Today my heart is heavy. I’ve tried to wrap my mind around the ideas and the philosophies of this world and I can’t understand.
55 million. 55 million.
That is the number of children aborted in the United States since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.
55 million children.
I say children, because that is what they are. Precious, beautiful, God-given children. They may be unwanted, unplanned, or unprotected but they are still children. They are children who never got the chance to grow up. Children who’s little fingers never got to shakily press out twinkle twinkle little star on the piano. Children who’s feet never kicked the soccer ball or danced across the living room. They are little girls who never felt their daddy’s arms and little boys who never wrapped their arms around their mother’s legs. Their little eyes never saw the brilliance of the colors of a rainbow or the dizzying stripes of the zebra or the beauty of the trees in the fall. Their mouth never whispered bedtime prayers or sang silly songs driving down the road or lit up the room with their unabashed, innocent smile.
They were children. Children with brilliant minds. Children with kind hearts. Outgoing children. Shy children. Feisty children and goofy children. Children with futures.
55 million futures stolen.
Stolen. With permission from our government. At least if I steal your car or your wallet, I am punished for it. I go to jail. I pay a fine. I face my consequences. The government tells me I’m wrong and that it’s unacceptable to take what is not mine. And I can try to tell them that they are violating my rights. That it is my right to have your car or wallet because that makes me happy and keeps me safe. Because I need a car to go to work and I need money to pay for gas to go to work, that way I can live a happy life. But they will tell me that yes, it is my right to pursue happiness, but that when this causes me to steal what belongs to you and violates your personal rights, then I’m wrong. That is the law. That is justice. That is fair. No one would argue that I should be able to steal something that belongs to you simply because I’m trying to improve my own life.
So why does our government tell us that it is okay, no that it is our right, to steal the future of children in order to improve our own lives? When we allow abortion, we allow the future to be ripped from our children. We allow their future first kiss to be stolen. And their future high school graduation and their future talents and even their future failures that turn into future lessons. We allow them to be stolen because we are so busy defending our rights.
But it seems to me that we only defend the rights of those who are loud enough to be heard because the children in the womb who don’t have a voice to defend themselves have been stripped of their rights. And so it is left to those of us with voices to defend their rights.
Abortion is not okay. It’s wrong. It is the destruction of the innocent and helpless and if that doesn’t break your heart then your heart is far too hard. Recent studies show that 95% of women say they don’t feel guilty over their abortion, but that they only feel relief and that they’ve made the right decision. I don’t know if I can believe that, but if it’s true, then the world is farther gone than I thought. This suggests a selfishness and a hardness in our generation that is sobering. Our culture, by destroying the precious innocence of children is destroying the vulnerability, the softness of women – the part that makes them able to defend the weak and love so deeply.
55 million
It’s a staggering figure. So many children are already gone and so many women have already made their decision, their “choice.” But to the others who are struggling with the idea of the precious gift inside of them, please realize who you were made to be. You were made to be brave. You were made to be strong. And even though the world tells you that taking your child’s life is brave, I beg to differ. To raise a child in this world, that’s brave. To stand against society’s idea of who you should be and how you should live, that’s brave. To protect the life within you, that’s takes strength.
And to those who have already given up the precious gift they were given, there is grace for you. I know that society tells you that you have to be hard and tough and look out for number 1, but my Savior wants you to know that it’s okay to come to Him broken and fearful and hurting. He wants you to pour out your heart to Him. He wants to see the deepest wounds and scars that you’ve kept hidden for so long so that He can heal them.
55 million is a big number. It stands for loss and death and stolen futures, but in the middle of each story is a chance for redemption. No, the past cannot be undone, but the future can be redeemed.
A Peace of My Mind 