I hesitate to jump into the chaotic, emotionally charged abortion conversation…. if you can call screaming opposing ideas at each other a “conversation.” But, I seriously have been losing sleep over all that I’ve seen in media lately. I think our perspective on the issue has missed the mark and through this I seek to exhort a paradigm shift.
Last night I lost sleep over you. Yes, you, woman who had an abortion. I hurt for you. I cried for you. I saw you in the news. I saw you justifying your actions, making it look like it was simple, easy, and painless. I saw people shouting at you, calling you a killer. And, I hurt.
I cried for you last night.
I cried because if you knew what I knew, your whole world would change.
I cried because I have witness many of my dear friends lose their babies. One of my sweetest, kindest, most nurturing friends lost four. The forth was in his/her 3rd trimester when they died. She was broken and devastated. I cried for her because she would make the best mother and never would get the privilege.
I cried because, as a woman, it is a privilege. Life is a gift, not a convenience. We do not create life, but we get to carry it, nurture it, watch it grow and develop. We get to love it.
With great privilege comes great responsibility. We have thrown off our responsibility and replaced it with entitlement and a right. But, it is still responsibility. When God made us He knew we were strong enough and courageous enough to carry the weight of this responsibility.
We were given an incredible capacity to love. And, here’s why I cry. I hurt for you because you have never experienced love like I have. Our capacity to love is so much greater than we could ever imagine, but how can you know if you were never told? Love is not based on actions. We do not love unborn babies because they give us anything or benefit us. We love because you, me, the baby, the old man down the street, we all have extraordinary value.
I hurt for you because I wish; I wish so much that you knew your value. If you knew, it would change everything.
You are not a cast off from past relationships. You are not weak or incapable. You are not stupid. You are not soiled goods from abuse. You are redeemable. You are not heartless.
You are amazing. You are created in the image of the God of this universe. The star breather. You have so much value. Value to the point that the God who spoke and the world was, died for you. He loved you. He loves you.
If you could see yourself through my eyes, maybe you would glimpse the incredible love, value, and beauty you have in God’s eyes. If you could see all those babies through His eyes, I think you’d see the same thing. Incredible potential. Not a loss of sleep or money, but Hope. An opportunity.
I cry for you because I have held my friend’s babies in my arms. I have seen little toes and little fingers. I have seen smiles and tears. I have felt little arms wrap around my neck and curly heads placed on my shoulder.
I cry for you because I have friends who have had abortions. In those alone moments. In the quiet and the darkness. When the cameras were removed and the agendas set aside, I know you can track their age. I know you will look back and wonder. Wonder, what if?
In that split second, flicker of doubt, you will see their chubby legs and hear their toothless giggle and wonder if you had taken on the responsibility what kind of mother you had the potential to be.
I cry for you because I wish you knew. I wish you knew that it is not too late. You are still loved, not loved because of sex or relationships or social status. Loved because you have incredible value. A love that does not walk away when things get tough. A love that sees through all heartache, all sin, all labels and continues to pour into you. To build you up. To soften your heart. To open your eyes. To bring you wisdom and knowledge. A love to fulfill. A love that takes all the cracks and holes in your life and shines and incredible light through them. A love that brings hope to the most hopeless situation.
I have seen this love. I know this love. And, so I cry for you. I wish you knew.
I cry for you, abortion doctor. At what stage did you take your incredible gift to heal and sustain life and turn it into the opposite? Is your treasure in money and things – a treasure that fades and will never satisfy – worth more than your talent and your calling?
I cry for you, abortion doctor, because you have spent your life chasing what is counterfeit. You are living for a lie. A mirage. You have traded beauty for ashes. Your hands are stained with the blood of the innocent. No soap or gloves will ever remove it.
But I wish you knew. I wish you knew what I know. There is a way to remove those stains. The blood of another innocent. When Jesus hung on that cross over 2,000 years ago. He saw your face and He loved you. You drove the nails through His hands. You have destroyed His remarkable creation, yet He loved you. He loves you.
I wish you knew because it would change everything.
Has anyone told you how invaluable you are? How much potential for good you have? If you knew how much unconditional love was poured out for you, would that change you?
I cry for you, angry protestor spewing hate venom. I do not know or care what side of this debate you stand on. If you are pro-life or pro-choice. I cry for you because if you knew what I know. If you had been loved the way I have been love, then you too would love like that.
You call horrible names and speak death over people with value. Incredible value.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20.
If you knew the love that I know -unconditional love – would it change you?
I cry for you, politicians writing laws, assigning numbers and statistics. We cannot assign value to something that is priceless. How can you regulate the importance of something that has infinite value?
If you knew what I know. If you saw them through my eyes, you would get a glimpse of them through God’s eyes. Numbers and statistics do not increase or decrease the importance of each individual life, heart, and soul. Whether we are fighting for the justice of one or the justice of all, it is worth it.
I cry for you, Church. You claim to know, but I do not think you know the Love that I know. You are content in your blindness. You have been given a gift of eternal value but you have not told them. You have not told the women, you have not told the doctors, you have not told the politicians, you have not told the protestors.
You sit idly by, pursuing the same convenience, treasure, and contentment in the counterfeit rather than the eternal. But you are even worse off because you have been redeemed. You have been given unconditional love. Your sins have been cast away and your life has infinite value, yet you won’t give up your time or comfort to go find the lost and broken.
You have been given the Keys to the Kingdom, but rather than storm the gates of Hell to bring back the lost generations of the aborted, the women, the doctors, you sat down, put your feet up, and tickled your ears with comfortable words and patted yourself on the back for your goodness. Don’t you know you have already received your reward then?
If you know the love that I know, then why hasn’t it changed you? Do you really know? Because if you did, it would change everything.
If you knew what I know, if you had the unconditional love I have experienced, then you would weep. You would weep in brokenness because you would be overwhelmed by the grace on your life. You would weep like I weep because I know that the only thing that separates me from them is Grace. It was never anything I did. I am no better. I am no different. I just KNOW. I am just overwhelmed in incredible LOVE.
Last night I lost sleep. I dreamed happy dreams. I am a woman. I am so grateful I have the privilege and responsibility to help nurture life. I look forward to the day I get to love little people who have incredible value, who will likely take more from me than they give, who will make me fat and tired. I am blessed that hopefully one day little chubby arms will wrap around my neck and little curly heads will lie on my shoulder carrying the DNA of me and their father. Knitted together in my womb, known and loved by our great and mighty God. Image bearers.
My prayer for them – all of them – is that they will know what I know. Unconditional, infinite and incredible LOVE.
1 James 3:14-18. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
n o m a d i c e r i n (speaklife)(speakup) 