It's amazing how many miracles happen every day. Little things like opening locked doors (with the key locked on the wrong side), locating one's destination through a maze of streets, or having a topic one has been agonizing about come up in casual conversation are miracles.
Take the case of one girl who came to our Brooklyn office today. She wandered in at the end of a very long day, with Linda shouting herself hoarse to a crowd of impatient women waiting for sonograms and their often less-than-interested friends. Between collecting sign-in papers, watching sonograms, and counseling, none of us had even taken a break for lunch. This beautiful young mother somehow found our office after speaking with a friend about her crisis pregnancy - she knows next to nothing about the father, and couldn't care less if she never sees him again - and miraculously finding our office building. Not only that, but she also made it past the two abortion clinics on her way up to us, with no more guidance than a sign in the building that labeled us as a pregnancy help center.
Up in the office, we were tired physically and emotionally; but we just can't turn anyone away. I was privileged with the opportunity to give up my (very late) lunch break to take her case.
As it turns out, lunch was nothing compared to this girl's problems. At 19 years old, she is a high school dropout. She is, for all reasonable purposes, homeless; she has been living with a friend for some time now. She calmly sat in our office and told Linda that she was applying to a pregnant women's shelter ("Shelters are for rats, not beautiful girls like you!" Says Linda), so she would have somewhere to live when the baby was born.
She is determined to keep her baby. She had an abortion several years back, and was so traumatized by the experience that she vowed never to do it again. Even when her sonogram - the last one we did that day - revealed that the baby was too young to get a clear picture, she smiled knowing that her little one was (according to the sonogram) growing well. She agreed to come back in a few weeks, and is eager to begin prenatal care at our clinic. We also contacted the Sisters of Life and several other maternal home organizers to try to find her a nice place to live while awaiting the arrival of her child.
None of our counselors changed this young woman's mind. We could have shown her the best videos we have or given her the most scientifically accurate information on fetal development available, and she could still have chosen to get an abortion.
God changed her mind. He chooses to work through the prayers and efforts of lowly servants like us - and you - to save these mothers and their precious infants.
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