Before I take us all in that direction however, I need you to know that always....
No matter the theme or purpose of the piece...
I pray fervently that what I write will bear fruit and bring faith.
This one is no different, and is even more heightened so.
And also, I need you to know...
I am aware of the delicacy with which this topic needs to be dealt.
I'm striving for...
an awakening
a change
a reformation
...but all through appropriate means and measures.
I'm aiming for this to be a gentle push. But a push that gets us somewhere.
Lord, help me.
William Wilberforce was a major catalyst in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. In his day, slavery was a widely accepted and rarely contested practice.
But when he started hearing about the conditions of the boats bringing African people to Europe, the treatment of the enslaved upon arrival, the deaths that ensued from the audacious journey, the families torn apart, the children left orphaned, the children being enslaved, the kidnappings, the horribly true stories of slaves, and ship captains, and other early abolitionist....
He was stirred to action.
Upon the urgings of his like-minded friends - He decided to pick up the cause and spent the rest of his life championing for, fighting over, and campaigning about freedom for those in chains.
A part of Parliament - he used his position, giftings, wealth, and resources - to put an end to the depravity.
Even though it must have seemed like a mountainous agenda....
An unpopular one.
A dangerous one.
A controversial one...
He picked it up and changed the world, anyway.
And now here we sit.
No longer across the waters dealing with Albion and abolition...
But America and abortion.
It's been weeks since the videos surfaced.
And my heart has ached through and through with each release.
And my repentance has begun, as well.
I have felt a guttural agony over abortions for a long while now. I have screamed on the inside, and streamed tears on counter tops, and pounded my fist on walls over the issue -
But I have never really been a voice for the voiceless in this cause.
And I confess and repent.
Of my laziness.
And of my penchant for being liked.
Both of those things have kept my mouth shut and my arms empty.
But the videos that I've watched - of Planned Parenthood employees talking about babies, and crushings, and infant parts in pie dishes...
Has lit a hot fire under my rear and inside my torso.
I should have been this ignited all along. Everyone should have.
Remember the visions that were laid on my mind while I was in the UK?
One of the first things the Lord put in my head while I was in the bath in Bournemouth....was abortion.
And one of the first lines in the poem He directed me to after I got back....was on abortion.
And now here it is - before people's faces now - the realities of abortion.
And so here I am - wanting to war this with words here...and see where it leads me after that.
My goal isn't really to just defund Planned Parenthood.
Or to terminate all laws allowing abortion - although I'm up for both.
My main goal here is for there to not even be a reason for those things.
I want the people...the public...the persons that fill this nation - to be keenly awakened to the killing that takes place when a child is suctioned from a womb.
I want the truth to reign here - in such a way - that people choose life....not that it is simply forced on them.
I want heart change, not just law change.
That may seem like a pollyanna longing - but look how hearts and minds have done an about-face on slavery over the last few centuries.
It's all very possible.
Especially if the people of Christ will provide help, and homes, and aid to those who bravely choose life and living.
Many say that allowing abortion - gives women the ability to take control of their lives and bodies.
But all it really is....
is taking.
A beating heart. A synapsing mind. A growing, purposed, inspired....soul.
Awaken!
Everyone!
Fast.
Fervently pray.
Ask God for your field and assignment in this.
And go forth and do what He tells you.
There are wombs tonight....that are full and pulsing.... that tomorrow will be bloodied and empty.
There were intact families in Africa at sunset way back on any given eve in the late 1700's.... but by sunrise - family members were missing, gone, taken for good.
That stopped.
Abortion must, too.
******************
"You may choose to look the other way but you may never say again that you did not know."
- William Wilberforce
Make me poet laureate
For the world that writhes in pain
For the child sucked out of the womb
For the prisoner in chains
- From Make Me Poet Laureate by Steve Turner
