EmpowerShop Pro-life

From 40 Days for Life Blog

We made it! Day 40 reminds me of Augustine’s famous advice: “Pray as though every­thing depends on God; work as though every­thing depends on you.”

You have done just that. We’ve seen faith­ful vol­un­teers in 258 cities pray, fast, do com­mu­nity out­reach and hold peace­ful vig­ils in front of 258 of the most hope­less places in our world.

Your prayers have brought one thing in par­tic­u­lar to the pub­lic right-of-way … HOPE.

Hope is what the abor­tion indus­try is afraid of. Hope is what makes women sched­uled to have abor­tions turn around. Hope is what leads abor­tion work­ers out of that indus­try. Hope is what trans­forms our world.

It is amaz­ing what can hap­pen when you go to the side­walks and let the love of Christ be present in places that thrive on hopelessness.

This could not be done with­out your faith, courage and selflessness.

Let me be the first to say thank you for your efforts these past 40 days. Your prayers sent a clear mes­sage. Here’s a great exam­ple from this campaign.

AUBURN HILLS, MICHIGAN

When Seth Peters heard that Planned Par­ent­hood was plan­ning a 17,000 square foot abor­tion cen­ter in Auburn Hills, “min­utes away from my par­ents’ house, where I had been lov­ingly raised and where I still call home, I was heart­bro­ken and angry.”

He signed up to bring a 40 Days for Life vigil to the pro­posed loca­tion — join­ing other com­mu­nity voices speak­ing out against the abor­tion chain’s plans. He received sup­port from many local sources.

Adja­cent prop­erty own­ers had pre­vi­ously filed suit, not­ing that deed restric­tions would not per­mit an abor­tion facil­ity there. Planned Par­ent­hood may be tied up in court — but not about to give up.

“Planned Par­ent­hood is hun­gry for this site,” Seth said, not­ing that it sits near a low-income neigh­bor­hood, a col­lege cam­pus and a wealthy sub­urb — all prime tar­gets for abortion.

He pushed ahead with vigil plans, even though a num­ber of peo­ple didn’t see the need for prayer at a place where abor­tions are not cur­rently tak­ing place. “That is unfor­tu­nate,” he said, “because it’s a bit like wait­ing until the hur­ri­cane hits before you board up your windows.”

Planned Par­ent­hood got tired of wait­ing. They bought an empty med­ical build­ing in nearby Fer­n­dale and plan to open an office there tomor­row. That facil­ity will not offer abor­tions, but will refer women to other loca­tions that do.

“You can see how effec­tive prayer­ful vig­i­lance has been thus far in keep­ing Planned Par­ent­hood at bay in Auburn Hills,” Seth said. “The fact that they have shifted to Fer­n­dale can be con­sid­ered a victory.”

At the very least, he said, “this cam­paign was about plant­ing seeds and pray­ing that abor­tion will end at this Auburn Hills loca­tion before it ever has a chance to begin.”

Clearly, there’s a lot of work to be done … and a lot of pray­ing to be done. But I know that with God’s help, we are wit­ness­ing the begin­ning of the end of abortion.

Here’s the link to today’s devo­tional.

Thank you from the bot­tom of my heart for all you have done to make this mon­u­men­tal cam­paign such an amaz­ing suc­cess. You inspire me!

Yours for Life,

Shawn Car­ney
Cam­paign Direc­tor
40 Days for Life