My Prayer For Mothers

I read a post from Justin Taylor's blog this morning and wanted to share a few portions of it here.

Hypothetically, what if the choice in an election comes down to two candidates--one who supports abortion policies, and the other who supports an unjust war? Whom would--whom should--you choose? ...

I don't like the label "single-issue voter" and don't use it to describe my position. I'm not sure there's a better term--but the fact remains that there are many issues that are of concern to me. By using the term "single issue," I think we suggest that an issue like abortion is the only issue of serious consequence in this election. Some may believe that, but I don't.Nevertheless, the fact remains that abortion is the great moral outrage of our day--and no one, for example, in the mainstream media (or in many churches) makes a peep about the daily slaughter of the weakest members of the human race.

He embedded the following video about abortion in his blog, but I do not want to do that here. The images in the video reduced me to tears and I do not wish to unwillingly inflict that upon anyone. The message of the words at the beginning is incredibly strong (everything up to 1:17) and if you don't want to see the disturbing images then stop there and you will not have seen anything. If you watch the video in its entirety, you will be exposed to very graphic images of abortion. I post the following link because I feel the message it contains is important and powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLaai6o0O0A

As a man awaiting his first child, this video shook me to my core. It reinforced all of my thoughts regarding abortion and put a very vivid image of what abortion does to the little human lives that are ended violently. From the beginning of our pregnancy, I have set little goals along the way - milestones of achievement and accomplishment that had absolutely nothing to do with me and everything to do with God doing His amazing work and Lisa and the baby remaining healthy.

My first goal was to get out of the first trimester without any complications. This is when a large portion of miscarriages happen. My second goal was to make it to 20 weeks, when I would be able to see my child again (for the last time until birth) in an ultrasound. My third goal was 24 weeks because I knew from Lisa's work experience that it is possible for a child to survive outside the womb at that point. My fourth goal was to make it to 37 weeks, where the baby is considered fully formed and can survive outside the womb without any assistance whatsoever from an oxygen machine. Now that we have hit all those goals without any issues or complications, I look back and praise God for what He has done for us throughout this pregnancy.

Sitting here waiting for the arrival of my first child, I am moved to prayer for those who have aborted their first child. The devil has tricked millions of people into thinking that this was their right and their choice to make when in reality it was God who had determined that this baby would come into existence. Just because it is aborted prior to the action of giving birth does not cease to make this child a person and more importantly a creation of God. While the act of abortion might stop the process of creation that God is involved in, it doesn't stop God's involvement in that mother's life. I believe that the reason that women have such a terrible time "getting over" having their baby aborted is because the Holy Spirit is letting them know that they interfered with an act of God. It's not that God is suprised by the act or caught off guard, but I believe that it grieves Him and He lets the mother know it.

In the aftermath of an abortion, God can open the mother's eyes to recognize what she has done and still show her that He is more than willing to forgive her of that sin in a way that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. This makes me wonder why I don't pray for others more often. I pray for myself, my wife, our child, our family and our friends, but I do not spend much time at all praying for those around me who are suffering due to their sinful state and the actions they have taken.

Today, I am praying for all the mothers of the world - those who have carried their babies full term and those who have stopped God's knitting process along the way. The need for a Savior is found in both cases and is a very pressing need.