I was all by myself that afternoon. It’s not unusual on weekly sieges to be alone. Lunch hour prayer sieges either have several people or just me praying in front of the abortion center. I often thought it was God’s strategy to get me alone–to get me away from my own self-coordinating. It was in these solitary times that I could really concentrate on what to pray and hear from Him more. And that day was no different.
There were two girls that worked at the abortion center part time. They were probably in their early twenties and both exceptionally vocal. At this point, I had been coming for a year or more to pray. I was basically a light fixture at that place each Thursday. Nothing unusual about my presence to them besides the red Life Tape that always seemed to shock them at first glance no matter how many times they saw me. There was now a familiarity between us three that was getting comfortable.
The girls would always come out for their break around the same time I arrived. The girl with the glasses would sit down in the area right in front of me and light a cigarette. The other girl with the fair complexion would sit closely by and listen to her talk. Sometimes I could hear their conversations and sometimes I couldn’t. They sat close enough to me so I could pick up every word if they so wanted. It was on the rare occasion that they would actually acknowledge me. Most of the time they sat there talking without even looking at me if I didn’t move. Like I was invisible.
I stood there with life tape over my mouth and as I prayed, the Lord kept bringing old hymns into my mind. Then, eventually, the same one kept repeating in my head over and over again. I hadn’t heard this hymn since I was a very little girl in church. As I listened to the melody in my head, I began wondering why this one, simple hymn in particular popped in my mind. Then, I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to sing it out loud. My heart raced inside my chest and I felt my face get hot as it often does when I feel the Holy Spirit urging me to do something out of my ordinary. Singing anywhere out loud without music is uncomfortable, much less in front of these girls who seem to be so quick to call attention to my slightest action. The same girls who occasionally comment on my clothing and one had even complemented my red high heels in a passive comment before. I thanked her, of course, then I went on praying and she went on talking.
A few moments went by as I gathered the courage to take the red Life Tape off my mouth, place it on my shirt, and begin singing without any music. At first phrase, I almost whispered until I got the right tune and raised the volume to a somewhat audible level. Finally, I began singing as audible as I would if I was talking to them. I was relieved to see that I was still invisible. They weren’t going to acknowledge me today and I could keep singing without the slightest flinch from them. “This was an easy enough task,” I thought to myself. Not knowing what God was actually setting up.
And then I heard the girl with the fair complexion say this to the girl with the glasses:
“My grandmother used to love that hymn.”
“Yeah?” She took another drag from her cigarette.
“Yeah, she raised me. My grandmother was a Christian.”
My mind was reeling as I realized that the Lord was doing something special. I kept singing the hymn.
“It’s her birthday today. I miss her.”
As I’m hearing this I’m beginning to get choked up. I’m trying to sing through the tears as I hear her go on about her grandmothers favorite flowers. Lilies.
I am always astounded by how much God really means that He loves all His children… even His unborn children. On this day at the abortion center, praying for His unborn meant praying for this girl’s unborn salvation. The life inside of her that has yet to be born needed to be loved. She was His unborn child who didn’t know Him yet. God brought me there on that day to sing that abortion center worker’s grandmother’s favorite hymn on her grandmother’s birthday simply because He loved her and knew she missed her! And He is longing for His unborn child to encounter His love that will never pass away. What extravagant love is this? This is the kind of love that sees inside our hearts to our deepest longings despite the things about us that should disqualify us from this same kind of love. I know the Lord was aching with her for missing her grandmother. I prayed the girl with the fair complexion would hear the words of the hymn with new ears. That she would discover the Faith of her grandmother. The faith that I was sure her grandmother had prayed her granddaughter would receive one day. Maybe even the answered prayer of her grandmother is what brought me to this place—to her granddaughter. I pray she heard the song, remembered the Faith she was raised with and knew God loved her. He is a good Father who loves all His children and longs for them all to be born into His hands of love and grace for all eternity. The hymn even said all the words she would ever need to say to be born:
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“Father, I adore You
Lay my life before You
How I love You
Jesus, I adore You
Lay my life before You
How I love You
Spirit, I adore You
Lay my life before You
How I love You.”
LifeNews Note: Natalie has been the Bound4Life Birmingham Chapter Leader since 2008. She works as a curriculum writer and volunteer coordinator for the children’s ministry at her local church in Birmingham, Alabama. She’s on the leadership team for the Birmingham Prayer Furnace as a prayer leader and serves as a weekly counselor for Sav-A-Life, a local pregnancy test center.
