Dear friend for LIFE,
The year is coming to an end, and yet
it seems it just began a short time ago. There have been so many
wonderful accomplishments over the year, but still we face the
continuing challenge of a culture that sees termination of a
God-given life as a Right to be fiercely protected. This is not at
all an easy topic and although we are very successful when we show a
woman the ultrasound picture of her baby, there are many who will
never even walk in our door so they can never know how God looks at
their circumstances.
“It
wasn’t until the ultrasound of ‘the baby’ that I realized that
I was pregnant and was soon to be a mama. This was when ‘the baby’
became MY
Baby! It is still hard to believe today that Roman is mine!”
We are seeing more women than ever and
with your continued support we are setting our goal on ending
abortions in Mobile County and in the state of Alabama. This is a
brief report card on what we are accomplishing. The “We” is
you-you and the Board, staff, and volunteers of the Women’s
Resource Centers of Mobile and Saraland- all working together for
Life.
We began 2013 with
the excitement of being awarded a $100,000 grant from ACTS 100. This
grant allowed us to purchase and retrofit a Mobile Medical unit. We
were also able to acquire a portable Sonogram machine for the mobile
unit through the generosity of the national and local support of the
Knights of Columbus. It has been
a joy to co-labor together on this rolling billboard for life. We are
now “on the road” four days a week, fully staffed and creating
awareness and offering help at college campuses, Prichard, Bayou La
Batre, Theodore and Tillman’s corner.
Dr. Tony Evans was
featured at this year’s Banquet and our largest Banquet ever with
over 1,000 supporters. He reminded us all that there are two
lives at stake with every client session-the mother and the
baby.
“What
I viewed as a mistake, God took and turned into a miracle; He gave me
a second chance at life. I am forever grateful to the Women’s
Resource Center and all of the people involved there….I have a
future and a hope and so do my children because of Sav-A-Life. Thank
you; we are lives worth saving.”
He also reminded us that just as your
donations support the free testing and support services of the
ministry, each of us was given Eternal Life because
Jesus paid the price for us. Isn’t that incredible? However, Dr.
Evans did not stop here. He remembered the many, many women who were
not able to Choose Life and affirmed that Jesus sees the mothers and
fathers as His offspring-just like the babies.
He wants all to be set free and redeemed!
“Faced
with an unplanned pregnancy at the age of 16, I thought abortion
would be the easiest option. Little did I know, it would be the worst
decision I ever made. After the abortion I felt deceived. I suffered
from anxiety and depression….Through the blood of Jesus; I have
been forgiven, healed, and restored. I am now a class facilitator in
post-abortion recovery.”
We are fortunate to
be in a state that is guided by leaders with Godly principles.
Nonetheless, we are well aware that it is not human effort that will
change hearts. The Lord reminds us in Zechariah 4:6 that God’s work
is accomplished, “Not by Might, nor by Power, but by My Spirit…”
Indeed, we saw the
power of the Spirit move on many dear friends later in May and June
as we received 4100 baby bottles from 54
churches plus many individuals and businesses resulting in the
largest BBB event we have had so far. Then, as summer ended, we held
our 6th
Walk for Life and heard the testimonies of several of our
clients before we braved the rain that had held off for most of the
time. And, even as we celebrated the joy of parenting, we also saw
how God continues to use us to promote Adoption as a God inspired
option.
“Our
daughter’s birthmother was seeking an abortion when her heart was
softened and changed by the counselors and resources available to her
at the Women’s Resource Center. She chose to make an adoption plan
for her baby that included us….We are most thankful to God for His
blessings and plans that called us to be parents of our amazing baby
girl.”
Throughout the year we stand with our
clients to help them be equipped to be the best moms they can be.
This is all voluntary on the mother’s part but we are there
.Through the Earn While You Learn programs in
Saraland and Mobile we see more than 50 women and men each week. We
support them with classes, clothes, baby needs and diapers. It really
is an investment of Love to raise a child, but well worth it.
“The Women’s Resource Center has been such a blessing to me and
my family….This program [EWYL] has truly been a God send because
this was my first pregnancy and I truly was in need of support,
prayer, and resources. With the grace of God, I had a good delivery,
but afterward we had a scare and I rushed back to the hospital, but
the Lord delivered. The ladies at the Women’s Resource Center
called me, had me in prayer, and checked in on me. This really made
me feel loved during a very difficult time in my life.”
All of this
exposure, along with our billboards and social media is helping us to
meet the needs of more women each year and to serve them better than
ever. We have nurses overseeing 180 pregnancy
tests each moth and trained sonographers administering an average of
100 ultrasounds each month. As a result, more than 1000 babies
will be born because women chose life. And, what price can we really
put on just one life? Ask any parent or grandparent, ask a child, ask
the Lord. And ask Him how you can continue to help us. You are making
a difference.
Looking ahead to 2014 after such a successful year is a bit daunting
because we want to see even more babies saved and, God willing, a
major sea change in Alabama and the closing of the last
abortion clinic in Mobile (Planned Parenthood on Downtowner)
.I want to see a city and a state and a nation where all human life
will be seen as sacred to God, where babies will All be “blessings”
and not “burdens”, and where families will define themselves by
God’s Word.
Finally, in
preparing for our 30th
year celebration, I was reviewing key benchmarks along the
way. I was struck by the observation that thirty years ago, President
Ronald Reagan prepared a proclamation to acknowledge National
Sanctity of Human Life Day on January 22, 1984. He wrote the
following:
“Since
1973, however, more than 15 million unborn children have died in
legalized abortions -- a tragedy of stunning dimensions that stands
in sad contrast to our belief that each life is sacred. These
children, over tenfold the number of Americans lost in all our
Nation's wars, will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy
of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the
poor, or make peace among nations. Abortion has denied them the first
and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for
their loss.
We
are poorer not simply for lives not led and for contributions not
made, but also for the erosion of our sense of the worth and dignity
of every individual. To diminish the value of one category of human
life is to diminish us all. Slavery, which treated Blacks as
something less than human, to be bought and sold if convenient,
cheapened human life and mocked our dedication to the freedom and
equality of all men and women. Can we say that abortion -- which
treats the unborn as something less than human, to be destroyed if
convenient -- will be less corrosive to the values we hold dear?”
The day was to set
apart the date of the Supreme Court decision called Roe v. Wade that
struck down all state anti-abortion laws and made abortion on demand
available throughout the United States. You
will notice the passion of this proclamation by a great president;
but you should also note that over the past 30 years since it was
written, an additional 40 million
babies have not been born. So, as I write you today a
generation of Americans has been destroyed (55 million lives in 40
years), and somehow our tragedy is treated as just a “political
issue” which divides the country.
THIS
IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE. THIS IS A GOD ISSUE.
On a very personal note, I want to
share what the Lord spoke to my heart during a recent ultrasound
given to a young girl facing a very difficult Choice. I honestly do
not know her decision, but I know God spoke to my heart and said,
“This is MY BABY.” Humbly, as His servant, I responded through my
tears, “Yes, this is Your Baby.”
May I never forget, may we never
forget, who is the Author and Finisher of all Human Life. Bless you
for standing with the Women’s Resource Center of Mobile over the
past years in this ministry of Life.
Susan
Baldwin
Executive Director, Women’s Resource
Centers of Mobile and Saraland
