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| An unborn baby in the womb |
Six weeks after our first child was born, we travelled to China to receive our second precious daughter. What joy filled our hearts as she was placed in our arms. Yet there was a sadness as well...a sadness for her birth parents who would never see her first steps or hear her first words or receive her hugs and kisses. Sadness over a government that makes it so difficult on parents to have more than one child. Sadness at some in a society who believe that boys have more worth than girls.
I feel that same sadness when I reflect on the fact that our country, America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, still does not extend freedom to its youngest members. The baby in the womb is not free to be born. If news of that child's creation brings fear or dread rather than joy, that child may be killed. A smile destroyed before it had a chance to exist...eyes that will never look on the face of a loving mother...arms that will never reach out to hug a father.
Every child, whether in China or in Charleston, SC, beckons from the womb - give me a chance to live! Marvel and wonder at my creation, see the beauty and potential that lies within my smile, see the depth of wisdom and worth that lies within my eyes. I matter! I am a person with a living soul. God chose to create me and He wants me to live. He is giving me to the world and hoping that loving arms will take me in with joy.
This is essentially what 40 Days for Life is all about -- 40 days of prayer, fasting and peaceful vigil to end abortion in America. It is the heart cries of mothers, fathers, business people, students, children, thousands upon thousands who are crying out to stop abortion. To stop the killing of babies before they even have a chance to take their first breath. To trust that when God creates a new life, He will give the help parents need to raise that child.
September 28 - November 6, 2011 will be a time, in Charleston and in more than 291 other locations throughout the US and the world, when people speak-up for the baby who can not speak for itself.
Beginning with the first 40 Days for Life campaign in 2007, people of faith and conscience have been mobilized in 337 cities across all 50 of the United States, seven Canadian provinces, four Australian states, plus England, Northern Ireland and Denmark.
During these unified efforts, participants witnessed countless blessings from God:
- Over 400,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
- More than 13,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
- Reports document 4,313 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
- 53 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
- 14 abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns
- Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
- More than 1,500 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs from coast to coast ... and overseas
- Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery
- After so many years of legalized abortion, many people of faith are experiencing a renewed sense of HOPE!
Each of us knows, in our hearts, that abortion is wrong. 40 Days for Life is the time to do something about this. God will hear our prayers; He will move in response to our fasting; He will bring an end to this evil as His people stand up, in peaceful vigil, to say Enough is Enough! I pray you will get involved.
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