The Beatitudes: Blessed Are The Merciful: Part 2

Matthew 5:7 KJV

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

In Part 1 of this post on being merciful, I wrote about taking a stand against abortion and showing mercy to those innocent babies who desperately need it. Tonight I want to write about the other side of the coin. The women who abort. 

I had never given the women much thought, other than to think them despicable and vile. But since beginning this Ministry, my viewpoint has changed. I've come to realize that these women don't need my condemnation. They need my love, my comfort, and most importantly my prayers and my Savior. 

There are few women who have abortions that come out of them unscathed and emotionally whole. The full weight of what they have done and the regrets, the sadness, the remorse and depression begin to set in. Perhaps not immediately, but it does. 

I have stood crying with a woman while she bared her soul to me, telling me of her abortion. She, like me, had been thrilled when her pregnancy test turned positive. But then the crushing weight of her husband's infidelity and demands to have an abortion broke her. I stood crying with her as she told me of her fear to conceive again with her new husband. A very real fear that as her punishment, the Lord would let her conceive only to miscarry. I held her and told her of my sweet Savior's forgiveness and mercy. 

She had made the only choice she thought she could in the situation she was in. I don't condone, justify, or even comprehend how she could make such a decision, yet I don't need to to offer her, and the millions of others just like her, mercy.   

In taking a stand against abortion, we must extend mercy and grace to the women who choose abortion. We must counsel them with love and forgiveness and teach them that there is a better way.  We must educate our young girls and women about the consequences of premarital sex and the dangers of abortion. We must be proactive in our fight against abortion, in prayer, in changing our laws, in giving the millions of babies a voice.

I have never had an abortion, yet I understand all too well the pain of losing a child. It is debilitating, life altering, nearly life ending for me. The weight of the guilt that I may have done something to cause my babies to die was nearly unbearable. To think of the pain that millions of women are in because they know they took the life of their child is a staggering thought. 

My only lifeline was my Jesus. These women need Jesus. Whether they are lost and don't know Him as their Savior, or have salvation and have wandered off the righteous path, Jesus is the answer, He is the cure for their pain, the balm for their sorrows. By extending our love and mercy to these women, we let Christ's light shine through us. A light that they are in desperate need of. 

I was once in need of that light, that mercy. And I thank God every day for sending His Only Begotten Son to extend that mercy to me, to shed His blood on Calvary so that I would be reunited with Him and my babies in Heaven some glad day.

Charles Spurgeon said this, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that."

Having been redeemed myself, I cannot begrudge Christ's mercy for another's soul. In fact, I must actively seek to lead them to Christ for blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 9:13 KJV

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

24 Weeks

Psalm 127:3 KJV
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Isaiah 44:24 KJV
Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

Jeremiah 1:5 KJV
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Luke 1:15 KJV
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

Luke 1:41 KJV
And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:


My children are the most important things in my life, next to Jesus.  I count myself blessed beyond measure to be their Momma, to be able to see them grow and learn new things, to see them sweetly sing Jesus Loves Me and watch them as they begin to understand His love.  Teaching them about Christ's Love and His Sacrifice is my most important job in this life.  I treasure every day that I am given with them.  After struggling for so long, after losing Lachlan, to imagine my life without them would be a nightmare.  

From the time I was a little girl I knew I wanted to be a Momma.  From the time I was a freshman in high school I had a firm stance as a Pro-Lifer, in any and all circumstances. Abortion is an extremely hot topic.  A topic that to me is simply black and white but to many is filled with shades of grey.  This week a video exploded onto social media networks.  It was a video filmed by a young woman of her own, self-proclaimed, positive abortion story.  Emily Letts is a patient advocate at the Cherry Hill Women's Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She speaks with women before their abortion procedures. Throughout her 3 minute video she proclaims that she is a lucky girl, that the abortion doctors are her heroes, that she feels good. At the end of the video she says, "I don't feel sad. I feel in awe that I can make a life. I can make a baby".  She does not say how many weeks pregnant she is, but if she had the abortion performed at the Cherry Hill Women's Center, she could have been up to 24 weeks and 6 days pregnant and they would still have performed the abortion to "remove the pregnancy", as stated on their website.  At 24 weeks the baby's brain cells are matured enough to develop conscious thought and memory, the baby can hear and recognize sounds and songs, the baby can respond to light, touch and movement, the baby can reach and grasp, the baby can dream, feel pain, and suck his thumb. The baby has a fighting chance and can, with medical intervention, survive if born prematurely at 24 weeks.

Abortion is a subject always talked about and yet never talked about. And I'm betting, prayed about even less. It makes me sick to my stomach, my heart aches, there is a lump lodged in my throat even now as I write this.  I read several articles regarding Emily Letts this week and found that I have been far too quick to condemn the women who have abortions as souless murderers in the past.  I've wanted to scream at them, call them vile names, damn them to hell.  But this week I came across an article written by a former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director, who had herself had 2 abortions, and the Holy Ghost tugged at my heart and whispered in my ear. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her (John 8:7 KJV).  In that moment I wanted to weep for those women, for the pain I know that many of them come to feel after their abortions, for the loss, the guilt, the regret.  I wanted to weep for the doctors, the clinic workers, the men and women all over the world who support abortion.  It is them we should be weeping for.  Those precious babies whose lives were ended before they even began, those innocent souls are with my Lord and Savior.  They are safe, secure, and loved as they could never be here on this earth.  But these men and women in the midst of pro-choice culture, they need our prayers, they need our witness, they need our Savior.

The fruit of our wombs are His reward.  Our children are His heritage.  He formed us in our mother's womb.  He knows us and our calling before we are even formed.

In Luke chapter 1 we find Elisabeth who was barren and stricken in years.  She and her husband Zacharias were both righteous before God.  An angel of the Lord, Gabriel, appeared to Zacharias and told him that Elisabeth would conceive a son and his name was to be John, that he would be great in the sight of the Lord and filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb.  Elisabeth conceived and hid herself 5 months.

We also find in Luke chapter 1 that Gabriel visits the virgin Mary to tell her of her coming conception: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.  (Luke 1:35, 36 KJV).  

Luke 1:39-44 KJV
39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Elisabeth was 6 months pregnant when Mary went to visit her.  Elisabeth was 24 weeks pregnant when Mary went to visit her.  Elisabeth was 24 weeks pregnant when John leaped in her belly at the presence of His Lord in Mary's womb.  Elisabeth was 24 weeks pregnant with John when the Holy Ghost filled her and her heart immediately knew Mary carried her Lord and Savior in her womb.  24 weeks pregnant.  Still within the legal limit for an abortion in many of the states in the U. S. today.

We must speak out against abortion, we must pray for it's end, and we must also treat those women around us who have had an abortion or support it, with love.  We must end the hatred and disdain.  Is abortion murder of an innocent? Yes.  Is one sin greater than another? No.  Does the sin of abortion carry far greater repercussions than we could ever imagine? Yes.  Please join me in prayer this Mother's Day weekend for those women suffering the pain of having had an abortion and those, like Emily Letts who have not yet begun to feel the guilt and regret of their choices.  Join me in praying for the doctors, clinic workers, and pro-choice supporters, that God may change their hearts, that they might come to know Christ as their Savior.  Please help me to pray each and every day for an end to abortion.