Why You May Be Doing the Right Thing

As many of you probably know, my sister and I go to one of the abortion clinics (mills) in our city once a week. We are sidewalk counselors with Cities4Life, which, I'm sure, engenders all sorts of questions you'd like me to answer. But that is not the scope of this post; I apologize.

Wednesday is our "mill day," which means that we spend 3-4 hours on the sidewalk on Wednesday mornings, pleading with mamas and daddies for life and offering them help and hope.

So why? Why do we go? I mean, the answer is simple. I'm sorry, I don't have a shocking answer for you. Quite simply, there are little people that are murdered in our city every. single. day., and if God's people won't speak, who will?

But as I post my mill report each week on Facebook; and as people stop me at church to ask all kinds of questions; and when the stranger at Harris Teeter wants to know where I got my sunburn so early in the season (and I think to myself, "gee whiz, does she really want to know? I mean, what if she's had an abortion? What if she blows up in my face because, after all, it's her body; her choice?"), I feel very conscious of the fact that people sometimes view me as "more holy" for doing what I do. And I also feel very keenly that this ministry is not for everyone. . . nor should it be.

Many people tell me, "I could never do what you do." Or, "Wow! You're right on the front lines of God's work!"

May I say to you, "So. are. you."

You see, this sidewalk counseling thing just sort-of happened. I have wanted to do something like it for a long time and wasn't sure how to. On top of my own personal desire, I have a friend who was already doing this, and took me and my sister out one day to get an idea of what it's like on the sidewalks. And then, on top of that, my sister and I had the same morning available, and it was the morning that Cities4Life was needing additional counselors. So, now we go.

And your Wednesday morning looks something like getting up and making coffee and getting the kids started on math and jotting down a few things you meant to get at the grocery store on Monday and folding a load of laundry. Before you know it, it's time for lunch. Or maybe you get up and head to the office, and come home at 6pm, and eat dinner and do the dishes for your wife, and tuck the kids in, and turn out the lights, and thank God for another long day and a good bed to sleep in so you can get up and do it all again tomorrow.

May I say to you, your work under the sun is for Him. At this season of my life, I go to the sidewalks on Wednesday mornings. And I love it. I love counseling. I love seeing mamas choose life. I love working with the Wednesday team. I love making dear baby things for little people. This is the season I'm in. This is what God's put in front of me to do, and I hope that, should this season ever end, I've been found faithful in doing what He's given me to do now. And putting laundry in the dryer is no less holy than telling a mama that abortion is murder. A proof of this is simply that Jesus didn't show up on this planet as a 30 year old man and start preaching to the multitudes. No; he grew in the belly of a woman and was born of her; he played in a carpenter's shop and "got lost" in temples and ate good food and drank good wine and lay down and rose up and walked by the way for God. It's all for Him! It's all holy.

Maybe you should be doing hard things that you're not doing. That's a problem. But God loves daily faithfulness and He puts us where He wants us to grow and sets things before us that He wants us to do for Him. So go and do, for the glory of God! May He find His servants faithful in all their work for Him under the sun.

Some have asked if there's a way that they can help with the ministry since it is not realistic for them to be on the sidewalks right now. The answer is always yes! There are always things to be done. But personally, I put together blanket bundles to give to the mamas that choose life, and I am working on a website where donations can be made for specific items to go in the bundles. I will be posting that in the next week or so. I am always thankful for your prayers. My work is not more holy than your work, but it is sometimes harder. . . sometimes. I am grateful for your prayers. And I thank God for the work that He gives you to do under the sun, and the unnumbered ways that He lets us work for Him. This is the good life.