begin and end with love

Light shines through!!

 

 I cannot stop thinking about the organization, Save The Storks, ever since I heard Ashley Noelle share about it on The Happy Hour Podcast with Jamie Ivey. (You can listen to the podcast here.)  This organization is such a breath of fresh air. I'll admit...though I fall out on the side of what would be considered "pro life" from a personal standpoint, I'm very cynical and skeptical toward a lot of organizations in the movement. I just can't get on board with the picketing and the protests and the public judgmental words and actions towards others. What I can get behind is everything this organization is about. They are an apolitical, non profit aimed at engaging the abortion minded woman in a loving and concerned way. They are very much a meet-you-right-where-you-are kind of ministry. Through their mobile clinics/pregnancy resource centers they provide free pregnancy testing, STD testing, ultrasounds, prenatal care, and counseling. I love the way Ashley describes their organization when she says.... We begin with love and end with love no matter what choice they make in between!!!  The women who are stepping onto their mobile clinics are women who have already decided on abortion and have appointments made. In the past, four out of five of these women have ended up changing their minds, but Save The Storks workers love and support the women no matter what choice they make. Women who decide to have their babies receive free resources, formula, baby clothing, and parenting classes. Women who decide to go through with their abortion are still loved and cared for and provided with post-abortive counseling. 

 

I'm so encouraged by this ministry and so convinced of the need for it. I'm convinced of the need these women have for love and support no matter their choice. I'm pretty sure that a woman faced with this decision is not exerting her feminist right. Not standing strong and making a point about what she has a right to do with her own body. I'm sure someone making this choice is actually feeling pretty broken instead of empowered. She's most likely at the lowest point she's ever been in her life. Her rock bottom.

 

*Maybe she's a scared teenager who knows her parents will all but disown her when they find out.

*Maybe she feels like this pregnancy is further punishment for the rape she already suffered and she just doesn't understand how life could be so cruel.

*Maybe she just received the news that her baby has so many complex medical conditions and will not make it to term and she can't bear the thought of her baby suffering

*Maybe she feels she just can't and this will be over soon and she can move on.

*Maybe this pregnancy is a result of and proof of the adultery she never imagined she would become tangled up in and would become a part of her story.

Whatever the reason, whether we personally agree or not, the point is...these women are broken, hurting, devastated, IN NEED OF LOVE. What they do not need to hear at this time is a voice of anger, condemnation, and judgment! What they do need to hear is a voice of love, unconditional love, and hope and Save The Storks is doing that so well!! Please visit their site for more info and click here to support their efforts if you feel moved to!