Day 7 - She Didn't Go In

by Sharole

Today was my second time praying at the vigil and I found myself alone again for a while as I prayed for the people going in and out of the clinic.
The last time I was there I prayed for taxi drivers that took the women to and from the clinic. I prayed that God would work through these taxi drivers.

I wasn't "seeing" any visible results, but I felt God working. Everyone that came, went into the clinic despite my desperate prayers to not go in. This morning I saw a taxi pull into the parking lot, and I prayed like crazy "Don't let her go in God, don't go in!" I heard a door open, but nobody got out. Then a miracle happened, the taxi turned around and drove out, with it's young female passenger still inside. She looked relieved and at peace. This was in harsh contrast to the other women that came out of the clinic, every one weeping, limping and broken.

I can hardly believe that this happened before my eyes. It's one thing to pray for a miracle, but another to see it and believe it. But now I believe we are making a difference!

Day 6 - how's your heart?

I spent some time this weekend speaking at 2 different youth groups and sharing at a church I had never been to before. It was scary stuff - but an important part of 40 Days for Life is community outreach - so I humbly brought what loaves and fishes I had and trusted my Father to multiply.
I'd encourage those of you who are wondering how to so carefully wade into these prolife waters to start with prayer and fasting, follow that with public vigil, and community outreach. It doesn't have to be speaking in front of a group of people - it can be having conversations with your brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, parents and friends. Don't be afraid to be the one to introduce a serious topic - gently bring it up - and begin reaching out to a community that has been shattered by abortion.
Need help? Ask us how.

Repost below:

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There are so many hurting people in this world.

i could probably just end this post with that stand alone thought, but i want to tell you one more thing.
This morning as we prayed, my daughter prayed for something i'm sure she's heard me pray for countless times: softness.
"Father, help me to be soft..."
The thought stayed with me as i carried on my day.
Early on this frigid afternoon as my friend and i prayed outside that clinic, another young mama stood on the sidewalk beside us. She had a tiny sign made out of construction paper - and on it was handwritten in purple marker, "Babies are precious gifts".
She held her rosary while her little sign flapped in the breeze.
i noticed - that she cried when the door opened and closed. Silent and tearful - kept on the other side of the street, longing - she told us - to run across the street, and hold those people in her arms. She felt so deeply - so badly -
so softly...
She laughed apologetically to us when we introduced ourselves, "i'm sorry, i didn't know i would be so deeply affected being here today. It's my first time coming here to pray..." & she wore her anguish like a thing of beauty.
Oh God... There are so many hurting people in this world. Help me to be soft

Day 5 - Holy Ground

i have walked this sidewalk countless times.
Our Campaign Director tells the story how his wife asked him to participate in 40 Days for Life and at first he didn't want to, but he did it anyway... and now praying on that street corner feels like slipping into his favourite pew at church. He has met with God there too many times, and now it has become Holy Ground.
We've all vigilled in rain or snow... in sunshine or wind...
That street corner - and the entire sidewalk down 5th Avenue across from the Kensington Abortion Clinic - has become a place of prayer. Hundreds have spent combined days, weeks, maybe months praying for the unborn.
Come, spend an hour - let yourself be changed.

Day 4 community outreach vigil

Martin arrives to pray after i've been there alone for about 20 minutes. He's a cancer survivor who arranges his bus schedule so that he can stop and pray for an hour on his way home from the gym.
It's not a friendly afternoon.
i wonder if it's the subconscious hum of what has been happening politically in Canada with the abortion debate - but people seem more aware and sometimes it seems to draw anger.
Martin is friendly though, and gives only the smallest grin at the surprisingly loud and long lecture he receives from a man driving by in his vehicle. As the man passes me, he almost shrieks, "DID HE TALK YOU INTO COMING HERE??!!"
i have to smile.
Martin is definitely in the minority being a man who comes to pray at our vigil. It is mostly deeply, passionate prolife *women* - who come here to pray. Many - maybe most - of us have borne children of our own, and this perspective makes us especially tender to the plight of the little ones losing their lives in the Kensington abortion clinic across the street. Some of us have held our own miscarried babies in our hands, and marvelled at the Creation of a Holy God - and been forever awakened to what it really means to have an abortion - having held our own much loved, longed for children in our hands at the exact stages of pregnancy that they're being killed across the street. What a funny assumption that i, a woman, would be unable to recognize injustice on my own...
Martin seems to take unfriendliness in stride, so i decide to too.

i long to talk to the woman who hangs out her window yelling, "It's NONE of your business!  None!!"
i want to talk to the woman who waits till she passes us and then yells, "Get a life!" It is precisely because i *have* a life that i am unable to remain silent over the senseless taking of it.
i wish for the opportunity to engage, to explain and to defend -  but sometimes, our community outreach involves only replying with a smile and a nod - sometimes it involves being willing to wear a sign, and go out of our way to take a bus to 5th Avenue instead of heading straight home. Sometimes it involves letting rosy cheeked little ones play in the park for an hour while mama prays.
Always - with 40 Days for Life - community outreach involves prayer and a willingness to humble ourselves as we ask God to bring about change.

Day 3 - faithful

i'm reposting this from last fall's vigil. Did you know that when Calgary 40 Days for Life began, there were only 8 volunteers? Those 8 volunteers managed to cover prayer, fasting and public vigil at the Kensington abortion clinic for 12 hours every day for the entire 40 days.
None of them say it was easy... But their faithfulness - their signing of every 40 Days for Life email tenderly with, "for the little ones" - their heart cry for hope and mercy; it's contageous. It's contageous because it's our calling as believers to act justly to love mercy & to walk humbly with our God. Praying that God helps us all to be faithful today...
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One of the dedicated organizers for Calgary's 40 Days for Life -
Taking her turn praying in the pouring rain...

Sometimes it would almost make you throw up your hands in despair to try to make it to that busy sidewalk to pray. 
There's company to prepare for, it's pouring rain, there are children who desperately... *only*... want mama. 
But you force yourself to step outside the house that you so rarely leave in these busy child focused days - and sneak off with a friend to find an hour to pray. 
There's traffic on those wet crowded roads... and when you finally arrive - there are lost keys, buzzing phones and dirty looks. 
It's no wonder we so often close our eyes to pray - to make every effort to take our eyes off of the temporary - and for one hour - to focus on the eternal. 
We pulled around the corner onto the street where the Kensington Clinic sits - and we both cried out - "There's someone there!"
She can't possibly know how here very presence buoyed us.  She can't imagine how her faithfulness inspired. 
She had just been yelled at - as she stood dripping wet on the sidewalk - a lone figure, praying for those in crisis.  She was carefully averting her eyes from the 2 figures fast approaching lest we bring more abuse... but when we got close enough, we recognized each other and laughingly made introductions. 
There are so many, many hindrances, aren't there?
These hindrances added to our general unease over praying in public, our discomfort at the idea that we're "making a scene", or our sensitive hearts worrying that we'll hurt people loved by God rather than helping anything or anyone... it makes it almost impossible to imagine a 40 day prayer vigil outside of the city's bustling abortion clinic.
Almost impossible. 
But with our God... nothing is impossible... and i'm not willing to quit. Mother Teresa is famously quoted as saying, "i don't pray for success, i pray for faithfulness".  & so i'll come home wet, to a crazed messy house... i'll show up late, or frazzled or hurting & broken... but i'm convinced that the hours dedicated to prayer are not wasted.
God, make me faithful...