Dear sisters,
It’s Saturday. The farmers’ market in Madison is in full swing. A strange-but-true experience (but the morning buns are still amazing – and probably 600 calories each. how many times do you have to walk around the square to burn off one morning bun???). The farmer’s market is a foray into a unique, though sometimes foreign, land.
I see women pushing strollers from stall to stall wearing "Pro-Child – Pro-Choice" t-shirts.
My heart aches when I see young women seeking signatures for "reproductive rights." I love these girls. I want them to come to Jesus and find life. I know their sincerity. I share many of their concerns.
Don’t be naive, sisters. The largest cause of poverty for women in America is divorce and abandonment. 1 in 3 women are sexually abused. And, that’s only in the U.S. Know the facts and realities of spousal abuse and battering. Women MUST be aware of women’s rights and women’s needs. The Church as a whole has failed miserably in this area. Some other time I want to write about the passivity of the church in the area of spousal abuse and battering.
The enemy has used the Church’s silence and passivity in the arena of women’s needs and issues to gain a foothold for abortion. Those State Street t-shirt wearers and petition hawkers don’t think Christians care. They don’t know. Or don’t want to know.
So, thousands and thousands of women believe the lie. And, they are wounded by it.
Rachel’s Vineyard is an amazing, woman-to-woman ministry that helps women (and men) heal from abortion-related wounds. Some RV participants have had abortions. Some fathered children who were aborted. Others still hurt from the decisions of girlfriends, sisters, mothers, friends, or spouses choosing abortion.
Rachel’s Vineyard offers healing and reconciliation – with Jesus, with ourselves, and with each other. It is an amazing, powerful place of healing and forgiveness.
A Rachel’s Vineyard retreat is planned in Minneapolis August 11-13. Call 952/882-2071.
A retreat is also scheduled in Janesville September 29-October 1. Call 608 775-9739.
Some women wait 20 or 30 years to find healing. Some stumble through the door weeks after their abortion. Most women are still carrying the hurt and regret.
Check out their website: www.rachelsvineyard.org Tuck this contact information in your purse and pass it on to someone you love. Pick up the phone and make a call yourself.
Blessings,
Julia