Roe vs. Wade is a very personal issue for me because I am adopted. While my birthmom has told me that she never considered abortion, it really is always an option, whether one considers it or not. It shouldn't be an option. It shouldn't be a choice. As the somewhat-cliche' bumper sticker reads, "It's a child, not a choice."
I wish I could better express how strongly I feel about being pro-life. I have struggled for years to express what it means to me and I'm convinced that I'll never get it all right. If it doesn't affect you like it does me, I just may not be able to put it into words so that you can understand.
I spoke at my church this past Sunday because it was Sanctity of Life Sunday. I've included my transcript below just because some people ask me to tell my story and simply because I want as many people as possible to read my story. Maybe it will make someone think.
This subject matter moves me to tears (and I am not one to cry). As I sat at the Memphis-area Walk for Life on Sunday (these walks are held across the nation---they include a program with a speaker and then a walk to a local abortion clinic/Planned Parenthood clinic with singing and prayer), I couldn't look at the women who carried roses in memorial of their aborted children. I couldn't open my mouth to sing "God Bless America" as the crowd filed out of the church and onto the street. I certainly couldn't hold back my tears (and even now as I type, my tears are falling once again!) How in the world was I supposed to be singing and asking God to bless America after all this nation has done against him, especially the abortions? Why should I ask him to bless our nation? Is she the land that I love? If so, how can I love a land that aborted 1.2 million babies in 2005? (It is hard to get an exact number, but somewhere between 40-50 million babies have been aborted since Roe vs. Wade in 1973.)
I was so disturbed Sunday that I told my parents I couldn't go to the walk portion of the program. We drove home in almost silence. When my mom asked me what made me so sad, I broke into tears again and wrongly said, "I don't know." I do know. I was upset over the millions of lives lost in a horrific, painful, and dehumanizing manner. I was angry with God for allowing it to continue. I was in disbelief over the doctors and nurses who perform these abortions. I was frightened by the fact that "it could have been me." I was hurting for the women carrying red roses, symbolizing a child they had aborted. I was in disbelief at the denial of our culture and our nation over these issues. I was mourning for the children who were never given a chance at life. I was saddened for the mothers who have lost and those who will lose their children to abortion without truly understanding what they have done/are doing/will do. And I was deeply saddened for those couples who long for just one child. There are so many couples who yearn for a child of their own and yet there are so many abortions each year. It's truly awful.
Nevertheless, God hasn't called me to live in despair and He hasn't called me to stay bottled up and be angry with the U.S. He's called me to reach out into the darkness and gently but boldly spread the truth. Do I know when Roe vs. Wade will be overturned? No, but my God does. All I have to rest in is that He is always faithful and has a purpose in all things, no matter how horrible the situation may seem. I have absolutely no idea why He would allow something as horrendous as abortion to continue, but I know that He has a plan for EVERYTHING and it is far greater than I could ever comprehend.
Here is Sunday's transcript. If anyone wants to know anything else, please just ask. I usually share a lot more of the details than this but decided not to do so in front of my whole church and on the Internet:
This morning, I would like to share with y’all a very brief glimpse into my background and hopefully encourage each of you to understand the value of each and every human life.
First, I would like to being with “my story.” I like to say that I when I tell “my story”, it’s not really “my story”; rather, it is God’s story---a story of His sovereign providence, unfathomable mercy, and unfailing love.
LC (abbreviated for privacy reasons), a local crisis pregnancy center, had just opened its doors not long before I was born. I was born in Memphis on October 22nd and went home November 19th as LC’s first official adoption.
I have always been taught that God works through all circumstances and that nothing happens by accident. As I look at my life today, I know that is true. I have grown up in a strong Christian home with parents and siblings who know and love Jesus Christ and challenge me to know and love Him alone. I am part of this church where I am surrounded by families who seek to serve and glorify the Lord in all aspects of life. I am now a sophomore at Mississippi State University where I am blessed to have not only an incredible RUF ministry and a solid church but also godly friends walking alongside me. I know that God has placed me exactly where He wants me with the family, church, and friends that He has planned for me. After 20 years of life, I can reflect on God’s words to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:11, where it says: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” He has been so good to me!
My adoption has always been a platform for sharing the gospel because my physical adoption provides an easy lead into sharing about my spiritual adoption. In my physical adoption, my parents took me, someone who was not “like” them and wasn’t their “natural” child, into their home to be part of their family.
This is so much greater in a spiritual adoption! I can’t be holy, perfect, and righteous like God and His Son, Jesus, but yet God brought me into His family to become more like Him. My Heavenly Father sent His own natural Son to die on a cross for my sins so that I might become one of God’s adopted children. I am not a rejected stepchild in God’s family---I am one of His own, for He has called me and brought me into His family.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, this is all a good and sweet story but I don’t really see how it relates to me.” It really does relate to you. If you belong to God, if you are one of His children, then you have been adopted into His family. As Christians, trusting and believing in what God has done for us, God has called each of us to bear witness to the world. He has called each of us to different vocations and has placed us in different locations in various walks of life for His purpose, but no matter where we are, He has called us to be salt and light in a world that so desperately needs to hear the truth. He has called us to show compassion to the hurting and to minister to those around us. He has called us to pray for the salvation of others and to be a hope in a broken world.
He has also called each of us to stand up boldly for what is right. In a world where society tells us that right and wrong is whatever you want to make them, this is a difficult task, but it is what our Father has called us to do. He doesn’t promise us that it will be easy and He doesn’t promise us that everyone will agree with us. In fact, the Bible tells us repeatedly that in standing for what is right, we will encounter much opposition.
Being pro-life certainly isn’t the popular view in our culture today. This past semester, I discovered how unpopular the idea is when I was one of 2 students in a class of 60 who stated that I opposed abortion in all circumstances. While there have been several significant changes in the last few years, including bans on certain kinds of abortions, we are far from ridding our country of abortion and we are far from changing the minds of most of the society.
I know that it can be hard to stand up for a cause that so many people see as vain and I know that it is hard to be criticized for your beliefs. But far more importantly, I know that God has called each of us to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I know that He has called each of us to remember what is right despite what society tells us to do. He hasn’t called us to follow crowd along the popular road; He’s called us to fight the good fight and to run the race down the straight and narrow path.
While this may sound discouraging to some of you, please know that it is not. God has promised us that our struggle is not in vain and reminds us that our hope is in Him. We may not be able to see it now, but He will complete the work that He has called us to do. He is always faithful to keep His promises and as believers, we know that He has a plan in all circumstances. As David said in Psalm 16:5-6, He holds our lots and has placed us in pleasant places with the beautiful inheritance of being part of His family. Let us not grow weary of standing up for what is right; rather, let us go forth eagerly and boldly proclaiming His truth in all aspects of life.
I have always been taught that God works through all circumstances and that nothing happens by accident. As I look at my life today, I know that is true. I have grown up in a strong Christian home with parents and siblings who know and love Jesus Christ and challenge me to know and love Him alone. I am part of this church where I am surrounded by families who seek to serve and glorify the Lord in all aspects of life. I am now a sophomore at Mississippi State University where I am blessed to have not only an incredible RUF ministry and a solid church but also godly friends walking alongside me. I know that God has placed me exactly where He wants me with the family, church, and friends that He has planned for me. After 20 years of life, I can reflect on God’s words to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:11, where it says: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” He has been so good to me!
My adoption has always been a platform for sharing the gospel because my physical adoption provides an easy lead into sharing about my spiritual adoption. In my physical adoption, my parents took me, someone who was not “like” them and wasn’t their “natural” child, into their home to be part of their family.
This is so much greater in a spiritual adoption! I can’t be holy, perfect, and righteous like God and His Son, Jesus, but yet God brought me into His family to become more like Him. My Heavenly Father sent His own natural Son to die on a cross for my sins so that I might become one of God’s adopted children. I am not a rejected stepchild in God’s family---I am one of His own, for He has called me and brought me into His family.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, this is all a good and sweet story but I don’t really see how it relates to me.” It really does relate to you. If you belong to God, if you are one of His children, then you have been adopted into His family. As Christians, trusting and believing in what God has done for us, God has called each of us to bear witness to the world. He has called each of us to different vocations and has placed us in different locations in various walks of life for His purpose, but no matter where we are, He has called us to be salt and light in a world that so desperately needs to hear the truth. He has called us to show compassion to the hurting and to minister to those around us. He has called us to pray for the salvation of others and to be a hope in a broken world.
He has also called each of us to stand up boldly for what is right. In a world where society tells us that right and wrong is whatever you want to make them, this is a difficult task, but it is what our Father has called us to do. He doesn’t promise us that it will be easy and He doesn’t promise us that everyone will agree with us. In fact, the Bible tells us repeatedly that in standing for what is right, we will encounter much opposition.
Being pro-life certainly isn’t the popular view in our culture today. This past semester, I discovered how unpopular the idea is when I was one of 2 students in a class of 60 who stated that I opposed abortion in all circumstances. While there have been several significant changes in the last few years, including bans on certain kinds of abortions, we are far from ridding our country of abortion and we are far from changing the minds of most of the society.
I know that it can be hard to stand up for a cause that so many people see as vain and I know that it is hard to be criticized for your beliefs. But far more importantly, I know that God has called each of us to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I know that He has called each of us to remember what is right despite what society tells us to do. He hasn’t called us to follow crowd along the popular road; He’s called us to fight the good fight and to run the race down the straight and narrow path.
While this may sound discouraging to some of you, please know that it is not. God has promised us that our struggle is not in vain and reminds us that our hope is in Him. We may not be able to see it now, but He will complete the work that He has called us to do. He is always faithful to keep His promises and as believers, we know that He has a plan in all circumstances. As David said in Psalm 16:5-6, He holds our lots and has placed us in pleasant places with the beautiful inheritance of being part of His family. Let us not grow weary of standing up for what is right; rather, let us go forth eagerly and boldly proclaiming His truth in all aspects of life.
