?There have been not one but two saves so far at the Lawrenceville 40 Days for Life location,? said a volunteer. ?Praise be to God!?

Brenda, longtime volunteer at the Lawrenceville location and one of the local leaders, writes, "Yes these are the first babies saved of the campaign. This has lifted all of our spirits!"

She went on to comment that although other groups may try to approach things less gently, "We have found that the peaceful, prayerful presence recommended by 40 Days for Life does really work!"

Brenda explained, "Both women seemed drawn to our group and the information we had because we tried to be peaceful and friendly and approachable.?

One was a young and very shy girl who was in obvious distress. One of the women in the group gently beckoned to her to come up. The girl tentatively approached and said she did want the information on free help. She went back to her car and read everything. She went into Planned Parenthood briefly, but then left for good.

Volunteers don't always find out about lives saved so soon, but they do know the peaceful prayerful presence still has an effect. In fact, people have come back years later to thank them for helping them changing their minds.

"In the past two months,? Brenda said, ?two different people have come up to our group at different times and thanked us for being there three years ago when they were considering abortion. After seeing us peacefully praying there, they realized they could not go through with it and chose life for their babies.?

One had a boy and the other had a girl. ?We were thrilled,? she said, ?but none of us remembered their choosing life because they had never come up to us back then. So we have learned to trust God in all of this.?

Brenda said it?s important to have signs with information about life-affirming resources.

?We try to make sure we always have the information they need to get help on our signs,? she said. We have found that many women are embarrassed by their situation and may not want to talk about it, but would like to know where they can get help. We have noticed some women come and photograph our signs and then drive away. This is why having a phone number, a website or a texting number on our signs is essential."

It?s also important to include post-abortion information. ?Studies show that 40% of the women going in for an abortion have already had one,? she said, ?so helping a woman find healing can help prevent that second abortion.?

The volunteers recalled a woman who saw one of the post-abortion signs and ran up to them. She told them she?d had an abortion several years ago and had never told anyone ? and then started crying.

?Then she told me something I will never forget,? said Brenda. ?She said she felt she could come up to us and tell us this because we looked kind and friendly and approachable. She then told us, ?Make sure you are always that way. A woman going in for an abortion feels like she doesn't have a friend in the world and that is a time when she needs a friend more than ever.??

So, Brenda said, ?we have learned that the best sign of all to have is ourselves. We must be a sign of God's love to all -- the patients, the workers and the people just driving by. We never know how God will use us!?

40 Days for Life

40 Days for Life is a community-based campaign that takes a determined, peaceful approach to showing local communities the consequences of abortion in their own neighborhoods.