by Lynette Auch, President of national Lutherans For Life
Any who have helped work a Lutherans For Life or other life-affirming display booth can feel the excitement—especially if your display includes the Touch of Life fetal models. It can be fun and quite rewarding to share with anyone who will listen about fetal development. Children are exceptionally fun! Their eyes become as big as saucers when they are shown a pencil point and told that they were once that small! They are amazed at what they looked like as they grew. Fetal development education can also benefit adults, as it did for one young couple.
The newly married couple was anticipating a long honeymoon period in their marriage. They were absolutely not ready for the news: “You’re pregnant.” The thought was shocking and terrifying! As the young bride tried to come to grips with reality, her mind raced. She knew all the pro-life terminology, and she knew it was a baby, but she also knew that a baby meant a lot of change and responsibility—change and responsibility that overwhelmed her. Being a newlywed wife was challenging enough. The more she thought about a baby, the more frightened she became. As fear gripped her heart, she lost sight of the truth of God’s Word that she knew so well and loved so dearly, and she toyed with the unthinkable thought of “abortion.”
As she unwillingly shared these fears and thoughts with her husband, he was horrified that his bride could even entertain such an idea. He quickly found the fetal development pamphlet and the “young one” 10-week fetal model obtained from a pro-life display booth they had visited earlier that year. The young husband pointed out where their baby most likely was in its development and reminded her that another part of her life’s dream, to be a wife and a mother, had become a reality with this pregnancy.
The couple gathered around one of the young bride’s favorite chapters of Scripture speaking to God’s sovereignty, Psalm 139:
“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar…Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (vs 1-2, 7-10).
(The concept of God’s sovereignty is beautifully set to music in the song “Sovereign” by Chris Tomlin. Here is my paraphrase of the lyrics: God is with us wherever we are—in life’s calm or storms, in our greatest joy or deepest cry, in the dark or in the dawn. He has all the pieces of our life from beginning to end in His everlasting arms. We can trust His unfailing love to work everything for good. We can trust God with all our hopes, needs, and dreams. All our life is held in His hands.)
As they continued to read, the young parents imagined God knitting their tiny baby together. They knew that baby, their baby, conceived in love, was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (vs 13-14) by God. They also knew their baby was someone for whom Jesus suffered, bled, died, and rose to life to give eternal life.
“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid” (Psalm 56:3-4a).
Trusting in God’s sovereignty, and with the Sword of God’s Word tightly back in her hand, the once fear-filled bride trusted in her Lord Jesus to help her through this new adventure in her life’s journey. She and her husband now went forward with great anticipation and excitement about the new life growing inside of her!
This newly-wed couple had the tools that they needed to make a decision for life thanks to the tireless efforts of life-affirming friends like you. I hope this true story encourages and inspires you to continue hosting display booths at conferences and fairs everywhere, teaching about fetal development and supporting Lutherans For Life, that all may come to know that they are someone for whom Jesus gave His life. Thank you for being “Gospel-motivated voices For Life.”
This article was originally published in the Fall 2015 edition of LifeDate. Updated Fall 2020.