Over 80% of all pregnancy tests at
The Community Pregnancy Center read “positive”. Over 80% of the time, fears are
realized by two distinct, purple lines on a pregnancy test. In one day,
however, two abortion-minded women waited. Two talked with separate counselors.
Two shared their reasons for an abortion. Two impatiently waited for the test
to read, but only one walked out with a negative test.
The
first woman arrived in the morning. Our client advocate called the young woman
in the counseling room. They sat and ran through the necessary questions. She
was 23 years old, a mom to a 3 year old child and an 18 month old child. The
father of these children, the father of the possible pregnancy now, was no
longer in the client’s life. They dated for years, but the woman quietly
refused to explain their current separation. She only confessed that she hated
him.
She
just knew that she was pregnant, so she called an abortion clinic earlier in the
week. She learned the price of her procedure. She learned what paperwork needed
to be done. She just couldn’t make the appointment. She claimed that she didn’t
yet know how to work the continual visits and check-ups into her schedule, but
something stopped her from making that appointment. Someone stopped her.
“I
don’t want an abortion, but I certainly don’t want this baby.”
When
asked about Christ, the woman said that she considered herself a Christian. The
client advocate asked her about a relationship, but received only, “Umm, I talk
to him sometimes?” It wasn’t that she was saying the wrong answer. It was that
she didn’t know what a relationship with God was. The client advocate seized
the open opportunity and explained how to have an actual, real-life relationship
with God. It’s immensely more than a repeating the same words every Saturday
morning. It’s more than constant one-sentence prayers before bed. It’s a
passionate love story between her and the King over all earthly powers. Her
Creator is alive and has not stopped pursuing her since she was first designed.
He sent His own perfect, beloved Son to a ruthless death, because that was the
price for a relationship with His creation. She was worth it.
She took the pregnancy test.
The
second woman arrived later in the day, around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. She
walked into the entry room without a boyfriend or a mother, just signed in and
sat down. She seemed calm, ready in a way. Our new afternoon client advocate
called her name and led her into the first counseling room. She, too, asked the
same typical questions. Similar to the woman in the morning, this client was a
mom of two. Her oldest child was 15 years old and her second was 12. Our
client, however, was 30, meaning that she gave birth when she herself was just
15 years old. She was no stranger to an unplanned pregnancy.
She’s
no longer with her boyfriend, and he’s not even remotely an option for her
future. Baby or no baby, she was alone. She didn’t understand abstinence, nor
did it seem appealing. She’s currently unemployed and living with her father,
along with her two junior high kids.
“I
want an abortion. I just can’t start all over.”
When asked about Christ, she,
too, claimed that she was a Christian. The client advocate started talking
about a relationship, and the client stopped her: “It’s just hard for me to
believe in a relationship with God.” Her
mother died. The traumatic event of losing her parent scarred her in the most
painful sense, in the most spiritual sense. A bad thing happened to a good person
and apparently God said it was ok. The client advocate ached for the
hardness in this heart. She carefully, sensitively shared who God truly is and
what a relationship with Him means. He never looked down on earth as a puppet
stage for which to play. He saw seeking souls. He hurt for hell-bound humanity.
He intervened, though man rightfully deserved rejection. He built a bridge,
though man himself built the barrier. The lost world, full of lost people, is
fallen, so bad things will continue to happen to good men and women. Free will
in the hands of fallen people is unpredictable, but God is still good. He is
still in sovereign control. His grace is still MORE than any evil-even when it
doesn’t make sense.
She took the pregnancy test.
The positive
could only see negative.
The negative
could only see positive.
Two women wanting
abortions.
Two tests.
Two results.
The first woman’s
test read positive.
The second woman’s test read negative.
The client’s ultrasound
is scheduled and confirmed. God is working in both of these hearts, and His
plans are GOOD,
no matter what a pregnancy test reads.
“For
I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are
plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
In those days when you
pray, I will listen.”
