Friday, October 11, 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Eyes Wide Open
Do you vigil with your eyes open or shut? Do you listen to music - or keep your ears open? i've done all of these - here is one vigiller's thoughts on seeing results.
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When you take your place on the pavement do
you pray with your eyes open or watch the comings and goings of the clinic? I
used to like to keep my eyes shut because I didn’t want to look at the people
driving by wondering what I was doing. I
also like to stand as close to the clinic as possible so that they can see me.
Our signs we hold may be the sign that she is looking for.
When I do open my eyes occasionally I have
been blessed by seeing hearts change. This morning I saw a young couple drive
into the parking lot and linger for a while in the driveway. They weren’t
waiting to exit, they were hesitating and finally they pulled put of that
parking lot and drove away. I hope it was forever.
We don’t always get see the results of our
prayers but once and awhile God gives us a little glimpse. We also have to
understand that God works in wonderful ways. There could be a woman in crisis
at home that just changed her mind because of our prayers.
Sharole
Monday, March 18, 2013
Day 34 - sharing your testimony
This past week, when i was vigilling with a good friend, we both carried signs that told a little bit of our stories - in just a few words.
If you'd like to read more of Fawne's story - especially about her sweet son Wyatt, click HERE.
If you'd like to read more of my story - especially about my surprise pregnancy as an unmarried 19 year old, click HERE.
i really think... that there is beauty in telling our stories and declaring the faithfulness of a loving Creator - who is the giver and taker of life.
Will you ask Him to show you your prolife story? And then share it with a world who so desperately needs to hear it?
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Day 29 - facing adversity
A repost from a previous vigil - written by Jojo Ruba from Faith
Beyond Belief .
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There are three lessons Christians need to remember about adversity.
1. We need to expect adversity. As Christians who are representing a good God to a willfully evil world, we’re not going to be popular. Christians sometimes think our job is to help people feel better but our job is to help people be better.
There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
2. Adversity should not come because of bad character but because of good character. There is no command that says though shall be nice but we are to love. True love means we speak truth and are willing to offend.Don’t we do that with those who we love the most?
3. Facing adversity is a privilege. God only brings adversity to those who can handle it and those who He wants to use to show His power:
“In selecting his witnesses, God looks for loyalty. Some of Daniel’s friends didn’t make it. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were chosen out of a group (Daniel 1:6). The other ten or twenty do not appear on God’s lists. They sink into self-chosen anonymity. They have allowed the world to decide their lifestyle and to set their standards of right and wrong. They have willed to sacrifice their distinctive marks because they can’t bear to be different from the word.
The lion’s den is not for them. The lion’s den is only for those with lion’s den loyalty. We need to ask ourselves, Am I living with the world or as its victim? Am I unnamed on God’s lists, or am I willing to be his chosen representative in some dark place?”
R. Arthur Matthews, Born for Battle
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There are three lessons Christians need to remember about adversity.
1. We need to expect adversity. As Christians who are representing a good God to a willfully evil world, we’re not going to be popular. Christians sometimes think our job is to help people feel better but our job is to help people be better.
There was a time when the church was very powerful--in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent--and often even vocal--sanction of things as they are.
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
2. Adversity should not come because of bad character but because of good character. There is no command that says though shall be nice but we are to love. True love means we speak truth and are willing to offend.Don’t we do that with those who we love the most?
3. Facing adversity is a privilege. God only brings adversity to those who can handle it and those who He wants to use to show His power:
“In selecting his witnesses, God looks for loyalty. Some of Daniel’s friends didn’t make it. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were chosen out of a group (Daniel 1:6). The other ten or twenty do not appear on God’s lists. They sink into self-chosen anonymity. They have allowed the world to decide their lifestyle and to set their standards of right and wrong. They have willed to sacrifice their distinctive marks because they can’t bear to be different from the word.
The lion’s den is not for them. The lion’s den is only for those with lion’s den loyalty. We need to ask ourselves, Am I living with the world or as its victim? Am I unnamed on God’s lists, or am I willing to be his chosen representative in some dark place?”
R. Arthur Matthews, Born for Battle
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Day 28 - one voice
Elizabeth Rundle Charles:
If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point."
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Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. John 16:22-23
Almighty Father, you are the author of life. It's easy to become discouraged as I see evil becoming commonplace around me. Remind me when discouragement takes over, that you have promised to give us what we ask in your name. That gives me, and those of us who serve you, the capacity to change the world and trust you with the results. Let me use that privilege in such a way that the world may see you glorified. Amen. (Prayer an excerpt from the book, 40 Days for Life, available on Amazon).
If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point."
*************************************
Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. John 16:22-23
Almighty Father, you are the author of life. It's easy to become discouraged as I see evil becoming commonplace around me. Remind me when discouragement takes over, that you have promised to give us what we ask in your name. That gives me, and those of us who serve you, the capacity to change the world and trust you with the results. Let me use that privilege in such a way that the world may see you glorified. Amen. (Prayer an excerpt from the book, 40 Days for Life, available on Amazon).
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