Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139:13-16,  “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my Mother’s womb. I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they were all written, The days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.”

My granddaughters arrived late last week for a visit and each day brings such joy! Time flies and each moment is filled with unexpected curiosity, adventure, laughter and fun. In contrast to the joy I am experiencing in my home because my daughter chose life for her children, the decisions being made in our nation today break my heart.  The celebrated decision that allows women to choose a late term abortion even while in labor and worst right after delivery, the thought to end the life of their child, is horrific and unthinkable as the mother of eight.

The risks may be high for a mother or child, but do we really dare make the decision to take an innocent life unable to defend itself into our own hands. As I read the above scriptures, I am drawn to the fact that God has created each life and He knows the days numbered for each of us before we were born. We must believe His word and trust He has a plan for each life He creates. I had the opportunity to learn this lesson first hand when I was pregnant with our third daughter. At the 16 week mark of my pregnancy, I was told she had a neural tube defect. In the same conversation the nurse practitioner only gave me one option, to abort my baby, all with the underlying assumption that it was all about my safety. My answer was immediate, I would choose life for my unborn child. She left the room to get the expert, the OB doctor on duty, who stressed the facts to me, stating the chance for viable life for our baby was almost non-existent. I was heartbroken, yet I knew I did not have the right to take the life of my unborn child, no matter the challenges or pain ahead. I chose life. As a young mother at the time, all I could do was trust God with the number of hours or days my baby might live if the diagnosis was accurate. I will admit there were some days of anxiety as we waited for our baby to be born, but I continued to trust God with the strength to face whatever was ahead. Five months later our baby girl Mary was born healthy and whole. What if I had listened to the doctor’s advice and taken the life of my unborn child.  Today we anxiously await the arrival of our third grandchild, our daughter Mary’s first child….what if?

We must take a stand to protect those innocent lives who cannot speak for themselves and fight for life for them. We must be a voice that shares the hope of trusting God, choosing life and allowing God to place a child into the loving arms of women who are unable to bear their own children but long to be a Mother.

Will you join me and pray that God would change the hearts and minds of all in our nation to believe in the sanctity of an unborn child’s life.

Photo credits to Annie Fernandez