t help. He had his own needs. It was her problem, not his. Yes, he loved her, but not the child. That wasn╒t part of his plan. Marriage? Absolutely not. He had a life to live.
I drove her to the clinic for appointments with doctors who couldn╒t speak English. I waited in the lobby with the nameless, faceless poor and watched as the system treated them like cattle. I raged inside. ╥Have you forgotten us God? Where are you? Why won╒t you listen?╙
And then, it was time. The baby was born. A healthy little girl, seven pounds three ounces. Twenty-two inches long, with her mother╒s beautiful blue eyes. I was at the hospital when they brought her to her mother for the first time. I got to hold her in my arms and hand her to my friend. We cried. It had been worth all we had gone through and so much more. ╥Thank you God, I╒m beginning to understand.╙
Through all the trials and tribulations of the pregnancy, and during the first few months after the child was born, my friend and I rethought our relationship. We weren╒t sure, but it seemed as though God wanted us to be together ... that it would be the best thing for all. ╥Is this what you really want for us God?╙
My friends would tell me: ╥No. It╒s too much responsibility. You╒ve already raised two kids. You╒re saddling yourself with another twenty years of burdens. Don╒t. It╒s her problem, not yours. Let her find her own solutions. You have a life to live. You don╒t need the hassles. Enjoy your life. She╒ll manage ... somehow.╙
But my heart said something else. God had given me an opportunity I could not refuse. This woman and this child needed what I could give. And I loved them both. That I could not deny. I had to make the commitment. I wanted to. And I did.
My little girl is almost four now and bears my name. Every time she looks at me with her innocent and trusting eyes and calls me Daddy I thank God for my blessings and His forgiveness. I thank God that He has entrusted the care and nurturing of His child to my wife and me. With His help we are good parents.
It hasn╒t been easy. Ours was not the storybook romance that dreams are made of. We╒ve had difficulties making our marriage work as we both want it to. My wife has had serious health problems. And as of late I╒ve been out of work and we are struggling to survive. But with God╒s help we will. ╥Isn╒t that right God?╙
God has seen to it that my wife is receiving the care she needs. But it╒s meant a physical separation as she and our daughter are staying with her sister and brother-in-law out of state. God has seen to it that our health insurance premiums have been paid by my mother-in-law and that she has received the medical treatment and surgery she needed. God has seen to it that a good friend of mine is providing a place for me to stay while I continue to seek work. He has seen to it that our faith has been strengthened even in the midst of adversity. Praise God in all His Glory.
But most importantly for me, God has seen to it that I become humble and turn my needs over to Him and seek His truth. He has caused me to listen to the Holy Spirit and take heed. That is why I am sharing my testimony with you. I can do only so much. I am weak and He is strong.
In my weakness I have been angry with those of you who, in your efforts to right a wrong, have not addressed the needs of our sisters. But God said to me, ╥You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. Don╒t let your anger interfere.╙ That is why I am pleading with you to do more than walk in picket lines with your signs and slogans and T-shirts.
I╒m asking you to open your hearts and your wallets. PLEASE GIVE. Sell some of your possessions and GIVE. These mothers, and these children need our HELP. They need all the things that we all need. Share with them. Tend His lambs. Love them. We must not deny them. They need us. They need our love.
There are literally tens of thousands of women who would choose life if they knew we would help. But they don╒t, because we haven╒t. And they see no alternative. Nobody loves them enough. They need help. Real, tangible help.
Too many of us, when God has asked, have turned a deaf ear to the pleas of women in need. Too many of us have judged when we could have helped. Too many of us have failed God╒s children with our indifference, and even worse ... our self righteousness and judgment.
Let us not piously turn from our responsibility and deny our sisters in need.
Let us not judge them and condemn them for their mistakes. But instead, let us hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ who said: ╥whoever has done to the least of them has done for Me.╙ Let us seek and receive His help so that we can provide ours and serve Him by helping His children in need.
Each and every woman who makes the horrible choice to terminate a pregnancy through abortion has a story. Some stories are not pretty at all. We will not be able to understand or relate to many. But we are our brothers╒ and our sisters╒ keepers, and we must love them unconditionally, even as we love ourselves. We must forgive them as Christ forgives us. Doing less when we could do more will ensure that when Jesus Christ meets us at the Gate he will say: ╥Depart from me, I do not know you.╙
Think about it ... Pray... Listen... God will speak to us and guide us through the Holy Spirit. But only if we let Him. We will save far more unborn children and bring many more women and men to Christ if we use our time, talent and resources to help those in need instead of arguing the law with those who have not yet seen the Light. Let the lawyers and the judges argue the law in the courts of Man. Let us obey God╒s Word, which we, as Christians must have written on our hearts.
We can set up counseling centers, places to receive information and help without judgment, where pregnant women can go before they make that horrible decision to abort a child. We can have hot lines for pregnant women to call to find out where they can go for help. We can give and arrange for financial help, material help and spiritual help, depending on the needs of the individual.
We can send people into the community to spread the word that there is help, that we do care and that we are willing to share of ourselves and our resources, without conditions. We can distribute brochures and video tapes and public service announcements and other materials that will provide much needed positive information about help that is available. It will be a huge undertaking.
It will cost a tremendous amount of money. It will require sacrifice. It will require hard work. But it can be done. It must be done. And it will be done if we let God help us. No job is too big for God.
Maybe you know someone personally, or know of someone who is pregnant and considering abortion. Take a little time. Find out what she needs. Then find a way to provide it ... without being asked, without imposing conditions and without taking credit. You can. Ask God what you should do. He╒ll tell you.
Think of how much effort we are giving today to protest, to change laws, to demonstrate, to accuse, to judge and to condemn. We are making the lawyers rich with God╒s money. Can we not direct our efforts away from the confrontational, worldly and sometimes violent conflicts of Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice? Can we not save more lives by living our faith so as to share what we know and what we have with those who need it the most? God╒s truth will not change one single bit if we do.
I challenge you to join together and make the commitment that will make the difference. Pregnant women considering abortion are not nameless, faceless masses adrift in a flood of wretched humanity. They are God╒s individual children.
They are married, about to be married and unmarried. They are teenagers and older women. They are white and black and brown and yellow. They are rich and poor. They are literate and illiterate. They are Christian and Jew and Muslim and all other shades of believers, agnostics and atheists. And some, don╒t even know about God. Some have homes and some do not. Some are weak and some are strong. Their needs are all different, just as their stories are. They are our sisters, our daughters and our mothers. Can we not treat them as such? Can we not love them?
We don╒t need another government program. All we need is ourselves, with God╒s help. Do you think he won╒t give it if we are sincere in our efforts? If you do, tell that to Him in your prayers and see what He says.
Let╒s start in our own churches, our own neighborhoods, and our own communities. Our efforts will grow. We will make mistakes and we will learn from them. We can share our ideas and our knowledge as we grow in our mission. We can encourage others to begin in their churches and neighborhoods and communities. We will not fail doing God╒s work.
Let us also never forget that for those of our sisters who have made or who will make the wrong choice, thinking that it is their only choice, Christ commands us to ╥forgive them for they know not what they do.╙
Few of you will be blessed as I have been and be able to personally share in the joys and rewards of becoming an unconventional parent to a chosen child. But you will be blessed, and you will know the joy and reward of helping to give life a real chance by providing all that you can to those, who for whatever reasons, cannot do it alone and find themselves in the degrading and humiliating position of needing help ... our help.
After all, can these mothers and their children, and yes, even the fathers not know Christ through us if we do what Jesus has commanded us to do? Isn╒t that alone worth giving all we can give? You know it is. Let us serve God by making it our mission. Let us choose life with our actions ... as well as our words.
In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Son of God, who died on the Cross that we might live, I pray that we will heed His call and do everything we possibly can to tend His lambs and let them know that Jesus will forgive them and love them and that He lives and works through us to the glory of the Father. Amen.
