Amazing update on a mom, Jana (*alias) who chose life for her baby and submitted her life to Jesus after we shared the Gospel. I brought her a Bible and we sat down to enjoy an impromptu Bible study together. She felt she didn’t really know WHO she was. She has experienced a lot of trauma in her past. She questions the love of others. In essence, she feels unloved and devalued. She even asked if I would love her if she wasn’t pregnant, since our help has been centered on helping her so the baby will be safe. The father of her child who had initially told her not to abort now told her he was seeing another woman, having that woman’s baby, and it would be best to abort. She cried all morning over that heartless text.
She looked so sad, tears spilling over her cheeks, as she told me this. She even wondered if maybe it was better to abort. How could she, who didn’t even know who SHE was, raise another person well?
“I know who you are,” I said, “And so does God. Let’s see what He says.”
I handed her the new Bible I had just brought to her. We sat in big comfy chairs in the shade of a tree. Behind us, one of the nuns glanced out the window. Sisters of a Catholic Diocese help run the Maternity Home where we had been able to place Jana. They do not require the girls be Catholic or any religion. They told me they just want to shower the women with the love of God and His provision. They were in awe of all that Love Life partnering churches do for women like Jana.
I began to read one of the verses, but Jana asked if she could read instead. I handed her the Bible. She took it with outstretched hands. She could not see the words well, and she leaned in close to the Bible. She told me her glasses were broken, and she needed them to see. Apparently, they had broken on the bus ride from Tennessee to Charlotte when she was on route to kill her baby at the abortion center. She was BLIND as she travelled to abort her baby.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Corinthians 5:17, 20-21
As she read the passage out loud, she looked at me and smiled like an angel. She understood.
“I have a new life,” she said. “I do not need to live the way the old me lived.”
“That is right,” I told her, “You are made new in Christ. You are a brand new creation. Your sins are forgiven through His sacrifice to pay the penalty you deserved. You are set free, washed clean. You are reconciled to God. And He is the one who enables and guides you to walk in righteousness. Can you imagine how LOVED you are for Him to do all that for you?”
I listed verse after verse about her identity in Christ. Peace settled on her face as she read each of the verses carefully, haltingly, because she was struggling so hard to see.
Love Life had provided a gift card to help cover expenses while she was at the Charlotte Maternity home. I reminded her that she could get her glasses fixed. She had enough funds and the need was critical.
“I also have all the money I didn’t spend on the abortion,” she said, a grin spreading across her tear-streaked face.
She didn’t know how to begin finding how or where to fix her glasses. I helped her google all she needed, found the nearby discount eyeglass center and texted her the number. She said she would go later that day.
She got the glasses fixed later that day and sent me a photo of her in the glasses. “I LOVE my new glasses,” she said. She can see clearly now.
What a fitting symbol!
That night, she found out she got the online job we helped her apply for. At least four people who will help her with resources and needs once she returns to her hometown had emailed her. A Love Life supporter had even donated her CAR to Jana! Jana would be able to drive back to her hometown once all the details for the new maternity home in Tennessee were finalized. The Church was ready and willing to step up and envelop this mom in love. Ever since she made a choice to follow God, her way has been made clear. The people of God are lining each side of her path.
She sees HIM clearly now.
I sent her this Bible passage:
Mark 10:46-52 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.
She sent me a text, along with the picture of her in her beautiful new glasses. It has not been easy, but it is a profound joy to see a woman who was so lost and now is found; who was blind, but now can see.
