Have you ever wondered...- what life would have been like during your growing up years if 1/5th of the population hadn't been aborted?
- if one of those aborted people would have been your best friend? A co-worker? A pastor in the church down the road? A plumber in your community? The Mayor? A special-ed teacher?
- if our economy would be stronger now with 20% more people contributing ideas, work, taxes, and energy, had they not been aborted?
- how the average Nazi lived with the knowledge that millions were dying in their midst, and then stopped to realize that we're no different?
- if we might end up like the aborted nations of Russia and almost every European nation, with dwindling populations and the death of our culture and nation around the corner?
- committed to love and serve pregnant women and their children, no matter the circumstance?
- gave sacrificially of their time and money to support crisis pregnancy clinics and stand as a silent protester and potential counselor for those women walking into baby killing centers?
- publicly loved and welcomed even "the least of these" (those deemed less desirable because of handicaps, learning difficulties, or family situation)?
Everyone knows it's a baby. Just like the Germans who could smell the smoke near the killing centers in WWII, the murder of our brothers and sisters is unthinkable and yet undeniable.
As I type this, my ten-month old son is grizzling as he falls asleep... and I can't help but weep as I think of those babies who will never exercise their lungs with a good healthy cry. Those who have their skin seared by salt solution, administered by a doctor who swore to protect life. Those who have their limbs ripped from their tender bodies in the one place they ought to be completely safe and protected. Those who could have grown up to be your friends, or mine... those who could have grown up.
As I type this, I think of my friends who have had abortions... and I hurt for them. I don't want to increase their pain, but even more, I want to stop other women from ever feeling the pain of having had an abortion, if it is at all within my power.
As I type this, I want to cry out, "Oh, Christian women, be a light in your community! Find ways to ACT on behalf of the unborn among us!"
And merciful Father, give each of us a burning passion to see your glory reflected in each and every individual created by Your wise and sovereign hand. Give us a desire to love the unborn and their mothers with the love that You have... love that bears all things, is kind, shares the truth, and never fails. Help us to rejoice over life, in every shape and form!
Oh, that we would view each birth and new life with the joy that John Powell describes as he for the first time witnessed a baby being delivered:
It was as if my mind were saying, 'Cannot compute! Cannot compute!" What I was witnessing was too big, too beautiful, too sacred to fit easily into my mind...
God had waited from all eternity for that moment of birth. And now, He would show His little boy the adoring face of the mother that had carried him so lovingly. He would show that little boy the magnificent stars He had strung in the sky. He would introduce him to the music of lullabies and the softness of his mother's arms, the gentleness of his father's hands. The "I" of God had been saying to the "Thou" of that small baby: "With an everlasting love I have loved you. This is why with lovingkindness I created you" (from the prophecy of Jeremiah, 31:3).
Cannot compute. Cannot compute. The miracle of life.
Hi, Jess. Yes, it's heartbreaking. My 10yr. old has been shocked to learn about abortion and "cannot compute" to learn that anyone would kill babies in the womb. -That they would not be considered babies- That they would not want what has brought so much joy, grieve, companionship, and love to his life to be brought forth. It's heartbreaking...
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Linda
I about cried when I read your post. My 2 month old son is asleep in his crib and recently I found out an old friend of mine had an abortion. It breaks my heart to know her child will never know life like my son.
ReplyDeleteYup!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are trying to GET pregnant right now, and I cannot wrap my brain around someone who could just throw away something that we are trying to hard for.
I agree 100% about taking action - no President, liberal or conservative, has been able to stop abortion, so it's up to us to stop it however we can!!!
Hi Jess,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you have probably heard that among the first of our new President't Executive orders was to repeal the Bush Administration position to NOT send federal dollars overseas to support abortions and abortion counseling. So, now our tax dollars also support the murder of the unborn globally. God have mercy on us. You may be interested to read/listen to these few days of Revive Our Hearts by Nancy Leigh DeMoss -- they are about the court cases that legalized abortion: http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/roh/today.php?pid=10116
Jess, this is a timely post as I have recently felt burdened by abortions. This new heaviness in my heart may be because of our new President, Barack Obama. There are still people who deny that he is pro-abortion. You should post something about his stance and voting record on the subject. He is even planning to send funds overseas (that George Bush did not) to aid in foreign abortions. PLEASE PLEASE help makes others aware of the blood that will be on Obama's hands.
ReplyDeleteJess,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly, but I have a question for you and your readers. Please note, I am not directing this at you, but just asking a generalized question.
During the election I know many opposed Obama for his pro-abortion stance, also many opposed his position on socialism. I have read many a blog, Christian blogs that tear down government aid and how it's not the government's place to take care of families. I agree also.
However, after spending many years working in state goverment and social programs and as a former single mother, I often wonder if most people know that while these programs cost taxpayers money, and while yes there are many people who fraud, use and abuse them, they save many an uborns life.
We live in a world of sinners, people are going to make sinful choices that will lead to detriment such as children being born into poverty and out of wedlock, yes these women should keep thier legs closed, but truth is they are not. We are living in the last days where men are lovers of themselves and are drawn away and inticed by thier own lusts. But when the aftetmath settles unfortunatly there is more judgment from the Chrisian population about the result of their sin (pregnancy out of wedlock) so, with all this being said, Do you feel that it is our responsiblity as Christians to be less judgmental, less political about how our tax dollars are being used in serving the poor and needy and more open to promote those programs that will give scared young women an option of life?
Abortion is very wrong, its beyond wrong, but when you have sat down and talked to a person who is contemplating it, who thinks there is no way out, who really has no understanding of God and his redeeming love, who think the world is judging them and they will fall into this negative stero-type, there becomes this compassion for that person to say I don't care if all my tax dollars go to programs that are going to help you and your child, but please please don't kill it.
Just a thought. I speak from the point of view of a person who has been judged, and who really didn't want anything to do with being a Christian because it was so called Christian women that Tsk'd, and sighed and gave me looks of disgust when I was in line with my foodstamps or wic. Or who made me feel ashamed for coming out with my children who may have been just as cranky or fussy as thiers, but my lack of a husband magnified me.
I hope you don't think that I believe you or your blog is like that, I believe you are a wonderful person, I just wonder when I read posts like this, If everyone really understands what it is like being on the other side of the spectrum.
Thanks for letting me ask and rant. I hope to hear from you.
I once read a "comic" showing a man standing outside looking up at a cloud and shouting, "God, why don't you send people who will figure out the cure for cancer, solve our economic woes, find peaceful ways to end war and help us figure out better ways to feed the hungry?"
ReplyDeleteGod said, "I did send them, but you aborted them."
Now, I don't necessarily agree with the theology represented in that "comic", but it did make an impact.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
ReplyDeleteMartin Luther King, Jr.
I really do believe that the days ahead may be darker still for true believers. We MUST stand up and be counted, we must make our voices heard..but we also have to be prepared. Jesus told us, "don't be surprised when you are persecuted for my name's sake." I think we are on the edge of something so much bigger than we can imagine. Lord, give me the courage to be a voice for those who have no voice.
I believe the President signed today to lift the ban to send US money to support abortions. This ban was put in place by Reagan, then lifted by Clinton, then put back by Bush, and not again lifted by Obama. May God have mercy on this country.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CaBR3z85c&eurl=http://csahms.yuku.com/topic/1256&feature=player_embedded
Jess,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this timely post. I just got back from my weekly, 3 hour volunteer session at our local Crisis Pregnancy Center. We had a gorgeous girl walk in today who had already decided in her head that she would abort her baby. She was 19, scared and not wanting to shame her parents. By God's grace, we were able to counsel with her, pray with her and offer her an ultrasound of her little one. As soon as she saw the heartbeat, tears streamed down her face. The abortion-minded woman that walked in earlier was gone! She left intending to carry her baby as well as accept follow-up from us!
I really struggled today leaving my 20 month old with our dear friends and battling the intense tiredness of being newly pregnant again, but however the Lord directs, we MUST be that beacon of hope that isn't deterred to face the opposition. It's coming more aggressive everyday.
Please keep posts like this coming, and thank you for your ministry!
Jess
To "A Marriage...":
ReplyDeleteYes, I have asked these questions and thought them through to some degree. I think where many people fall on this issue is that the *compulsory* giving, mandated by the gov't, is where the problem comes in. The church has the responsibility of caring for orphans and widows... a ministry to those who are left to fend for themselves... and single moms could fall into this, if they put themselves under the care of the church and remained single and set apart for the Lord.
There is more to say, but it's midnight here. Hopefully others will have written more that will contribute to this dialogue when I wake up in the morning and check comments. I'll try to revisit the issue more tomorrow. Thanks for your thoughtful and reality-based comment.
~Jess
I am holding back tears after I read this too. I might not be successful...this comment might not be very diplomatic either.
ReplyDeleteMy infant son is snoring a few feet away. As you know, I have "been there done that" with abortion. It's hard for me to think straight in the whirlwind of unbearable disgust and sorrow now that I know what abortion really does to a baby, yes a baby, not a piece of tissue.
I was totally brainwashed. But what's really sad is that no one ever told me not to do it. Screw anyone who says it's not Planned Parenthood's fault too, not completely, but yes, they had a major role. They suck women and girls in with "free health care" and then give you "unbiased" advice when the preg test is positive. And by unbiased I guess they mean they don't favor one particular abortion doctor over another.
I can't even believe how much I've changed sometimes. I used to look at girls I knew who were getting abortions and thought it was understandable, now I just want to suggest to them if they could just have the doctor kill them instead of the baby. I know girls who have used abortion as birth control and have piles of dead bodies on their hands. They walk out of the abortion clinic and continue to strut around in thick makeup and stiletto heels inviting some jerk to impregnate them. For them the connection between sex and baby making has been eradicated by Satan himself.
Yes, grace is in order...I wish I found something like that when I was a young idiot but...let's just call it what it is, murder. Legal murder of a precious unique soul God created in His image.
I want so badly to do something to help the unborn but I don't know what yet. I am up to my ears in diaper changes and the rigors of day to day life as an improving but still emotionally unstable person. FYI, abortion messes up your head, you better believe it. Jesus is a healer but sin has consequences.
Yep. And I read this just after having looked at CNN and seen President Obama's exec order. It's so upsetting. Being scared and pregnant and in a difficult situation (poverty, youth, lack of a *father* around) is terrifying. These women need not just our prayers but our hands--helping helping helping. Not judging; instead, loving.
ReplyDeleteI should add this. I used to be completely and totally 200% PRO-abortion. Then a series of conversations, circumstances and readings changed my mind drastically!
ReplyDeleteHi Jess,
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry, I agree with most of the ideas you express in your blog in so many ways. And I have no logic or way to justify my feelings on this, but I disagree with you regarding abortion.
On the other end of the spectrum, regarding those who are about to die from cancer or other natural causes, I also believe in easing one's suffering and not unnecessarily prolonging life IF THE SUFFERER does not want the experience pro-longed and if there is a loving person who can help and who truly understands the mind and heart of the one who is suffering.
I don't know why, but I do believe it's wrong to harm or kill babies that have been born.
I realize that my views do not seem logical, yet, I believe them with all my heart.
Amy
Thanks for this post. I needed it today, after reading the latest news here.
ReplyDeleteI hope that having a President who is pro abortion will continue to prod me to be less apathetic. I hope it will encourage me to remember that as Christians we are the ones that are responsible for caring for the hurting-we can't depend on others to do it for us.
Thanks for this post. What you said about loving and serving pregnant women and their children was the stimulus for me to email my local prolife organisation and ask if there were any organisations that I could assist with my time. Just what I needed, thank you, once again.
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteSincerity of belief does not mean that one is correct. One can be sincerely wrong, and I believe that is the case here.
Just change the word "fetus" to teenager and see how far it flies. After all, a teenager is not a full-fledged adult. Often they are adrift in a sea of emotional decision making and irrational thought. They aren't what we call fully-grown humans. So, if a parent decides that it's too much trouble to have a free-loading teenager in their home, too much trouble to raise, educate, discipline, and love that teenager, then shouldn't they have the right to terminate the breathing of that teenager?
Of course not. It's absurd. Because we recognize that, though not fully grown, a teenager is an individual person-- made by God-- with dreams, aspirations, and unique traits that no other person possesses the same mix of. It is the same with each unborn child.
~Jess
Jessica & Grace (which is funny because that's my given name but I digress)...
ReplyDeleteWhat you all are doing is exactly what we should be doing. Action and prayer. Prayer and action.
Obama is fixed in his views... he is determined to provide more funding for baby killing across the nation and world. Christians can and should lobby and be involved in pro-life legislation, but we need to face facts that this is the course that the next 4 years are likely to go.
But locally, and on the state level, there is much that can be done. And on an individual level, among the women we each know and that are within our sphere of influence (and that includes women walking into abortion centers in our areas), the sky's the limit. God can and will use the efforts of those who seek to educate, love, and support women and their babies as they go through perilous and stressful times in unexpected pregnancies and beyond.
NOW is the time for the world to know we are Christians by our LOVE.
~Jess
Jess, what a beautiful post. Doug and I were talking about this a while ago. I asked him what he thought would have happened if abortion were legal when we were born (in '66 and '69). My parents "had" to get married because my mom was prengnat with me. Doug was adopted as a 6 week old baby. Both of those situations could very easily end in adoption now. Could you imagine? I can't even think about what our moms may have chosen to do if abortion were a legal and easy to obtain option for them. It's so sobering..........
ReplyDeleteThanks Jess! Once again, I have linked this post to my blog!
ReplyDeleteI'm an RN and several years ago I gave a medical presentation on abortion to our high school Sunday school class. I had two boys faint, like out cold, and one girl had to leave because she felt sick. I showed NO pictures and started from the "morning after pill" to partial birth abortion. I warned that as the "fetus" grows it will get more graphic. Along with explaining the abortion procedures and at what time of the pregnancy they were performed, I talked about what the "fetus" was doing in the womb, how they were growing, what senses they have so they knew it wasn't just a "fetus" but a baby. I gave a very unbiased medical presentation without any visual aids, and it hit these kids like a ton of bricks. Most of them had NO IDEA what abortion really meant and the terrible things done to "get rid of it." The pastor then followed-up with the Biblical aspect of abortion and ended with reading Psalm 139. It was a scary (because 2 kids fainted and I was NOT prepared for that) and so wonderful because their eyes were opened to the truth. I thank God for our youth pastor and the way we spoke truth that morning.
ReplyDeleteDo something about it, but not via the government. Never once did Jesus tell people to go to Caeser for change -- he just told people how they should act and how they should treat each other. He didn't tell them to go to the government and demand change or sign a petition when the Christians were being beat, or other horrific things were happening.
ReplyDeleteBy trying to change things through the governemnt, all we are doing is making a barrier between Christians and non-Christians. Follow Jesus' actions instead of giving Christians a bad name.
Interesting question -- what about all the people who aren't here due to abortion...
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I were both adopted, so we were certainly unwanted pregnancies. All of our siblings were adopted as well. Occasionally, I consider that none of our children would exist if we had never been born -- whole families just wouldn't 'be.'
While we don't know our biological mothers (and have no access to information about them) we are deeply thankful to them for carrying us through what must have been very difficult pregnancies. It seems a bit thin to say we are thankful to them for letting us live, doesn't it? But that's just what they did.
~msjones
We do need to pray daily for our leaders and those who perform these abortions. Pray their hearts will change. Also, please consider adopting all these precious babies. It's hard, and expensive, and so many hoops to jump through. But is is so worth it.
ReplyDeleteVery profound post. I hope many, many people read it.
ReplyDeleteI like the photo you used for this post. Can you tell me more about it?
ReplyDeleteHi Tammy,
ReplyDeleteSure. It is one of the relief carvings on the side of a sarcophagus we viewed a couple weeks ago in the Archaeology Museum in Istanbul. It is called the sarcophagus of the weeping woman. I thought it was appropriate for use here.
You can see two sides of it in much greater detail here:
http://flickr.com/photos/yavuz_ildiz/3040703760/
And you can read more about it here:
http://www.andhotel.com/eng/istanbul/arkeoloji.asp
Thanks for taking an interest!
~Jess
Thank you Jess. I have linked this to my blog. What an important message.
ReplyDeleteJen
I've never understood why conservative Christians don't boycott as much as possible all foods, clothing, toys, appliances and household items made in China.
ReplyDeleteMore abortions are performed in China than anywhere else. Forced abortion is the preferred method of enforcement for China's one-child policy.
Why are people not picketing Wal-Mart and other stores where it's hard to even find anything not made in China?
If American consumers stopped buying things from China as a way to protest the abortion policy, retailers would notice, and their suppliers would notice.
Vote with your wallets, people.
Laurie B
Jess, I just want to thank you again for your fearlessness in speaking out and calling us to action on this issue. It's not always a popular message, and I applaud you for being willing to deliver it.
ReplyDeleteI often think to myself paraphrasing the title of one of your posts on the subject: "What are we going to DO?"
I came across a picture yesterday of a child "aborted" (a.k.a. murdered) at 27 weeks in Canada. A while back I posted currently-running ads on my site from U.S. abortion clinics who offer abortions at that same age of gestation lest anyone think that it doesn't happen here as well. Sometimes I wonder how we sleep at night.
God bless you for writing about this.