LifeDate Winter 2023 – Just As … I AM
by Marie MacPherson
We recently uprooted our family of nine from our home in Minnesota to central Wyoming. Anyone who knows even a little about American politics would rightly say we left a liberal state and now reside in a conservative state. Yet, because of a judicial loophole post-Dobbs, abortion is currently legal in Wyoming. Back in Minnesota, I was 90 miles from an abortion clinic; here in my new “conservative” state, abortions are taking place just a few blocks away! I never would have imagined such a thing. Nor would I have expected the “Pro-choice, Pro-woman” garden flag that appeared on our neighbor’s lawn just after we moved in. God’s world is full of surprises, and my new life is filled with pro-life opportunities. That knowledge can feel daunting. Everyone reading this magazine wants to be a For Life witness, but how? The good news (though perhaps a surprise) is that you can stop trying!
St. Paul writes to the Ephesians:
“[W]e are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand” (2:10).
Imagine, God’s good-work-doers, chosen before time began, for exactly whatever it might be that God has planned! Your service, your good works, your pro-life witness is already in front of you as you live your vocation in your home, society, and community!
Certainly, we don’t immediately see the fruits of the good works that God is doing in us and through us. But that’s no reason for despair or discouragement! A farmer plants a seed, waters and hoes, and waits for the season of harvest. A mother raises a child, hopes and prays, and waits until the child is mature. A Christian, too, plants a seed, prays and hopes, and waits until the New Heavens and New Earth to see a harvest. Good things take time. Your smiles, your encouraging words, your time and talents donated for pro-life work done “in Christ” are sure to be effective, even if you can’t immediately see the effects.
“[H]e who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Norma McCorvey, better known as “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, worked at an abortion clinic next door to a pro-life center. Emily, the little daughter of one of the pro-life volunteers “played on the sidewalk in front of the two adjacent offices … Emily did more than deter women from seeking abortions; she smiled and greeted, she hugged and conversed with McCorvey … ‘Why,’ asked Emily, so innocently and so gently, ‘are you letting the little ones die inside?’ For a seven-year-old girl, however, [Norma] had no defense. ‘I never answered her,’ she later recalled. ‘I couldn’t.’ In the months that followed, McCorvey became attached to Emily, and to her mother.”1 Years passed, and through the love of others, and most importantly, the love of Christ, Norma repented of her sins and was baptized. Yes, life is full of surprises as Christians live out their vocations!
You might have no idea how God is using you for His kingdom. And that’s okay.
“[N]ow we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
We shouldn’t expect to know or understand the ways of God. We simply live in trust and ask God’s blessing on our lives of sanctification, lived in love and thanksgiving to Christ.
“[M]y thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord … [M]y word … that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:9,11).
A month ago, my oldest daughter bravely walked up to our “pro-choice” neighbor lady, inviting her to our “Open House.” We were surprised that she attended! She later sent us a note describing her appreciation at being included in the event, and, surprisingly, complimented our family of nine! Last week, we invited her over for birthday cake for our two-year-old. She listened as we sang “God’s blessings” on our daughter and read with interest the hymn verse about Jesus that another child had illustrated for the birthday girl. She also read the Scriptures stenciled on our walls. Is this the beginning of something beautiful—something I never would have imagined or expected? I think so. But should it really be a surprise? We serve the Almighty God!
In your state, city, and neighborhood, God is working, too—working through you! My prayer for each reader is that:
“being rooted and grounded in love, [you] may have strength to comprehend … the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:17-21).
1www.hausvater.org/book-reviews/152-how-a-christian-childs-love-won-jane-roes-heart.html