I failed again, no pictures.
The Lord blessed us with a sunny and warm morning! There was a catholic womens conference going on this weekend, so we were spread a bit thin with SWC. We had 1.5 turn aways! I have the ".5" because Mark took the couple down to Kinder and by the time he was coming back, they were trailing behind him. This was only their consultation.
An account from a SWC regarding the turn away:
The young lady and her mother where on the side of the building. A first, I thought they were workers but shortly after that she came out with her Mother. The young lady was crying and talking with someone on the phone.. she told them she couldn't do this.. Abortion!!. They approached me and said now what... what are our options. We spoke for a little while and I sent them down to WCC. Praise God for the move of the Holy Spirit!
Praise the Lord!!
My husband and another SWC had a lengthy conversation with a man who was a support person for his friend who was scheduled for an abortion. The topic first started off addressing the immediate issue of his friend having an abortion. Then it moved on to various world view topics. My husband was trying to gage whether the man was just arguing for the heck of it, but it seemed he really wanted his questions answered. Jonathan shared the Gospel with him and said toward the end of their conversation the man really seemed to ponder what it was Jonathan was sharing with him. Unfortunately, as far as we know, his friend did not have mercy on her child. We do pray that Jonathan was able to plant seeds on fertile ground. I really appreciate my husband out there on the sidewalk. He is so knowledgeable in God's Word and has a solid biblical worldview; he is fantastic with squashing people's worldly arguments (even if they don't know it) and does so while treating the other person with respect.
You just never know the outcome or impact you have out on the sidewalk. You just have to stay faithful to the calling and trust God with the rest.
I shared this with my husband on our way to the mill that morning:
While we were engaged, I think we only made it out to the mill twice. I got out of the routine because wedding planning kept me so busy. When we started getting back in the routine of going after we got married, I realized my fire went out. I didn't really want to go, I didn't want to talk to people going in to have abortions. The reality of the depth of sorrow that was going on inside that building didn't sink in, the desperation to try and rescue these babies and their mamas just wasn't there.
I didn't tell anybody about what I was feeling (well, lack thereof). I asked God what was wrong with me and to change my heart. My husband quotes from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity ( I think this is the right one)Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.
He paraphrases it by saying to act in faith and the emotions or drive will eventually come. God is faithful. I can say the passion and desperation is returning.
For those of you who sidewalk counsel, stay faithful and ask the Lord to give you the compassion and urgency that is necessary for out on the sidewalk.
For those of you who "just don't feel it"- Go out to your local abortion mill anyway. Practice "True Religion" ( James 1:27). The Lord will equip you. Babies are being murdered in your town, will you not speak up for these precious, defenseless babies?? These babies have been abandoned by their mothers and fathers and they NEED YOU to plead for their lives. Will you not go?
If you are interested in Sidewalk Counseling, feel free to leave me a comment and I'd be glad to help you out.
Onward Christian Soldiers!!
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I will be heading out to my local Abortion Mill to join several other faithful soldiers at the battlefield.
The Holy Spirit will be there with us, as well as the Deceiver.
Ephesians 6:12-
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
This is the Lord's battle. So thankful to be a soldier on the front lines, representing The High King of Kings!
Please pray we will meet women who have soft hearts that will have mercy on the dear little one she carries inside her womb.
Please pray we can seed the culture: there will be a press conference in front of the Mill. I'm not sure what to expect.
Pray for our protection.
Pray above all that God's Word is proclaimed and He receives all the glory!
The Holy Spirit will be there with us, as well as the Deceiver.
Ephesians 6:12-
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
This is the Lord's battle. So thankful to be a soldier on the front lines, representing The High King of Kings!
Please pray we will meet women who have soft hearts that will have mercy on the dear little one she carries inside her womb.
Please pray we can seed the culture: there will be a press conference in front of the Mill. I'm not sure what to expect.
Pray for our protection.
Pray above all that God's Word is proclaimed and He receives all the glory!
Comments:
- Sara Praying for all of you to day.
- Noelle You are not God. You are not the God, who will judge these women for their "mistakes"... If you're Christian, you're going against many scripts in the bible. "Thou shall NOT judge.". Believe in your own ways, but it's not up to you. You can have your opinions, believe in what you want. But going to protest and judge, is going against everything you're trying to be about. God gave WILL to all to make their own choices, right from wrong. God will judge these people. NOT YOU. Why don't you worry about starvation, the homeless, people who are truly in need. Not people that GOD gave their own right to make their own mistakes. HE will deal with them. Plus, if God really wanted to stop these women from doing these things, he has the power to do so, right? So, just leave it up to him.. smh.
- Noelle And another thing, you can stay home and pray about these things, just as easy as whatever you THINK you're doing. Pray for people, don't judge them. What you're doing is wrong.
- Heather Noelle, the unborn baby's life is being threatened. You want her to worry about feeding and housing people but not about protecting the actual life of someone who cannot defend himself? That baby's home (he will be homeless) and food (he will be among those starving) and LIFE are being taken from him. Those babies are truly in need.
- Noelle But that's still not for YOU or anyone else to try and judge. We're not going and boycotting starving people? Are we boycotting homeless people, judging them because they are? NO. This isn't for you people to do. At ALL!! It says so, in the Bible. Those babies, will go and be with their lord. The Lord wouldn't bring them to him, if they weren't supposed to go. God will stop things, if he wants to. He lets us make our own decisions. That's what. There is no way to justify what she, you or anyone is doing when you go to these places. It's completely HYPOCRITICAL.
- Noelle Don't get me wrong, people.. I don't think it's great, I think people abuse it, use it as a form of birth control. I don't like it either! But, I'm not God, I don't try to place myself as high as GOD. And I would never go and try to judge someone, like I was GOD.
- Amy Noelle, God tells us that we have to judge right and wrong. We cannot just sit back and say a prayer and expect our faith without actions to do anything. God says that faith without works is dead. (What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? James 2:14) Yes, He can stop things in His own way if He chooses to, but who's to say that Ashley or anyone else who goes to an Abortion Mill to counsel and pray for those who go inside are not being used by Him? I don't see anything hypocritical about what they're doing, even reading through all of your comments, in fact, I don't really understand what you're trying to say here.
The Bible says the following: "Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." (Isaiah 1:17) That doesn't sound like sitting at home and praying. You're supposed to SEEK JUSTICE and CORRECT OPRESSION. You cannot seek justice from your couch or your computer.
"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (James 4:17) - Amy The command "Judge not, lest ye be judged" is taken out of context way too frequently in the modern Christian church. Consider Psalm 37:30: "The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment." Here, judgement by a righteous man is in the same vein with wisdom. Leviticus 19:15-17 says, "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." This text suggests we are supposed to judge and rebuke our neighbors when the situation demands it.
No man has any right to define what is right and wrong, but God has already done it. He says "You shall not murder". Therefore, with that command in mind, we have the Biblical right to defend the rights of the unborn in this context. - Sara Thank you Ashley for your faithfulness to the Truth of God's Word.
- Mark Your faithfulness in loving these girls and their babies to try to save some from the guilt of their tragic decisions and the children from death, will not go unnoticed by God or His enemies.
- Danae Noelle, what you're saying is essentially the same as saying that if you saw a person about to shoot their baby in the head because they didn't want it, that you should keep walking because "you are not God," and we shouldn't judge them. Of course you don't agree with that. I'm just painting a different picture with the same concept. No one goes there so that they can judge them and give them a piece of their mind. It's to speak up for the babies who are about to be sucked out of their mother's womb and thrown away. If that's already taken place, the women are often in need of serious healing, and certainly forgiveness. Ashley and the others offer resources for them to find those things.
If the men and women walking into the building were carrying their babies in their arms instead of in the mother's womb, I imagine this conversation would not be taking place at all. - Amy B Noelle, If Ashley is your friend a public message on Facebook is not the place to slam her for something you think is wrong. You are lashing out based on your misperception. Ashley is not there to judge these women. She is there to offer them truth and to defend the lives of the children they are carrying. If a man attacks a child in a public place, no one calls the person who jumps in to defend that child a hypocrite. The unborn child is just that, a child, in need of defense. Abortion is wrong, it is murder. And you are right, God will judge. Do you not think that the God who could stop abortion if He wanted is equally capable of ending hunger or providing homes for the homeless? Defending the weak and providing for the needy are both commanded in scripture.
- Susan Noelle, your comments make me think that you are misinformed about what Ashley is going to do there. The people like Ashley who go there are doing so to offer help to these women and their babies. They even offer the same compassion to these women after they come out of the clinic after having an abortion. Perhaps you did not realize that.
- Noelle You people don't get it. I'm not going to keep saying what I know is right. All gay people are damned to hell as well, right? Because that's not right with The Lord? This is truly humorous to me. Of course someone would try to stop a person shooting someone! That's not even relevant to this scenario. You can't make choices for other people. Only god can. It's a woman's choice. Is it a good one? No! But you can't go screaming in someone's face about it. Worry about your own self. You don't know what these women are going through! Rape, molestation? Are they supposed to carry these children? Hell no! What's next? I'm an unwed mother, I'm going to hell right? No. Unless you know the reason why a woman chooses this, you have no right to go and make her feel worse about something she probably already doesn't want to do. Get real.
- Erin Praying for you, Ashley.
- Susan Thousands, probably millions of women who have had abortions are going to heaven, Noelle. All people who are forgiven by Jesus are going to heaven, including those who have had an abortion. I am sorry that you don't understand this.
- Noelle I understand completely. You're all brainwashed. That's all. I'm done with this conversation. After your abortion boycott, go boycott the gays and different religions, unwed mothers. People who get divorced. All that! Don't stop at abortion!!! LOL
- Amy Noelle, you are assuming a myriad of opinions on our side that we don't even believe. I'll bepraying for you.
- Noelle I pray for myself. If you want to pray for me you can. But I am perfectly content, in my beliefs, my way of life and my relationship with my god. Thank you.
- Beth Hi, @noelle. We've never met, but I help the program that Ashley works with. I think that you point out a very good reminder that all of us must do our work with a loving and humble heart. What we do at the clinics is not protest or condemn or judge (and if we do, it is wrong and we need correction). What we do is try to be there as an affirming voice of love, so that perhaps a woman who feels no love has someone to try to help her. Maybe this forum on Facebook isn't the best place to have a good conversation about what we do and why we do it, but I can see in you an exceptionally strong desire to love your neighbors without regard to their choices. It shows me an inspiring light of goodness inside of you, that I think we can all learn from! I'd happily talk with you about what we do (and I know Ashley would too!), perhaps it would be helpful for both of us. You, or anyone reading this, is welcome to email me at Beth @ Gcrtl.org (remove spaces) or call me at 614-***-****
- Noelle I'm not bashing her, I have nothing against her as a person. At all! I simply stated what I thought about it. I'm not judging her, I'm saying she shouldn't judge. You're all taking it out of proportion, because I don't agree with what you do.
- Noelle Which is what always happens with this subject. There is no in between. But this doesn't effect my daily life. So as of now, the subject is moot.
- Jennifer By your own standard, Noelle, it seems you are rather judgmental, commenting on here arguing that what Ashley is doing is wrong. Who are you to judge that? "I'm saying she shouldn't judge," is a judgment.
And if you do feel that some things which are clearly right or wrong can be judged, then can we, should we, not fight for them? We know we ought to; others have already quoted Scripture on that point. I'll offer one more--the very same passage that you originally brought up--Matthew 7:1. And now I'd like you to look at the very next few verses, so Matthew 7:1-5. Notice how in verse 5 Jesus makes it clear that his intent was not for us to NEVER judge, but that we judge ourselves first.
To follow what you said about the starving and homeless with your own logic there's no need to reach out to them because we should feel free to assume that they are in their current circumstances due to their own foolishness and sin or that of others, whom we should not be implicitly judging with the offer of our assistance.
Ashley is reaching out to those in need--the babies, the mothers, and anyone else with them. Others have tried pointing this out to you, to which you responded by denying a class of victims, insulting those who responded politely to your inflammatory remarks, and changing the subject. Sounds to me like you judge what is right and wrong when it suits you and try to distract and redirect when others clearly outline solid reasons for what they believe. All we've heard from you on that front is one misrepresented verse and, "I'm not going to keep saying what I know is right." You've made no attempt to discuss the issue by respectfully laying out a clear argument for your position. Not only are you judging, it seems to be your sole purpose in commenting. - Amy I agree with Jennifer. In telling Ashley not to judge, especially in the accusative and bashing way you are presenting your "arguments", you are judging her. You are not treating her the way you're telling her to treat others.
- Beth I'd encourage everyone, and I think everyone on this thread has some good points and a good heart, but ask yourselves - are we here to win arguments on Facebook or to figure out how to best love others. Noelle makes a good point, that sometimes in our love for life sometimes many of us approach things the wrong way. That point is valid, even if in her passion she is not perfect either. None of us is. What we can all agree on is that Ashley is out doing her best to help women who need help, women who are celebrating Mother's Day weekend by terminating the life of her unborn child. It is no wonder passions are high, but let's not forget the point that truly matters.
- Noelle Jennifer, you're sick. For your comment about the homeless. Sick! You're one of those cult kind, huh? And I'm not judging her. I have an opinion. She has hers. I said I didn't like her actions, doesn't mean I'm judging her. She can think what she wants! I have a damn opinion. Calm down! You're all acting crazy! I know I don't look at other people and judge them, for what they do..who they love. My god loves everyone. Including me and my opinions. Leave me alone now. You're all starting to make me feel even worse about mankind...
- Kim Ashley, thank you for being out there today with us! You have a beautiful heart and I am proud to defend life with you.
- Tim Ya can't we just non-judge judge each other without being judgmental.
- Noelle Ashley, I commend you deeply for doing what you believe in. Just because I don't agree, doesn't mean I think you're great for standing up for what you want. I promise, no hard feelings. Do what you do girl. You were always a good friend to me. I love when people do what they want, whether I agree or not. If you're happy. Good. I respect you either way. A strong woman you are. Agree to disagree?
- Ashley Grundei Agree to disagree.
I don't really ever expect to change someone's mind via Facebook debate anyway.
