Breaking Trail

Lately it seems that wrong is right and right is wrong more blatantly than ever in our culture. As Christians, we know it is going to be this way, but we must not give in or give up. I heard one time that a Christian puts on her (or his) battle fatigues when she accepts the Lord into her life and doesn't get to take them off until she is finally with the Lord at the time of earthly death.

My friend reminded me of Psalm 16:8 in a recent e-mail. In the Psalm, David prays, "I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Verse 9 goes on to say, "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope." Whatever our mission field or spiritual battle, the LORD is in it with us. He is, in fact, going before us. It reminds me of this winter, going on a walk in the woods with a group of people after a heavy snow. Someone had to "break a trail". The leader had to take the first step to make a way for the rest of us to follow.

Be encouraged! The LORD is "breaking trail" for His children, and we can trust His leading!

Also, please pray for several women who are preparing to give birth!

National Education Association Under Fire for Letting Abortion Practitioner Speak

The National Education Association is under fire again for promoting abortion -- this time because it allowed late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller to have a speaking role at its building. The teacher's group allowed the pro-abortion Feminist Majority Foundation to host its young women's leadership conference. Tiller currently faces 19 criminal charges for illegal late abortions and a grand jury investigation into additional illegalities. At the event, members of Students for Life of America took video footage showing the abortion advocates giving Tiller a standing ovation during a slide show with pictures of babies who became victims of abortion.

Jill Stanek, a pro-life nurse whose expose of the practices at a Chicago-area hospital led to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, said she can't understand why the NEA would allow an event promoting abortion. "I'll never understand how the NEA could possibly support aborting its future paychecks," she said.

ACTION: Send your complaints to the National Education Association. Go to http://www.nea.org/aboutnea/contact.html for contact information.

Full story at LifeNews.com.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty Appoints Pro-Life Advocate to Head Supreme Court

Full story at LifeNews.com.

Comment: Pray for our state government officials that they might uphold the sanctity of life. They are in an arena of darkness, and it takes a lot of courage to hold the line on the truth that ALL LIFE IS SACRED!

Twelve States Have Ultrasound Laws

South Dakota has become the twelfth state to implement an abortion-ultrasound law. These kinds of laws provide women with an opportunity to see an ultrasound of their unborn children -- a tool long useful in pregnancy centers to persuade women to keep their babies. The measures don't require women considering an abortion to see the ultrasound, but require the abortion practitioner to give mothers a chance to see one if they wish. Read the rest of the story here.

Comment: Seeing a baby in utero offers the mother the chance to see her child move and to hear, via a doppler, the sound of her baby's heart beating. Engaging these two senses, sight and sound, exposes the mother to the humanness of her child and debunks the myth that the fetus is just "tissue": TISSUE does not move or have a beating heart!

Abortions can lead to mental illness

Women may be at risk of mental health breakdowns if they have abortions. The Royal College of Psychiatrists says women should not be allowed to have an abortion until they are counseled on the possible risk to their mental health. This overturns the consensus that has stood for decades that the risk to mental health of continuing with an unwanted pregnancy outweighs the risks of living with the possible regrets of having an abortion. Read the rest of the story here, here, and here.
Editor: The Royal College would be on a par with the American College of Ob/Gyns, which will be weighing in on whether ethics requires a doctor to perform or refer for an abortion.

Comment: Does this seem odd to anyone else? Society expects a woman who aborts to have the abortion procedure done and then to walk away from it as if nothing life-changing had occured, even though her child's life has just been ended. Yet, if a woman were to have given birth to the child and the child died after birth, society would be concerned about her "mental health", and if she did not grieve for that baby, she would be considered cold-hearted and uncaring.

Praises!

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saver. Ephesians 5:1-2

I was thinking this morning about how to "walk in love" as Christ did for us. At times it may seem that I have a shortfall of love--for my family, my clients, my friends. Isn't it nice to know that God's love for us never falls short? He always loves us even when we are "unlovable" or not at our best. When I have the right perspective, that "walking in love" is not optional for a Christian, it helps me get back on track when I am weak in love. I hope you all have a great week, walking in love!

Praises:

• Birth of a baby girl to a client who recently got married!
  
• Many phone calls looking for help
  
• Two young men who are willing to work on fathering issues with our men's program
  
• Tupee's car is working again!
  
• Churches and donors who give sacrificially so we can be available to help people
  
• Opportunity to share the Adoption Option in local high school
  
• Board members

Near Victim of Euthanasia Talking More

Haleigh Poutre nearly became a victim of euthanasia when doctors gave up hope on her after she entered a coma and state officials, who had custody, petitioned a court to let them take her life. Poutre showed unmistakable signs of consciousness just prior to her possible euthanasia, and now the young girl is talking more about what happened. Doctors declared Haleigh "brain dead" and in a permanent vegetative state, but that's when Poutre began responding. She began to interact with people and now, according to the Republican newspaper, is talking more. Read the story here.

An Evil Worse than Slavery

We have risen up from slavery to a point where we can hope and dream about holding the highest office in this land! Against all odds, some may say we have arrived! But have we…really? Or are we closing our eyes to the fact that more than 15 million black children have been slaughtered since 1973? While we look the other way -- smiling, slapping each other on the back -- proud of our accomplishments, abortion facilities are purposefully placed in inner city and minority neighborhoods, crushing the bodies of innocent black children. Read the story here.
The National Black Pro-Life Union is an organization founded to serve as a clearing house to coordinate the flow of communications among all African American pro-life organizations and individuals in order to better network and combine resources.

World's Shortest Mom Rejects Abortion

Stacey Herald isn't like any other typical mother. She's small in stature -- born with a condition known as osteogenesis-imperfecta -- but has the courage of an average-sized women several times her size. Herald stands just two-feet four and a half inches tall, or 28.5 inches total, and she recently rejected an abortion to give birth to a healthy 18-inch baby. Herald says she thinks she may have set a record for the world's shortest mother. Read the story here.

'Miracle' tot survives after dad fed abortion pill to mother

A mum told yesterday how her lover fed her abortion drugs to try to get rid of their baby. The woman - whose child survived despite being born three months early: "I will never forgive him for what he did." Now Gil Magira, 35, could face life in jail when he is sentenced today. He used his brother's credit cards on the internet to buy drugs used by medics for abortions and ground them into sandwiches and a yoghurt. The woman added: "Doctors told me the drugs are virtually 100 per cent effective when administered before seven weeks. I was 11 and a half weeks when he gave them to me and that's why the baby survived. If he'd found out about those pills a month earlier, my baby wouldn't be here."
Read the story here.
Read "Sentenced to Three Years in Prison" here.

Colleen and Horses

All work and no play is not good for anyone, so here are some photos of our director, Colleen Tronson, making friends with a beautiful horse and then "attempting" to ride one!



Here are some verses that were sent to us today. What an encouragment! They are perfect for the stressful times we live in:

Proverbs 24:10 – “If you are slack in the day of distress, your strength is limited.”

Hebrews 12:3 – “Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”