Dear Friend of Life,
Start by doing what’s necessary;
then do what’s possible;
and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
— St. Francis of Assisi
The spirit of this message is hauntingly precious to me because it encapsulates the “why” of Sidewalk Advocates for Life.
When we launched this new initiative in early 2014, we had no idea what to expect. We hoped, of course, that many lives would be saved and many hearts transformed through this brand new sidewalk advocacy program …but we knew there were no guarantees.
However, we knew the following…
- Former abortion providers — now working for the pro-life side — had told us that peaceful, prayerful sidewalk advocacy (or sidewalk counseling) was the activity that most devastated their business.
- Former Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson had said that when there was at least one peaceful, prayerful volunteer reaching out on the sidewalk, Planned Parenthood had witnessed up to a 75% cancellation rate among their abortion clients.
- Our team — in our years of collective, extensive sidewalk advocacy (or sidewalk counseling) experience — had witnessed many miracles on the sidewalk from a very peaceful, loving, help-oriented approach.
- We believed in the power of love and prayer to transform the most hardened heart, community and culture.
The Lord gave us this vision of Sidewalk Advocates standing in the gap, covering all uncovered abortion facilities in the United States. (Indeed, can you imagine: no woman walks into an abortion facility without someone offering her the free services at the local pregnancy center, aiming to give her a more life-affirming option!)
We knew in our hearts that this was a KEY to ending abortion through God’s amazing grace. After all, God “showed up” to save us — if we were going to follow in His footsteps, how much more should we be present to confused, overwhelmed, abortion-minded women and men?
I still remember when the first “save” was reported. Our new locations — 22 of them to start — were scheduled to hit the sidewalk on April 1, 2014. A couple weeks before, we received a message from Ron and Jane, leading our program in Manchester, CT. They told us they had just completed the training program and decided to go out to the sidewalk that weekend. Soon after, we received a message that they had made contact with a male friend whose female friend was inside the local abortion facility, scheduling her appointment. Per our training, they loaded him up with all the needed info from the local pregnancy center, encouraging him to go inside and offer her another option. The male friend went inside to speak with her …and soon after, both exited the facility, thanked Ron and Jane, and told them they were choosing life!
I still remember Ron and Jane — experiencing the “high” of this precious life saved — saying, “Wow, this is great!”
As our other locations began to reach out (or other long-time sidewalk counselors were trained in our program), we received comments like…
“Thanks to the tips featured in the training, I’ve passed out more literature in the past six weeks than in the past six years!”
“This is the greatest collaboration of sidewalk training programs I have ever seen …it is a game-changer!”
One by one, reports of amazing victories started to flood in as our people made the valiant commitment to slowly build a presence at their local abortion facility, aiming to one day have all business hours covered with two Sidewalk Advocates per hour.
They started doing what was necessary, then possible …and suddenly, they were witnessing the impossible.
We started to receive reports every week like…
“A 20-week old baby was just saved — they drove in from another state, but now, they chose life and they’re going back home! Praise God!”
“The security guard just quit after multiple conversations. He’s been referred to Abby Johnson’s abortion worker ministry!”
“We just witnessed twins saved — Glory to God!”
“We just had two women accept our offer of a free pregnancy test and sonogram at the local pregnancy center — they didn’t even enter Planned Parenthood!”
“I gave a woman information on where to get a low-cost well-woman exam besides Planned Parenthood — she’s going there instead!”
Before we knew it — through God’s amazing grace — reports like this became business as usual. But at one point, we asked ourselves: why shouldn’t it? We know that when we decide to show up, He does, too.
On January 22, the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade — after just 21 months of ministry — we got word that we had hit a major milestone: our 1,000th baby had been saved! In fact, our Communications Coordinator, Chantel, added up all the stats, and she noted that the total was actually 1,064 precious lives saved!
This also doesn’t include the 105 turnaways, 279 hopefuls, 25 workers who have left the business and 2 abortion facility closures pending — to God be the Glory, great things He is doing as His people say YES to Him! (For an explanation of our stats, see: http://sidewalkadvocates.
In short, I sit here today, in awe of what God has done in our midst through prayer and peaceful outreach. I thank you for the many prayers and support you have provided this ministry over the past 21 months!
Moving forward — as we expectantly look forward to all the blessings of 2016 — I ask you to consider three things…
1. Find us on social media, especially Facebook. We post every day via Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ about the amazing miracles God is working through His people on the sidewalk, and we’d love to have you join our prayer team and community online!
2. If you are in a town or city that would be blessed by sidewalk advocacy training, tools and support, I invite you to consider our program! We have people from all walks of life, at every level of experience, who join us. Applications to bring Sidewalk Advocates for Life to your town or city this Spring are open February 1-29 atsidewalkadvocates.org/apply. (It only takes 5 minutes to fill out — and if the application fee is any issue, please drop us a line atinfo@sidewalkadvocates.org, and we are more than happy to work with you or waive it, as needed.) If you are not a community in need, would you forward this info to a friend in another city or state that might be blessed by this life-saving program?
3. Please consider joining our team and financially partnering with us. We literally survive on the generosity of people like YOU. At the end of 2015, we fell short of our financial goal by exactly $15,766. Because we are not an organization that asks for more than we need, this shortfall is a huge concern right now. Come the end of the Spring, I shudder to think what we might have to cut from our life-saving program if we don’t make up the gap. Friend, would you make a gift of $10, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1,000 or $5,000 to help us continue this great work and save as many lives as possible? From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your consideration — after all, I know we cannot do it without you! (Today, I’m standing in faith that this gap is going to be made up within 24 hours of everyone receiving this message — amen!)
Friend, thank you for your incredible witness and support as, together, we seek to transform hearts, save lives and end abortion through the power of God’s great love on the sidewalk! Let’s give God praise today for the 1,064 precious lives saved!
Blessings in Christ,
Lauren Muzyka
Executive Director
Sidewalk Advocates for Life
lauren@sidewalkadvocates.org
www.sidewalkadvocates.org
p.s. — Here’s the video that explains this incredible victory for life, thanks to God’s amazing grace!: https://vimeo.com/153066022 Please share with all of your pro-life contacts — this might be the encouragement they need to give sidewalk advocacy a try!
BI-WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL (January 19 – February 1, 2016): “The Answer is Love”
by Lauren Muzyka, Executive Director, Sidewalk Advocates for Life (originally published at liferunners.org)Verse(s): “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” John 15:16-17.
Reflection: Many debate in the pro-life movement about the best tactic for ending abortion. Is it more political prowess? Media connections? The greatest advertising campaign or even, pooling the greatest amount of money or resources?
While these things can aid the battle for Life, we must recognize that Jesus has already answered this question: it is LOVE. Love is what lead Christ to the cross to redeem all sin and death, and Love raised Him from the dead. Love is what heals relationships, transforms broken hearts and gives us the ability to persevere and do what’s right.
At the end of the day, the abortion decision rests with a mother — we recognize that she doesn’t have a moral right to take the life of her preborn child, but unfortunately, she does have the legal option to do so. Maybe the boyfriend left her, the family is pressuring her and she sees all of her future plans crumbling before her eyes; ironically, she may feel she has NO choice. The world keeps telling her that for $500, her biggest problem will be solved.
When we head out to the sidewalk to pray and love these mothers through faith-in-action, miracles can happen. In all of my time as a sidewalk counselor, I have never seen a mother change her mind because of a mere political or philosophical argument. But I can tell you about the countless number of times I’ve witnessed lives saved and hearts transformed because a peaceful person on the sidewalk was willing to pray and offer love and assistance without judgment to that mother-in-crisis.
We are called to bring His love and light out to the sidewalk, knowing that He can work miracles through us, if we let Him.
Faith Challenge: Grab a friend and go out to an abortion facility this week and peacefully pray on the public right-of-way, even if just for 15 minutes. Consider getting trained as a Sidewalk Advocate! Find your nearest location HERE: http://