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Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:58.
I really don’t know who won the election, not because I live under a rock, but because today is November 2nd. I usually like to write to you just before we send these emails so that my subject is fresh. But today I woke up thinking that for the next week or so a lot of us might be distracted by the election and results.
Today, my thoughts are clear on something I know will interest both those of us who love stories and those of us who love numbers.
We track just about everything we do at Queen City Pregnancy Resource Center for the purpose of being able to improve how we serve families, save children, and share the Gospel in word and deed. And recently, I asked our extraordinarily capable Operations Director, Rachel Kesler, for one of those pieces of tracked data. But this particular request threw her a bit.
At QC PRC, we have prayer teams that come into the Center and those who pray from home by accessing specific requests through a password-protected webpage. I wanted to add a number to that list for them to pray for weekly. So, I asked Rachel, “Of all the women considering abortion whom we’ve served in the last two months, how many are still undecided about whether to abort or carry to term?”
I know why Rachel paused. It’s because that number fluctuates every day and hour as we constantly follow up with the women we serve. But Rachel dug in to come up with the most accurate number possible. And the number shocked me—it bounced around in my head for 24 hours straight and made me lose a bit of sleep. The number was 74.
I couldn’t help but think, “What would happen in Charlotte if we knew 74 children were at risk somewhere? What resources would the city deploy? What amount of time, money and energy would be used to rescue them?”
And here’s why that number I asked Rachel for changes so much. One day last week we served two women who were well past the 12-week cutoff for abortion in North Carolina. This was unusual for us. Typically, our clients are at a much earlier stage in their pregnancy when they first come to us.
Both women’s babies were far enough along that they would almost certainly survive outside the womb. And it was our hope that if these women could see that on an ultrasound screen, each of their hearts would be swayed to carry their pregnancy to term.
That’s exactly what happened with one of the moms. She was still in shock as she left the center that day, but she was processing that her dates were off and that the abortion pill was no longer an option.
The second woman and her partner, though, were vehement that they would travel out of state for the procedure. Our staff, which has life and death conversations multiple times a day, was shaken.
We asked everyone to pray, offered our support services to the couple, and followed up with them, reminding them of our care for them. A week later the mom texted this to us:
Good morning ****. Thank you for checking in on me. I appreciate your prayers and concern. Yes, it's been hard to process and come to a decision about what to do. But **** and I have decided to do adoption and would love to come and speak with you this week about it more in depth if possible?
So that is one story of how the number goes from 74 to 72.
But that is really only the beginning of their stories. I think about the couple who was set on having an abortion and how their family is forever changed by God’s work in their heart; about their good, hard decision to make an adoption plan. And I wonder about the couple who is out there somewhere praying desperately for a baby, having no idea that a nurse at QC PRC is talking with a mom about her next steps. That will be their baby.
And then I think of that baby who will grow up knowing two mothers--one who courageously gave life to her and one who prayed for a chance to hold her. She’ll likely never know those nurses and sonographers who cried over her that day or the people who prayed for her life. She likely won’t know you, one of the many people who pray daily for this ministry, who serve in volunteer roles, who give sacrificially so those mothers find us and receive free ultrasounds and life-giving counsel.
Together let’s pray that baby finds the One who orchestrated all of it. The One we serve. The One we praise and thank for the way she is fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.
She won’t know you, but I do, and I thank you.
Warmly, Mary