Taking Up the Call - Stepping Out In God's Plan
Heartbeat Press is two years old! While I am unsure how that happened, I can say that the past two years of work, monthly publications, and news-updating have been a joy and an invaluable experience that I have been blessed to share with all of you. Heartbeat Press was born out of newly-opened eyes and a growing and unshakable conviction that I wasn't doing enough to live my Pro-Life beliefs. While I have, in a sense, always been Pro-Life (having grown up in a Christian home) and would like to think my stance on the life v. death issues was strong and clear, at the beginning of 2022 I had begun to realize that even that solid foundation meant absolutely nothing if I didn't build on it with real action. Yet I didn't know where to start.
I began mulling the problem over in my mind and, more importantly, I began asking God what He wanted me to do for the Pro-Life movement. I knew the "basic" projects I could participate in (marching in front of Planned Parenthood, donating to mother in need, etc.) but even those laudable efforts felt incomplete as I grappled with the growing sense that I could do much more, that God had given me something specific to do in the fight for life that hadn't been revealed to me just yet.
And then it struck me, minutes after reading about the D.C. Five (later covered by Heartbeat Press in our June 2023 Edition), when the news first broke in April 2022. The story outraged me as it starkly displayed the horror of abortion, only to be ignored by hundreds of people who preferred to uphold convenient injustice instead of facing painful truth. I found that I couldn't stay silent on the issue and, as my heart broke for the five murdered children, it also felt a God-spoken call to use my writing ability to shed light on it and many other injustices. Here was my part in the fight for life: a powerful, prearranged ability that God had given me and now asked that I use to do His work. I barely knew what I was doing, but I began to type stories and, just as God intended, the rest became history that I just needed to run with.
It is not lost on me how gracious the Lord has been in my life: answering my request for a revelation, giving me the ability to put down His words, and granting me ample time to focus on the work. But I also want to note that, thought my story is a blessed one, it is no different than what any one of yours could be. The Lord has placed within everyone (every single on of you) the exact same, powerful, earth-shaking calling to Pro-Life work. You may not know what the specifics look like yet, but I urge you to seek them out because they are there and eagerly await you diligence. Begin asking God what He would have you do because, as I wrote at the beginning of this edition, sideline support is easy but, when it comes to such an important issue, it is simply not enough, no matter how concerned someone is. Action has to be taken for, though sentiments are stirring, steps are what change the world and those steps are what the Lord has called us to.
Even as you begin, it is all right to be afraid. Standing up against a juggernaut like abortion is not easy and, in our day and age, the work is often thankless and heartbreaking. But the Lord never gives anyone a calling they cannot carry. His confidence that you are the right person to take up your part of the fight for life speaks to His care and, more so, His promise that He has and will continue to orchestrate every moment of your life and will be with you in your battles until their completion - a completion He has already put in place and is proud of you for. The Lord does not make errors. Not in your life or in the lives of anyone else. If, as Pro-Lifers believe, no child is a mistake, then the Lord's confidence in you isn't either. He only asks that we trust Him enough to enter into the work He has perfected us for.
Know also that you are not alone in your search for a call or your Pro-Life convictions. Thousands of Pro-Lifers have gone before you (conviction, bravery, fears and all) and thousands of others will come after you. Our fight is a fight of millions, made up of God's strengthened people, each with the same pin prick of a calling on their hearts that has (or will) lead them to do powerful things in the name of the God who gave them life and now asks that we offer that same chance to a million others. We've been given a mission. One not lightly shirked and wholly worth the effort.
The fate of tomorrow is built on our work today. The work does not need to be big and bold, loud and bossy. Instead, the work is whatever God has perfectly readied each of us for alongside Pro-Lifers from yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But we must take up our individual callings with dedication now. There will be no better time than today, so join me in taking that step (your first and my next) towards saving tomorrow...one God-orchestrated moment at a time.
Sources: Heartbeat Press: June 2023 Edition
Photo Credit: Alliance Bernstein.com
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