The following story came to me as a forwarded email, and it sounded just a little too perfect to be true -- except that it IS true: it's an account written by one of my dad's cousins who volunteers for StandUpGirl, a pro-life organization. Her specific job is to correspond with women who need counsel about unexpected pregnancies.
I secured the author's permission to post this online, as long as I removed any identifying information. So I've done just that. The story is from an email that she wrote to her mom about her 4-year-old son, David.
David hasn't been in a very good mood today -- so adding the StandUpGirl letters to my to-do list didn't go over well with him. And he let me know his displeasure.
So in the middle of answering a letter from Jackie, who is thinking about having an abortion, I pulled him onto my lap and asked if he knew why I was writing an e-mail instead of playing with him right now.
He knows that babies grow in mommies' bellies, but I explained that sometimes the mommies don't want to be mommies, so they have an abortion, which means a doctor kills the baby before it is born.
He was very somber about this news, and we talked about it a little more.
I told him I was writing e-mails to ask the mommies not to kill their babies. Why did I care so much? Because when he was growing in Aunt Lori's belly, she could have had an abortion because she wasn't ready to be a mommy. But she loved him, and decided to have a baby instead of an abortion. And I love him so much that I want other mommies to love their babies, too. He was very quiet, and then said, "I want to pray. All by myself -- not you! What is her name?"
Surely God must answer this prayer:
"God, thank you for Jackie. Thank you for the baby in her belly. Please don't let her kill it. Thank you that the doctor won't kill the baby. Please help her to love her baby.
"And God, thank you for me. Thank you that when I was in Aunt Lori's belly she loved me, and let me grow, and live and move to Virginia and become David. And thank you for Mommy and Daddy and for the Lord. Amen"
And then he wanted to know more names of more mommies so he could pray more. I think we have a new little member of the team.
And please pass the tissues.