Just a couple of weeks ago, our nation recognized a “Sanctity of Human Life” day. I have had many thoughts and emotions running through my head about this issue recently.
I really don’t know how to put what I am feeling into words, other than every child is a blessing. I do not believe in any situation that abortion is the right choice. I don’t believe it should be a choice at all.
I did not always feel that way though. My beliefs were much different. In fact, I was probably considered quite the little feminist when I was younger. I have always taken up for the underdog. I have always wanted to lift up and protect the section of humanity who can’t defend themselves. But somehow, in my growing up years, I was exposed to a side of abortion and “a woman’s right to choose” in a way that made the “choice” more important than the child.
My mother did take me to a Baptist church as a young girl and through my teen years. It was so small I wasn’t involved in any part of the church outside of showing up for the services. I certainly never read my Bible, attended youth, or youth retreats.
Remember “latch-key” kids? Well, I was one of those. I came home from 2nd grade on and spent each afternoon from about 3-5:30pm by myself until my parents returned home from work. I was an only child until I was 15. That’s a lot of hours of coming home and looking for guidance on things. Unfortunately, I did find a mentor/mother. Her name was Oprah. You got it, I would come home and call my mom, tell her I was in and was going to work on my homework (big fat lie). Then I would get a snack and settle in with my wisdom teacher. The best thing about her was she was always willing to teach me about things that other adults wouldn’t talk to me about. She showed me so much respect and offered me all sorts of resources so that I could keep being informed about her beliefs by reading books she recommended. It was a long, fruitful relationship. Many, many times I would write her quotes and defend her stance on issues with my peers. Abortion, was one of those issues. She really didn’t like to actually say “abortion” but she would rather talk about women. How they had been oppressed for so many years, how a man should never get to decide what a woman does with her body.
It took many, many years before my eyes were open. The lies that had been buried in my heart had very deep roots. By the time I had gotten married and started having my own children, I was involved actively in my church, in women’s Bible studies, in the Word. The Bible shed so much light on the vast amount of lies by which I had been molded.
Specifically, a “woman’s right to choose” is a twisted manipulation in the worst sense. We as humans, man or woman are not the Author in which we have the right to “edit” life. God has a plan.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
I spent many, many years on the wrong side of this issue. I defended a “woman’s right to choose” so well that my heart grieves now. What if I unwittingly planted a seed that when faced with a crisis pregnancy a young woman decided to kill her own child because of something I said? I have had to ask God’s forgiveness for all I said or did. He is so gracious that I feel He has not only forgiven me but given my husband and I so many blessings of our own. I also have had the opportunity to support our local Pregnancy Resource Center. I pray that for the rest of my life I will continue to stand firm and strong against this crime against humanity.
Some who read this may still have the wool pulled over their eyes. You may be saying to yourself, some of the classic arguments. What if the woman is raped? And to that I would say, just recently, within our own church family, this situation arose. A couple in our church were the “grandparents to be” of a baby who was conceived when the biological mother was raped. The potential adoptive parents of this baby were so excited to be getting this baby. They didn’t care the baby was another race. They didn’t care if a violent act had conceived the child. That was going to be there baby, and our friend’s grandbaby. They had a baby shower, fixed up their nursery, traveled several states to be there at the birth. They held their precious baby in their arms! But, the birth mother changed her mind. She decided to keep the child. A little girl. Who will now be raised in completely different circumstances than she would have known. A child who will laugh and grow, who could become someone famous. Or she could live in poverty. Either way, she has a life. A proponent of abortion would have you believe that no one would want that little girl when she was first conceived. That would be their argument. But they are wrong, she is wanted. She is loved. And she is worth just as much as anyone.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah 1:5
All the Little Grubbs 