I believe in the sanctity of human life, primarily because I believe life is sacred and God is all about giving and protecting life. But sometimes such beliefs contradict conventional wisdom.
Years ago I heard that abortion might be permissable in the cases of rape and to protect the life of the mother. OK. That sounded reasonable to me. But some would argue, "Come on. How often does a pregancy put the life of the mother at risk?"
It's easy to proclaim yourself to believe in something that never touches you; that you never experience up front and personal. And it's easy to work into positions compromises based on "logic". Until it dares you face to face.
When my son and daughter in law discovered they were expecting the day before she was to being prelimnary physical therapy in preparation for a double lung transplant they had to make a choice. Clearly such a pregnancy would compromise the window of opportunity for a transplant as well as her fragile health. Plainly put, carrying a baby to term would likely not happen, and the chances of her surviving such a pregnancy were slim.
So they were counseled by the medical community which cares for her to abort. The greatest medical minds said the risk is too high. Being pregnant now is the worst possible scenario. And from a human and scientific perspective they were right.
But they were wrong. So my son and daughter-in-law said "No" to the scientific rationale. Their reasoning? God is the Creator of life. They made a choice to be willing to risk her life, believing that God in His sovereignty had all this in His plan for them.
It defies logic. But sometimes that's exactly what faith does: stares finite human reasoning in the face and says "You're wrong because God is always right".
Convictions don't come without a price. But obedience never comes without reward. This story hasn't yet come to it's conclusion, althhough it's getting there rapidly. But regardless of the outcome, it's what God thinks and reveals that counts.
So for me, being "pro-life" has moved from being a political stance or even a theological tenet. It's become experience, and that makes it as real as real can get.
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11 comments:
Great post!
This whole experience makes me look at politicians with even more skepticism as they use this as a soapbox issue, parsing their positions to fit what they think will be the most appealing to voters.
What a great life lesson this is for those of us who watching this all unfold!
Faith tested is faith strengthened. It is easy to say, "I believe..." but when you are in the storm what you truly believe will come out.
Tricia and Nate are amazingly strong and their faith is incredible.
I believe with all of my heart that God does not make mistakes. He is the giver of life and I have to believe that He will bring glory to himself in this situation. He already has by Nate and Tricia's decision to follow Him and not this world. This is a storm of great magnitude, but I know that Jesus holds them in the calm of the eye. The outcome is known to Him alone as we watch and pray and trust Him. Bless you all with peace.
Laurie in Ca.
I am praying. (I saw the post sending us here from Nate's blog.)
Rebecca
Great post! I will be linking this post to my blog...if you object let me know.
Such beautiful conviction and faith!
I love this post. Not many couples that I know of walk down this road. My husband and I did. I'm glad you were there for your kids. It's a hard decision to make and even harder when others don't understand or agree. We had believers try to say we were crazy for not aborting that God uses that.
We stood our ground and God was faithful. We knew we were meant to have our Judah and that he would praise God we just didn't know if I would live to see it. I did die and was revived so I guess God knew best. We both lived against all odds.
Thank you for this post. As someone that was counseled to abort for the simple reason that a bloodtest said my baby might have down's syndrome, I agree with going against the scientific/logical reasoning. God creates life and we need to respect that. My baby ended up being just fine. He is now one of the most advanced kids in his kindergarten class. I have also dealt with infertility after my son was born and found that the Lord really taught me to appreciate the miracle of life even more. I pray that one day we will be able to look back at Nate and Tricia's decision and smile as we look at pictures of their beautiful daughter. We will continue to pray for them as well as for your whole family.
I believe in the legal right to choose. But I would always choose life myself, and how wonderful that your son and daughter-in-law did too. Children bring immeasurable pleasure to life, no matter the hardships. I just know, after spending the last few days reading about your family, that Gwyneth is one of those people, who will always know, how truly meant-to-be she was.
Thank you so much for your wise, thoughtful and inspiring post. I've been thinking about it all weekend.
Your experience reflects the best of the pro-life and pro-choice movements and highlights their common ground.
Nathan and Tricia were not compelled by government or law or contract. They chose their path the way it should be chosen: freely, guided by their family, their doctors, and their God.
May they be blessed.
Actually had they taken the guidance offered by their doctors my granddaughter would have been aborted in September.
Their faith and relationship with the Creator convinced them that life is precious to God and that abortion is not an alternative.
Choosing life is not always the easy choice, as this story so well illustrates. But look at the life it produced!
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