Joining a 40 Days for Life vigil builds confidence that God will use you for His purposes.
That was the case in Glasgow, Scotland, last fall when Mary visited a store and heard a staff member tell a colleague that she was considering abortion. Her boyfriend wanted the baby, but it was a young relationship, so the woman wasn't sure.
When it was Mary's turn to check out, she mustered up the courage to tell the cashier that she overheard the conversation and would be praying for her to choose life.
The pregnant woman said nothing...but did accept a small gift from Mary. Flash forward to this campaign...
...as Mary returned to the shop and heard a customer ask somebody when her baby was due.
"I looked round and saw the same young staff member looking happy, healthy, and pregnant," Mary recounted.
The expectant mother's baby is due next month!
"If I hadn't been part of the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils...I would not have spoken up that day," Mary reflected. "The grace and fruits of the Holy Spirit are there for us as they were for the apostles at Pentecost."
Boulder, Colorado
The dehumanization of an unborn baby doesn't end after an abortion. It continues as the child is denied a dignified burial and instead discarded with the medical waste.
On a recent visit to Boulder's late-term abortion business, 40 Days for Life outreach director Ramona Trevino saw a medical waste truck arrive. It was particularly jarring given that one of the prayer warriors in attendance has a friend who recently aborted her baby at 24 weeks due to a heart condition.
A Lutheran pastor was on hand to lead the group in prayer--and to comfort the volunteer grieving the abortion of her friend's baby.
Fullerton, Maryland
Vigil participants in Fullerton pray on a busy street in front of a multiuse commercial center with an abortion facility buried away toward the back of the property.
That means Sidewalk Outreach is difficult, because it's impossible to tell who's coming for an abortion and who's coming for lunch.
So vigil participants were delighted when a passerby was moved enough by their presence to stop and share how more than six decades ago, his birth mother planned to abort him...before changing her mind and placing him for adoption.
"I want to thank you for being here and to encourage you to keep doing what you are doing," the man said. "You may change someone's heart just because they see you here."
The exhortation inspired vigil participants to walk by faith, not by sight.
"This encounter meant a lot to the three of us, since we don't see who is going to the abortion facility and have no way of knowing how our presence impacts them," Beth said. "Yes, our heads tell us to believe something positive can happen, but to have a stranger stop by and remind us was like a wink from God saying, 'Hang in there.'"
And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice.
--Luke 17:15
Dear Lord, thank you for the innumerable babies and mothers who have been saved from abortion through 40 Days for Life. And thank you in advance for the lives that will be changed through this campaign. Work in our own hearts so that we might see every circumstance as a chance to grow closer to you and to express our thanksgiving for your faithfulness. Amen.
