Weekly Reflections
Current Reflection
Archived Reflections

Hello everyone,

Today, Sunday October 6th, we have 174 people from all over the world and from many Christian denominations joining together in prayer. Our reflection for the week is 'God's Not Through with You' and is taken from The Word for Today written by Bob and Debbie Gass.

The weekly prayer intentions can be found at the bottom but you can print off the prayer requests from the link below and have them beside you for your prayer time. They are set up on a plain page on the following website page: Weekly Intentions

The last couple of reflections have looked at areas of our teen and early adult years where hurts may have occurred causing blockages to healing and forgiveness. This week I’d like to focus on a particular topic relating to both of those periods in our lives. This week’s Reflection is on the emotional and controversial subject of abortion and offers both a healing process for those hurt by abortion and an insight into the consequences of abortion.

This is such a difficult issue and one that many people shy away from discussing but the aftermath, even after many years, can be devastating. Emotional and/or psychological problems can arise when women deny or suppress the natural grief that results from the loss of their aborted child. This denial or suppression blocks the healing process and the trauma can manifest itself as a psychological and/or physical breakdown. Women need to be able to express their feelings following an abortion and hopefully this section of the website will provide a way to do that.

This is one for the guys too and your area is included towards the end of the discussion.  It’s a long one this week so I’ve continued the discussion on another page in the website for those interested in reading further. There is now a completely new section in the Circle of Prayer dedicated to LIFE and this topic will rest peacefully there, I think.

So this week we dedicate our thoughts and prayers to all of those who have been hurt by abortion. Thank You Jesus because we know You hear every prayer and never refuse to answer.

We should continue to say the short prayer to the Holy Spirit morning, noon and night to enlighten and guide us through the week and the lovely little prayer to the Lord giving Him our whole selves every day.

God Bless you all and thanks a million for being part of the Circle of Prayer - the Prayer Warriors, as one of the group calls us!

Mary Mullins in Galway, Ireland
****************************************************************

"O Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me, tell me what I should do. Give me Your orders. I promise to submit myself to all that You desire of me and to accept all that You permit to happen to me. Let me only know
Your will. Amen"

************************************

"Dear Lord, I give you may hands to do Your work; I give You my feet to go Your way; I give You my eyes to see as You see; I give You my tongue to speak Your words; I give You my mind that You may think in me; I give You my spirit that You may pray in me. Above all, I give
You my heart that You may love in me - love the Father and love all humankind. I give You my whole self, Lord, that You may grow in me, so that it is You who lives, works and prays in me. Amen."

****************************************************************

Ann, one of our ‘Prayer Warriors’, sent in a prayer request early this week. Tucked into her email sig. links was one for her own Christian website so at midnight on Monday off I went to have a look. Just as in life where ‘one word borrows another’ so too on the Internet, one link leads to another. I ended up at a New Zealand Pro-Life website with a balanced and fair view of abortion dedicated to those who have been hurt by abortion. It's called Abortion Concern.

It has afforded women a place to be able to write about their Personal Experiences of abortion and the post-abortion period. At 3-30 am I had to shut down and go to bed. At 6 am I was still distraught and unable to sleep because of the heartbreaking stories I had read.

If you have a story to tell and you feel others visiting this website might benefit from your experiences following an abortion I’ve set up a Form where you can send them in here. Only your Christian name or an alias will be used, but please do tell us where you are from too.

Before I get any deeper into the discussion may I point out that I am not a member of any Pro-Life group just a keen observer of human nature, a stout believer in the ‘natural order of things’ and a staunch advocate for life in all its forms. The purpose of this week’s reflection is certainly not to condemn those who have had an abortion, because, as with most things in life, ‘There but for the Grace of God go I!’

Ann had a most beautiful picture of Jesus cradling a baby in His arms and immediately I thought of a way to use it as a means of helping those hurt by abortion. She kindly gave her permission to use it and it now rests on a plain page called My Baby with no text or music to intrude. I hope this page will become a ‘Sacred Space’, a Place of Healing, a Place of Reconciliation.

This wee baby is my baby! I had an eight-week spontaneous abortion after our first child was born and it was only about 8 years ago that I actually gave my baby a name, even though ‘she (we called ‘her’ Danielle) would be 28 years old had the pregnancy survived.

This wee baby is your baby! Yes both mother and father, whether lost through spontaneous abortion, induced abortion or stillbirth. Sit with ‘your baby’ for a while, grieve for it if needs be, talk to it, if you are a Christian then you can baptise it with some very simple words -

"I baptise you...NAME... in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen"

Give your baby a name and be assured that it rests in the arms of Jesus in all its beautiful and glorious perfection. In Heaven there is no revenge, no recrimination, no condemnation, only pure, unconditional love. Your baby waits for the day you meet and will welcome its Mom and Dad with joyful open arms. And remember, that though Jesus hates the sin He loves the sinner without condition! Start to love yourself again as He loves you and to see yourself as He sees you, fine and beautiful even if sad and sorrowful!

My Baby

This wee baby is our baby! It is every baby lost to the world every minute of every day through induced abortion. Each one of us should think about ‘adopting’ an aborted baby every day, giving it a name and praying for the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters of that child, and for the health care workers who killed, or assisted in the killing of that child.  “…any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind.  And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." (John Donne)

This discussion continues in the new section of the website called LIFE, for anyone interested in reading more. It looks at the role of parents of pregnant daughters, partners of pregnant girls/women, governments, education institutions, the UN and the EU.

Listen to what Bob and Debbie Gass have to share with us this week:

****************************************************************
God's Not Through With You

" HE HAS MADE EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME "  ECCLESIASTES 3 : 11 (NIV)

Do you feel you've failed God, yourself and everybody else?

Shame sneers, "You're no good; a complete failure. Nobody in church will even want to be around you."

Disgrace insinuates, "You'll be treated differently now that you're plagued with the leprosy of divorce."

Fear jibes, "What makes you think God could still love you? And if He can't, His children sure won't."

Deceit whispers, "Why don't you just pull away from everybody? That way you can't be hurt anymore".

Seduction adds, "The church is full of hypocrites; why don't you just go and party with your old friends?"

How do you silence the roar of these confusing, intimidating voices? You begin by returning to Jesus, the source of life, health, strength, sanity, peace, love, joy and restoration. He said "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6). If Jesus is the way, He won't allow you to be lost . If He's the truth, He won't allow you to be deceived. If He's the life, He won't allow the circumstances to destroy you.

But you've got to keep your mind open to hear His voice. Pour out your heart to Him in prayer. Read His Word daily. Allow yourself to be embraced by the loving medics in His hospital (the church), who are trained at rescuing and restoring people just like you. Don't despise the process. You may not see it now, but the Lord can make something beautiful out of the mess you're in.

Short Prayer for Today

"Lord, I know You are with me today in all my adversities, sorrows, doubts, fears and pain. You have said: "Ask and you shall receive, Seek and you shall find, Knock and the door will be opened unto you." Today, dear Jesus, I ask, I seek and I knock. Help me now to be able to hand all over to You and to accept the outcome. Not my will be done but Thine."