good news, twice!

Good news from the trenches~~~

The client of whom I wrote here on August 26th came to her ultrasound appointment this past week. Her boyfriend was with her. She told me she had had her first OB appointment and all looked good. There was no longer any talk of having an abortion. And, her sweet child is growing bigger and bigger! Her boyfriend's eyes were glued to the images and I could tell he was quite enthralled by it all. (She allowed me in for the ultrasound when I asked.) Praise God!

Yesterday, a man came into the center, asking if I remembered him. I told him I recognized his face and asked him to tell me about himself. As soon as he started talking, I said, stop right there. Everything came flooding back to me. Two years ago, he had come into the center and I was his counselor. He had asked me if I knew of a way that a husband could stop his wife from having an abortion. I told him I didn't think there was anything legally he could do but referred him to a well-known pro-life lawyer to make sure. We talked a very long time that day, his agony becoming my agony. What a travesty that fathers have no legal say in whether their children live or die by abortion! He told me his wife was adamant in going through with the abortion and, in fact, she had one scheduled. He was suffering great torment, knowing what she was about to do. I asked him to invite her into the center for an ultrasound. By then, I knew that she was well-educated and so I told him to tell her it was important for her to know everything she could before having the abortion. Well, she DID come in with him that afternoon but she left, still abortion-minded. The next week, the husband and I talked on the phone. He told me she couldn't find anyone to take her to the abortion mill so she'd had to cancel the appointment. That's about where the story ended for me. I had tried to call him a couple times but never got a response so I continued to pray for them and asked others to pray, too.

It's probably not unreasonable that I didn't recognize him at first. He looked like a completely different person. Whereas two years ago, all of the anguish showed in his eyes and on his face and his demeanor was almost one of defeat or despair, yesterday, there was a lightness to him, a joyful energy. It was as if his whole body was smiling because.....They now have a one year old baby girl who is very precious to both her parents and her older brother! Her name is a beautiful one, a gift from her father's heritage. As he showed me photos of her, I wept. I couldn't help it. (It didn't help that he told me I was a special angel for them during those days!) My heart leaped for joy. A little child whose FATHER and mother had come to us had been allowed to live! He told me it hadn't been easy. It had taken several more appointments at the abortion mill for her final decision, once and for all, to have the baby. He said the lawyer told him what I had told him but he had found him to be of great solace to him. He said it had helped to talk with him. At the end of our visit, he promised to bring his children in for me to see. What a glorious day that will be!

After he left, I was thinking about something. A couple years ago, I wondered if I should look for a full time position somewhere so I could get health benefits. My insurance premiums were about to go up to almost $1000 a month and I couldn't afford it but I knew I needed insurance. I applied for different jobs, with not one open door to a new opportunity as a result. Then, I was told about a plan that the State had for people who cannot get insurance through their employers. It cut my premium in half and made it affordable once again. God had worked it all out for me so that I would be able to continue doing what I was doing. I was thinking that, had I been successful in getting other work, I would not have been at the center yesterday and would never have known about this dear child, whose life means so much to me--and to everyone else in this world, come to think of it! I thanked God for showing me the fruit of my labor in this situation. It was an awesome blessing from a most awesome God!