Autumn Song

A miracle of life!

When the phone rang late afternoon a few weeks ago, I snatched up the receiver quickly, having anticipated this call all day. As my son Justin’s voice greeted me, my heart started to beat faster–literally. Expecting their first child ( our seventh grandchild) Justin and Annie were just returning from their first ultrasound, and all of us were eager to hear the report: was it a boy, or was it a girl?

Members of both their families were already good-naturedly divided up between “Team Girl” and “Team Boy” as we waited to hear the result. Since our daughter has three sons, and our oldest son has three daughters, this baby would be the “tie-breaker.”

Unexpectedly, tears of awe filled my eyes as Justin’s incredulous voice began to describe to me the amazement of having witnessed their beautiful baby girl so perfectly and incredibly formed– living, moving, growing, even as she continued to be “knit together in her mother’s womb.” I was completely overwhelmed by this wonderful miracle of life, breathless at the awe of God’s perfect, incomprehensible creation. He talked about literally witnessing a miracle in the making.

True to this reality, a brochure sitting right here on my desk begins, “Ultrasound says a thousand words…” The brochure is from our local Life Choices pregancy center, and it affirms the awe of what we had just experienced once again– that life, beginning at conception, is truly a miracle of God’s creation.

A year ago, Annie’s mother Shirley gave us a tour of the crisis pregnancy clinic in Iowa City, Iowa, where she works as a staff nurse. Shirley radiated enthusiasm as she showed us the facility, told us of her work and of the women who had chosen not to terminate the lives of their beautiful babies after having seen in their ultrasound the life that was so clearly evident. She showed us photos of babies that they’d “rescued”– babies who so easily might have been denied the chance to live.

The passion and devotion in Shirley’s eyes as she shared with us is something I will never forget. It’s one of the reasons that Dan and I decided this year that instead of contributing random donations to the many requests we receive for various causes or missions trips, we would instead focus on giving a single, more substantial donation to our local crisis pregnancy center.

Recently, we were so excited to hear that the program we participate in for sharing health costs, which we’ve subscribed to for many years– Samaritan Ministries– is in the process of taking the good work of these crisis pregnancy centers to the significant next step– providing free maternity hospitals for women! After choosing to honor the life of their pre-born child, many of these same women often struggle with the costs involved in healthcare and the safe delivery of the child. Free maternity hospitals therefore would help overcome this financial burden, while providing the best in care.

Funded exclusively by private donations and charitable giving, Samaritan Ministries will open its first pilot facility in the next year, with the hope that this will be the start of many more free maternity hospitals– called Morning Centers– all over the nation, providing complete prenatal care and highly trained staff, as well as equipment to sufficiently meet any maternity medical situation.

You can learn more about these, and find out how you can be part of this wonderful new opportunity in affirming the life of pre-born children at Morning Center.

Ultrasound technology is certainly a huge advance in the medical field. Far more, it’s made the way for us all to become witnesses of God’s amazing creative power at work in the perfectly and intricately formed, functioning, moving, undeniable life of the pre-born child. It’s awesome– totally awesome– to see. My precious little pre-born granddaughter is already a testament to the breathtaking glory of God. And I’m completely, totally in awe.