The Untitled Blog Post January 22, 2009

A lot can happen in three months – WordPress changes its format, you find out you’re pregnant, your son turns 3 years old. So, what’s the natural response? Blogging hits the backburner. At least for me.

But amidst the craziness and chaos of life, one thing has remained constant. There will always be more craziness and chaos. That’s life with a toddler-turning-preschooler who demands his way is the best way. Wait ’till he meets Jesus.

Or maybe I should say wait ’till Jesus meets him (and hopefully transforms him SOON!). But that wouldn’t be correct because my son is already known by Jesus, already known by His Heavenly Father, who fashioned him in the secret of my womb before I even knew he existed.

And God my Father has done it again – has allowed me to become the carrier of another miraculously-created life who I will bring into the world in less than six months. If only I could pray away the labor pains. Not likely.

But what I am praying for is that this unborn child will personally know and trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The same prayer prayed daily for my firstborn. That Jesus will be first place in his life, that Jesus will remain the one constant thing amidst the craziness and chaos of life.

Of course, telling my son that will work wonders because he listens oh so well I believe it’s called selective hearing and thankfully he has heard my conversations about Jesus because he already knows Jesus loves him and died for him and that Jesus is alive. He at least can recite this at 3 years old and I’m praying these truths will become written on his own heart soon.

No, I think the better way for my son to learn that Jesus is first among all things is to see that portrayed in my life. In my crazy and chaotic life. For him to see that no matter what financial difficulty we face, no matter how many repairs Dada’s truck needs, no matter how many times I’ve repeated the statement that pee-pee goes in the potty not on the floor, that Jesus is still King of all. Because no matter how I treat my Lord, He is still Lord. No matter how unfaithful I am to Him, He is still faithful to me. It is undeserved love but as my husband would say, “It is what it is,” and it is grace.

Oh Lord, if only our hearts would cling to You with unfaltering faith, if only we could take You at your word and know beyond our doubts that You desire to bless us beyond belief, then we could truly rest in Your peace here on earth and exchange our chaos for your calm. For your death and resurrection have given us the right to become children of God, and as an earthly father desires to give his children good things, You, Lord, desire to give us even more.

Christians are called, urged, mandated by God to help end killing in the womb March 10, 2008

After reading this Biblical Mandate by pro-life group Abort73 urging Christians to do something about abortion, I was so encouraged to do all I can to defend the defenseless and be a voice for the voiceless. The message stems from James 1:27 which says

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Please take time to read through the entire page but I’ll leave you with a few excerpts:

There are some in the church who are so focused on being “unstained from the world” that they isolate themselves almost completely from the suffering of those around them. They read the Word, they pray, but they stay far away from the ugly and messy needs of the downtrodden (like orphans, widows and unborn children). There are others in the church whose commitment to meeting social needs is unwavering, and they hit the streets: caring for the homeless, feeding the hungry, protesting at the abortion mill, but having (perhaps) too little concern for personal holiness, and very little regard for the absolute centrality of the gospel. Devotion to God has been replaced with devotion to cause.

James tells us it should not be so. Visit widows and orphans and keep yourself unstained from the world. We must not become so “spiritual” in our Christian life that we forget about meeting physical needs, and we must not become so “worldly” in meeting those needs that we lose sight of God’s ultimate design. Or, to say it in specifically “pro-life” terms, we must not become so “spiritual” in our Christian life that we write off the daily slaughter of 4,000 innocent human beings as a political issue (beyond our jurisdiction), and we must not become so “worldly” in intervening for them that we lose sight of the bigger picture (reconciling people to Christ through holiness and love). This balance is the essence of pure and undefiled religion.

Why such outrage when newborns are thrown away but not when babies are aborted? February 15, 2008

A Houston-area woman has been arrested and charged with one count of injury to a child for delivering her baby 6 weeks early in a hospital bathroom and then throwing the newborn in a trash can.

The saddest part, according to reports, is that the baby has been determined brain dead. The complete story can be read here.

After I read the story, of course I felt sick, but I also scrolled through a few of the 245 comments. That’s a lot of comments, most of which express outrage and anger toward the mother. Understandable.

However, what is not understandable to me is how people can express such hostility toward a mother for discarding her infant’s life and yet not even bat an eye when a woman aborts her baby at any stage of its development. Is it not the same thing?

Yes, the baby in this story was born 6 weeks early so we can assume he is about 34 weeks along in the womb (my son was born 3 weeks early and he was very ready to go) so the baby was quite developed. But at one point he had only been developing for 4 weeks, at which time his organs were forming and he was the size of a poppy seed (how itsy bitsy!!). At 6 weeks the baby has a heartbeat which beats twice as fast as an adult’s.

At 10 weeks (almost 3 months along) in the womb, the baby is about an inch long, has eyelids, hands, feet and is clearly ‘human’ even though a woman can feel nothing actually moving. It’s at this time that most women know for certain they are pregnant due to many symptoms but often wait to tell others because the first 3 months are the most critical time of a baby’s development.

The second trimester is the fun time, when the baby starts to move a bit, you find out if your little bump is a boy or girl, and when you get over yucky sickness. By the third trimester, you’re just wondering how labor will be, which side to sleep on and if the baby will ever let you eat another piece of pizza again.

D-Day arrives and you’re ready. This life that has been forming in your belly from day one is about to surprise you with a range of emotions from joy to sadness. But it is the beginning of a wonderful and exciting life together.

Or so it should’ve been for the woman who dumped her baby in the trash can. Or for the woman who aborted her baby. The situations are the same – utter disrespect for human life, life that God has created, life that God has lovingly blessed us with.

But there is forgiveness with God for those who seek it.

50 million abortions and counting… January 22, 2008

On this the 35th anniversary of the Roe. v Wade decision, pro-lifers march in support of the unborn and pro-choicers speak out in support of the “woman’s right to choose.” What has happened over the last 35 years? How about 50 million babies who were killed. I read a good column about this outrageous number and how our grief over these senseless deaths should be expressed.

Even though statistics show that abortions are decreasing (a good thing in light of the situation, I suppose), abortions still remain the No. 1 way to postpone parenting and having children. After working with women and teens facing a crisis pregnancy at pregnancy care centers (unplanned and unintended in their eyes) and having my own child, I can understand the anxiety of being pregnant. It’s the complete and utter definition of “the unknown.”

You have no idea what will happen during your pregnancy, you have no idea how you will take care of this baby, you have no idea what kind of mother you will be, you have no idea how you will afford this baby, you have no idea how this baby will change your life. Now, that is scary.

But you also will never know how any of these questions and mysteries can turn into utter joy if you squelch the opportunity to allow yourself to be loved by this little one by aborting your baby. You have no idea how your situation can be turned around, how you can prove to be stronger than you thought, how your life can become something focused on someone else rather than yourself.

It’s no lie that life with a child is difficult, stressful and demanding. And many parents journey through parenthood without God and without a saving relationship with Christ (which is the real mystery to me). But even in through the troubling times and the sacrifices made for another, you will learn more than you ever knew about yourself and about your child. And in doing that, I believe God will show you more and more of Himself and soften your heart to believe. Or, if you do believe, provide you with the grace needed to rely on Him daily.

Give your child a chance, give yourself a chance and most of all give God a chance to use your life, your situation for something good. You have no idea how a seemingly hopeless situation can be turned into a glorious story of hope, love and triumph. Stop the 50-million statistic in its place and start counting down. Because there is a little someone who is counting on you and only you.