Life is callingA guest post by Melissa

Some phone calls are painful to make, even to people we love or need. A sympathy call to a mourner. A call to 911. An overdue call to the dentist. But do you know how it feels to call someone whose conduct you despise with all your heart -- to tell them that you love them and are praying for them?

That's what I do when I participate in the Monthly Call For Life.

Every first Friday of the month, I call the local Planned Parenthood. Let me tell you, it's not easy for me to talk to the nation's largest abortion provider. The very name makes my stomach turn. But I do it because one never knows what seeds are going to be planted in the heart of the person who answers the phone that day.

Most of the calls have ended quickly with a wordless slam of the receiver. In fact, on only two occasions has the call progressed any further than that. On the first, I heard a woman's angry and icy voice say, "Oh, you should really pray for someone else, but thank you." The other time, much to my astonishment, I was the one to hang up! Not because I was angry – but because the person let me talk until I was finished. I was so accustomed to that "click" of the receiver that I almost forgot what to say! I told her about how I was praying for an end to abortion, and how I was praying for her. Then, I said "God bless you" and hung up. I felt that maybe God had gotten through to her by keeping her quietly on the line without interrupting or cutting me off.
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This all may sound futile to you -- trying, with a phone call, to change the minds of those who lives are dedicated to abortion, of whose very careers depend on it. But even the most diehard abortion advocates have changed. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a founding member of NARAL responsible for over 75,000 abortions, became an outspoken voice in the pro-life movement. Dr. Beverly McMillan once ran a thriving abortion practice, but is now dedicated to the pro-life cause. And Joan Appleton, a former abortion nurse, changed her mind after turning to a sidewalk counselor for answers to the many questions that had been troubling her about the industry for which she worked.

No one is beyond the reach of your words; the sound of a caring human voice. You may call someone at the very moment that they have reached their breaking point. Someone who has just seen tiny little hands and feet on an ultrasound and is beginning to wonder if what they are doing, is worth doing.

True, some people do not hear as well as others. In fact, that is part of the reason I do this. My four-year old son Casey is hearing-impaired. How would I feel now if at some point in my life, I had made a hasty decision to abort my first child out of fear or desire to not be "burdened?" I know that the way the medical profession is today, they might have gently suggested that I could "try again" for a child free from "defects." Had I known that he wasn't going to be born what the world would view as a "perfect child" I might have been a little scared. I might have wondered how I was going to raise a child with disabilities. However, that still would have never justified an abortion in my heart.

I am glad that my son is here! I am glad that the medical community never had the opportunity to advise such nonsense. My son is such a BLESSING to me and I am GRATEFUL that the Lord made Him this way, because he is a testament of God's GLORY! My child is NOT a mistake! HIS LIFE IS WORTH IT! And, when I see him playing special league t-ball with other "special" kids, I wonder how many of them are there because somebody heard "the call." I also look at my nearly two year-old daughter Gianna. And then I hear the sound of her name, and think of the brave woman after whom I so proudly named her: Gianna Jessen, who survived being burned alive for eighteen hours in an attempted third-trimester saline abortion. Despite being born with cerebral palsy, Ms. Jessen recently completed her first 26.2 marathon (which reminds me – next week I'm participating a Walk for Life fundraiser for my local pregnancy resource center). She is also a talented singer. Press the "play" button here, and ask no more why one day "the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped" (Isaiah 35:4).

The Monthly Call for Life is also meant to reach those whom we have elected to make our voices heard. In addition to calling Planned Parenthood, I call (and/or e-mail) the president, governor and my state representatives to ask them to stand with me for life. I encourage and applaud the ones that do, and plead for the ones who don't to listen to their hearts and do what is right. So please join me tomorrow in the Monthly Call for Life. All the information you need to get started is here. I guarantee it won't be a wrong number!

[Guest blogger Melissa is a stay-at-home mother of two from a small Indiana town. In addition to participating in the Monthly Call for Life, she helps raise funds for her local pregnancy resource center, The Hope Clinic, as well as A Friend's House, a residential facility for young women coping with unplanned pregnancies, self-harm issues, eating disorders and sexual, physical, emotional and substance abuse. Melissa is also on the board of directors of Another Chance Ministries of Susan Stafford, founded by former escort Susan Stafford to reach out and save women currently working in the prostitution industry. Melissa may be contacted at MelissaForLife@gmail.com.]