.png){kind=small}
I dreamed that I’d found out one of my daughters had just taken the first of the two pills to abort a baby. All my training to remain calm, help a woman out of crisis, ask good questions, and actively listen all flew out the window. I knew I was doing everything wrong. But I felt desperate. I was begging her to please not abort my grandbaby. I told her she just needed progesterone to reverse the effects of the first pill. But she needed to act quickly. I told her she would experience severe bleeding, she would see her baby, she could hemorrhage, she could die, she would be in so much pain she would feel like she was dying! That she would never be the same person again! “You wouldn’t kill your other children, would you?” and I began in my sleep to list their names. I told her I would raise this one for her! “What happened to trusting God to plan your family?” I asked. Then I finally got around to asking “why?!”
And then I woke up. But many would-be grandparents don’t wake up from that nightmare.
I felt desperate and helpless over my daughter in that dream just as I feel desperate and helpless over the thousands of mothers in Colorado thinking about taking that pill. Children who would lose their lives when they only want to know a mother's love. The “choice” to lose a child that leaves every mother feeling powerless and more alone than if she’d reached out for help and gotten real help that didn't involve violating her body to take away the life of her baby. Real help that would lead her to a place of hope.
We know that with every temptation – including the temptation to abort – God promises a way of escape. Part of that escape is someone to walk alongside her, whether a family member, friend, or someone in her church family or a pregnancy center. There is always a way out. And it’s not through a drug. It’s not through the pain of losing a child. It’s through drawing close to God and finding His greater purpose. It's a journey of discovery, of being open to new possibilities, and greater dreams. Learning that what you thought would be a sacrifice surprises you with happy giggles and "I love you"s. It's losing your life to find a better one.
It is up to everyone across the state of Colorado to care enough for these mothers and children to act on that compassion. To save them from the desperation and pain they are in and show them a vision of hope for their lives. Through churches, pregnancy care centers, Modern Adoption Agencies, praying and educating our young people, we can bring that message of hope and life!
Saving one child and one mother from the trauma and pain of the shadow of death is worth everything. And we are talking about thousands of mothers and children who need our voice. Who need us to love them enough to speak the truth that will set them free. Who need us to warn them of the dangers of that horrible cliff where they don’t have to fall. And share with those who've already fallen the gospel of grace.
First, God gave the law, “thou shalt not kill (murder an innocent person).” Then, He gave His Son who bore the punishment for our breaking the law. He doesn’t want us stuck there. He wants us to heal and help others not follow the broad way that leads to death but the narrow way that leads to life and life abundantly. (Matthew 7:12-16, John 10:10)
We have to stop talking like the world, thinking like the world, and settling for the world’s ways. We have to let our little light shine so they can find their way out of the darkness and into the light where Jesus is and there is no darkness at all! We do that in our families, with our children, every moment at work, at the grocery store, and everywhere we go. Just like we’ve asked for signatures everywhere we go, we can share the truth about Christ and invite people to place their faith in Him. Once we trust Christ, the rest falls into place. We don’t degrade or harm our body, because our body belongs to the Lord. We don’t plan our families, because our family belongs to the Lord.
And no, I don’t expect people who suppress the truth of God in their lives to understand that. But I do expect them to understand that the same laws that protect them from randomly being killed and the law looking the other way should also protect a tiny child who wants the same chance to live, to dream, to hope, to pursue happiness and find joy as they do. We can all understand treating someone else like we would like to be treated. Because every child deserves a birthday. And every mother is worth protecting.
The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete. (Holy Bible, 2 Corinthians 10:4-6)
Faye Barnhart, Co-Proponent of the Life Initiative for Colorado 2024, is a Life Affirming Specialist and Women's Advocate of nineteen years, served in a federal think tank on the co-occurrence of adult and child violence and four pregnancy care centers in two states, including CEO of the largest pregnancy care center geographically in the US and Colorado. She has been a follower of Jesus Christ since a small child.