Community as the Apostle Paul shared in Romans 16
This devotion from 9-22-22 from Our Daily Bread, struck me. Romans 16 tells of all of Paul’s beloved coworkers in Christ. They ministered to Paul and with him. He mentions more than 80 coworkers. I’m a numbers person and 80 struck me. I recall a conversation with Nikki talking about what it takes to lead a 40 DFL Campaign. She told me you need 80 people to commit to 2 hours a week. What a beautiful community of coworkers God has blessed us with. Just like Paul, we understand that the strength and effectiveness of our 40 DFL Pittsburgh community is the result of the efforts of many working tirelessly for the most vulnerable among us, the unborn. Being coworkers together in Christ; community doesn’t matter what denomination we are. We are affirmed with our centrality in Jesus Christ and our belief in Him as the Way, the Truth and the Life. We need all hands on deck for this battle. We are God’s Army. He is on our side and we need not fear. We stand on the truth of God’s Holy Word: If God is for us who can be against us and no weapon formed against us will prosper. The Lord is mighty to save. He is our Rock, Redeemer, Defender and Friend on who we can always depend. In James 4 God tells us we don’t have because we don’t ask.
Lord we ask you to change our culture from a culture of death to a culture of life. We thank you for raising up godly leaders and we humbly ask you to raise up more godly leaders that will stand up for righteousness, truth, justice and the sanctity of life. We know You will show your mighty hand in our world so that others will know that You are Lord and you are Sovereign over all. We pray for all those who do not know you and those who have turned their backs on you. May they come to know you as Lord & Savior and find healing and forgiveness in You, Jesus, our only hope. We thank you and give you glory Lord. We ask all this in the mighty name of Jesus, the Savior of the world. Amen.
Blessings For Life,
Donna
Peggy & Cathy 7-9
Our shift was fairly quiet. Unfortunately, 2, maybe 3, clients did go into the clinic, refusing any offers for help. Christ the King Parish was represented by Mary and myself. Peg found a website, Babyolivia.com, which shows a developing baby girl. Peg was sharing that website with women going in and with girls passing by. Maybe a sign would be good.
Judy & Marlene 9-11
Today’s shift started with Marlene from St. James, Chuck, Lori, Jim, Denise, Pastor Joe and Judy came from LP Nazarene.
We were joined by Dan from Holy Family, Matthew from Tiger Pause Ministry and New Life Church in Poland OH, Leonard, Dan from Grace Community in Cranberry, Dave from St. Monica’s in Beaver Falls.
It began as a fairly quiet day with an occasional person entering PP. They all refused any resources from us. We had opportunities to pray with a couple of passersby.
Then a white male, probably in his 40’s, walked by and went to the box of handouts and baby models and walked over to them and said “I’m tired of you guys doing this stuff” and he opened his water bottle and started pouring wine all over everything. One of our guys, Jim, went over to intervene and the man with the wine threw wine in Jim’s face and all over his clothes and all over the sidewalk, and then he walked off.
I called Nikki and 911. The police came and took a statement. They went into PP to see if their surveillance cameras caught the incident. They would like to see if our camera caught the individual and they will keep their eye out for him. The police were friendly and supportive.
Lisa & Beth Ann 11-1
What an interesting shift we had today. My prayer partners and I had just come on the scene to hear about the vandalism event from the previous shift. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
We had plenty of prayer coverage today, which was lovely and much appreciated. Thank you to all of the wonderful people who came to participate in prayer with us today.
One really amazing thing occurred as we were praying. A woman stopped to tell us the story of her experience inside Planned Parenthood many years ago. She was scheduled to have her third abortion. She was literally in the middle of the procedure when she felt the Lord telling her that she shouldn’t be there. She told the PP workers that she wanted to stop, especially after having felt her baby punching inside of her, getting her attention and alerting her of the urgency of the situation. They did eventually stop the procedure, but charged her for the abortion nonetheless. They told her that she’d probably have an abortion anyway and just kept her money.
But she now has a beautiful 20-year-old daughter, and seven other living children today. This woman simply radiated joy and beauty. She told me that they were driving past and saw us, and she knew she had to stop and tell us her story. Thank God for this courageous and Godly woman.
Carolyn & Cecilia 1-3
It was good to be with Carolyn again and to meet Leonard.
We are thankful for Fr. Jim’s commitment to our Vigil and his willingness to be the designated driver. Thanks to my dear friend Joyce, from our St Francis Parish, for joining us. They prayed 2 rosaries and a Divine Mercy with Carolyn.
Leonard helped to pass out literature.
Susan was in town from Cranberry and stopped for a while to hand out and speak with passersby.
We are hoping that we had a turn away. A woman, perhaps in her 20s, got to the semicircle. There were a bunch of pigeons around on the ground there. She turned around quickly and jogged back down the sidewalk. Lord we pray that if she is pregnant that she will choose life for her child.
Plenty of people took material. A girl exiting talked and took material. She was there for the BC shot. I gave her material about BC also.
Told the workers that we can help them find another job. No takers yet.
It’s good to be back doing the Lord’s work in our city. May lives be saved and hearts changed.
Pete & Mary 3-5
The 3-5 hours were fairly quiet; most people left the clinic by 4:30. A young woman took several of our signs but someone retrieved them. Three young women walked by and two of them took the brochure but one did not, then she told me she was pregnant and not sure what she wanted to do. I tried to engage her but they were on their way somewhere, so I asked her to please decide for life and that we could help her with whatever she needed. I asked her to stop by again and that someone would always be there to talk with her and help her. I hope and pray she will stop back.
Another young woman was hanging around for a while and finally came over to ask why we’re against abortion. We had a very good discussion; I’m not sure I persuaded her away from her pro choice position but she at least knows why we’re there every day and that we’re not monsters who judge and condemn women who come to PP.
Parking alert! Pete parked his car in front of PP, just past the circle and got a ticket! We watched in disbelief as three meter people came by, took a picture of the no parking sign and his license plate and wrote a ticket 😟
Larry & George 5-7
You are all in my prayers during these 40 days of prayer.
Thank you Nichole! God bless you! Praying for you too!