August 2009 Series ~ He Moves in the Most Unlikely Ways

The month of August 2009 is when God intervened in my life and radically altered my life, through my unborn baby, my darling Lily girl. Each August, I am flooded with memories of His faithfulness, in both the huge things and the smallest details that He used to speak to me. I like to share the blog entries about that time each August to share of His great love and faithfulness. I will call the posts the "August 2009 Series."

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I have been thinking a lot about something God used to change my life in August 2009. If you are familiar with my story, you know that when I was pregnant with Lily, I was planning on having an abortion and even scheduled the appointment at Planned Parenthood for August 15th, 2009. I was too many weeks into pregnancy to have the medical abortion (RU486 pill) so was doing some research online to see what sort of abortion procedure I would be getting and what to expect.

In the midst of my research, I was horrified to read about the surgical abortion procedures. By the Lord's leading, I came across stories of men and women who had formerly been involved in the abortion industry, but after God changing their hearts and lives, they became passionately pro-life. I read stories of brokenhearted men and women who regret their decision to abort their unborn child. I also came across stories of those who chose life and adoption for their child. I pored over these stories and wept over them.

The testimony that stands out most vividly in my mind is that of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who was an American doctor and co-founder of the NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws). He was one of the people that most passionately spoke our for abortion before it was legalized, and then he became passionately pro-life. The development of ultrasound in the 1970s helped change his mind that the unborn are human beings, worthy of protection and life. He even performed an abortion on his own unborn child, along with ending the lives of thousands of other unborn babies. :-(

BUT our God is a God of redemption. And He can take the darkest and most hopeless stories and make them radiate His light and healing touch. Dr. Nathanson has impacted millions of people around the world with his spoken and written words. Click HERE to read a post shared on The Gospel Coalition blog about Dr. Bernard Nathanson this week.

I wish that I could tell him how much his movie, The Silent Scream, impacted my life. I first saw it in August 2009 and can honestly say, it is in fact partly because of this film that I chose life for Lily. She was close to the same size and gestation of the baby in the film.

Watch The Silent Scream below or by clicking HERE. Note: the video was made in 1984, so it is not the best quality. Also, WARNING: it is graphic, so may be extremely difficult to hear about and watch. But this society must come to a realization of the truth of what abortion is. That's what it took for me.

When I was originally researching abortion because I was planning on getting one, the Lord turned my world upside down by stirring my soul and igniting a passion within me to give a voice to those who have no voice. He opened the eyes of my heart to sense the depth of the darkness of abortion in a way I haven't felt since. I realized how ignorant I had been. He showed me how precious each life is to Him and how He has a unique plan and purpose for everyone. Talk about a 180!

I hope that in sharing what God did in my life in this way, you see that He can move in the most unlikely of ways, in the most unexpected circumstances. He is sovereign and mighty. He is so much more powerful than any darkness in this world. He can use the very thing the enemy means to bring destruction and devastation to our lives and totally and completely turn it around for our good and His glory. I will never stop speaking out about how He rescued me and set me free.

And how He brought me to a 180... through testimonies of men and women who have in some intimate way been impacted by abortion, the people who would seem the most unqualified to be pro-life and speak out against abortion. Yet God truly uses the "unqualified" to bring His purposes to pass on Earth and to showcase His strength! Those of us who have been touched by abortion first-hand need to speak out. Our voices are needed, even if anyone makes you feel like you're unworthy of being heard. We can speak about abortion in a way others cannot.

It's amazing to me the ripple effects that occur when we choose to share. Me seeing Dr. Nathanson's video helped me find the courage to choose life, which in turn began a journey of God awakening my heart to share my own story through speaking and writing. It shows what ripple effects come out of our sharing, when one person is impacted and then they go on to impact more people, and so on and so forth. Never feel like you cannot make a difference in this world for life because you most certainly can!

I can only hope and pray that a woman who finds herself in an unplanned pregnancy, like I was in, will also be searching the internet, googling terms having to do with abortion, and will find her way here to my blog. I hope that even if she never writes to me or makes it known, that somehow my words and the lives of Luke and Lily, will show her that choosing LIFE is always the better way. The internet is a powerful tool that can be wielded for good or bad. I pray that the Lord will lead many people in crisis to stories like that of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Jill Stanek, Abby Johnson, etc. And please continue to share these stories on social media and with those you know because you never know who needs to hear them, and who will remember them when a crisis pregnancy comes knocking.

Here is a Jill Stanek video that I also remember watching in August 2009 (along with researching partial birth abortion).