Here is part of what I shared about what Life for Lily Day is/means to me:
It
was on this date in 2009 that I
had an abortion appointment scheduled at Planned Parenthood. Blinded by
my fear and shame, I thought I needed to "take care" of the "problem" of
an unplanned pregnancy. After all, I had just turned only 20-years-old,
was not married, and not in a place in my life where I thought I was
ready to welcome a child into this world.
It
is only because of God's grace that August 15th does not hold painful
memories of walking through those abortion clinic doors with my child
safely nestled in my womb and walking out with her body having been
violently ripped from mine. It is only because of His loving-kindness
and intervention in my life that we are all standing here together, in
this moment, at the beautiful memorial stone for a little girl named
Lily Katherine. On the day that the enemy of our souls intended to be death for Lily day, we can rejoice that because of God's mercy that instead we celebrate Life for Lily Day!
It is only because of His victory over darkness that when the clock
struck midnight on August 16th in 2009 that my child's heart was
still beating strongly within me.
God
whispered to my heart in August 2009 that I had come to a fork in the
road in my life and had a very big decision to make. He showed me that
if I chose to have an abortion, I couldn't imagine the pain and darkness
that would follow, but if I chose life, I couldn't imagine the beauty
that He would bring. On an August evening around dusk, I was watching
the pink clouds dance across the sky, when suddenly the decision became
clear to me: I had to obey Him and choose life. Suddenly all my fears
melted away when the light of truth shined on my heart. I knew my God
would be with me and would give me everything I needed to face the
journey ahead.
I
don't even want to imagine what my life would be like right now and all
we would have missed had August 15th gone the way I had planned. Every
year, I would have tearfully remembered that just three days after my
own birthday, I denied my child the gift of having her own birthday.
Because of the one who loves us more than life and had a plan beyond
what I could see or comprehend, she does have a birthday - it's
March 16th, 2010, a date that would have held no significance to me had
the date of August 15th turned into one of anguish rather than
rejoicing. Instead of ending her life, my Father in Heaven gave me the
courage to embrace her life, and then put His love for her within me,
even when I was selfish and broken and had none of my own to give.
You
might think to yourself that Lily died anyways before birth, so what's
the big deal, why shouldn't I have gone through with the abortion and
saved myself the heartache of her untimely death? You see, she may have
died, but she LIVED first. And she did not die before the purposes for
her life were put into motion by the one who crafted her life and legacy
before the foundation of the world. She didn't die before she changed
my entire life, future, and calling. My child died with dignity, rather
than at the hands of an abortionist, paid for by her mother. God had His
will for her life and in my life, rather than me having
my will and playing god in taking her life myself. It is the Lord who
gives and takes away. May His Name be praised!
Butterflies symbolize new life and that is what Lily brought me. Her new life in the womb was a reflection of and the instrument used by
God to bring me to life in Him. Her name means "purity and innocence,"
as a symbol of my redemption in Christ. Because of His shed blood, I am
washed whiter than snow. He has cleared the blemishes of my past and
makes them as if they never were.... like an unborn babe.... like Lily. 2
Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new!"
As
my friend Anna wrote, "little Lily was a miracle, and even her name was
a testimony to your growing in His light like a flower blooming in her
season." Summer is the perfect time of year to release butterflies for
the baby girl who brought me new life, as it was the time of year her
life began. Obviously butterflies are significant enough to me to
include one on the back of Lily's stone. Her life brought
transformation.
Lily
now has eternal life with Jesus. God spoke His promise of eternal life,
redemption, and the love and mercy of Christ through Lily's birthday:
March 16. 3:16, like John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have eternal life." Her life is a picture of this.
Not
only are butterflies significant to me because they remind me of Lily's
new life, the new life she brought me, and my new life in Christ, but
they are also beautiful creatures with short life spans. Maybe God
wanted to speak through how He designed butterflies to be so lovely,
knowing they would live a brief time, that it is not length that brings
beauty and significance. I believe the butterfly is a reflection of the
beauty, depth, and intricacy of Lily's life and legacy. Although the
length of her life was short, the depth of it is immeasurable in how
it's changed the breadth of the rest of my life.
There is a part in Lily's
song that perfectly captures what August 15th means to me - "How close I
had come to that fatal mistake, but I knew that your life was not mine
to take. Through the turmoil and questions broke God's gentle voice:
"will you entrust Me with this child, with this choice?"
The song "Alive Again" by Matt Maher beautifully articulates the season in my life when the Lord
broke through my darkness. The chorus of the song says, "You called and
You shouted, broke through my deafness, now I'm breathing in and
breathing out, I'm alive again. You shattered my darkness, washed away
my blindness, Now I'm breathing in and breathing out, I'm alive again."
The song "You Are On Our Side," by Bethany Dillon is another special one for me. On August 6th, 2009, I wrote in my journal about how desperate I was for Jesus and how deeply I regretted choices I had made. I asked Him to fulfill His purposes in my life and to take away anything keeping me from Him. In that journal entry, I wrote the lyrics to this song. The chorus says, "You sit at the table with the wounded and the poor, You laugh and share stories with the thief and the whore. When You could just be silent and leave us here to die, still You sent Your Son for us, You are on our side."
He
showed me He is on my side.... in how He whispered hope and life to me,
in how He brought the victory, in leading me to ask Him in my journal
to rescue me from myself so He could prove Himself ever-faithful and
present, in how He led me to the "Lifehouse Everything" skit online, in
how He led my Aunt Sarah to lend me her David Teems CD so Scripture
could be read over me during those nights where a battle was literally
raging in the spiritual world and His power was released through His
Word, in how He led me to reach out to a young woman named Bex who had
courageously chosen life and adoption for her little boy and was able to
be just the support and encouragement I needed in my own unplanned
pregnancy, in how He led me to the pregnancy center, the "place of hope
and light" as I call it, where I was able to cry and talk it out with my
now good friend, Anna, in how He led me to listen to many different
songs during that time that ministered to my heart, in how He put His
love for Lily within me and the desire to protect her from harm, in how I
found a Precious Feet pin of a 10-week unborn baby's feet when I was
also 10-weeks pregnant and my heart was able to grasp that I had a
precious life within me, in how I was initially researching abortion
methods because I was planning on having one, when God turned my world
upside down and showed me the truth about abortion and first birthed
within me the desire to be a voice for the voiceless, in how He
whispered to my heart that I was carrying a little girl named Lily while
I was still in my first trimester. He showed me He was on my side
through all these things and more. Through all these years, He has
continued to show me He is on my side.
My spiritual birthday, or Life for Lily Day, is a "stone of remembrance." We praise the Lord for what He's done and we thank Him for sending Lily to Earth. As the decades pass, and my hair turns gray, and aging-wrinkles form on my face, I will remember. My love will only increase with time. While I remain on Earth, I will do all I can to share her story with others and bring glory to the Lord as she have done. Because I know the time is coming when we will be together forever and this life will have been but a breath in light of eternity. All the tears will dry up and the sorrow will fade away, on that day when Jesus greets me at the gates of Heaven, where I know she will be waiting with Him, to welcome me Home. As John Piper wrote in a letter to a mother whose son was stillborn, "she simply skipped Earth. For now. But in the new heavens and the new earth, she will know the best of earth and all the joys earth can give without any of its sorrows." When we first lock eyes, dear Lily, all the years of missing you will be no more and I will hold you and never let go. I will thank you for bringing me new life...
Life for Lily Day Butterfly Release
For more pictures and more on the butterfly release, you can read my blog post from last year by clicking here.
August 15 birth of Ryleigh too
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