Obsession with the Womb
Originally written March 29, 2013
My team is always hollering my name when they run in to a pregnant lady on the road or hear about a person that works with pregnant women. It all started back in India when we would go out in to the villages to pray with people. We would run in to pregnant women all the time who wanted us to pray over their baby, a teammate would call, “Amyyyy, there is a pregnant lady over here.” I would lay my hand on her belly and a special connection would form. I loved her and her baby immediately. My team knows that I love pregnant women. I have finally discovered the reason they say I glow around pregnant women and why I always get so excited to touch a big belly with a little life inside; it is a calling on my life.
I really can’t figure out why I am obsessed with the belly. I am assuming it is because the miracle that occurs just beyond that bump leaves me in awe. There is life growing and beauty coming forth....
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16
The other day, just before we aired live on the Timisoara radio, Ashli was introduced to a man who ran a pregnancy center. She said, “You need to meet Amy, she loves pregnant women”. She introduced us and from there we set up a time for the team that we would visit his center. The Esther Foundation has been running for 14 years and they have witnessed 1400 babies saved. They are hoping to expand their ministry and open an apartment as a rescue place for women who, due to their pregnancy are kicked out of their home, or being abused. We visited yesterday and learned about how they got started and what they are doing now. We were given calendars, which have photos of saved babies and we listened to a few testimonies. I was saddened to learn from their Vice President Mariana that the women in Romania use abortion as a form of birth control. My dear friend and mentor, Sherry Sherwood, who is also the CEO of Living Alternative Pregnancy Resource Center, had just told me that same news a few days prior and told me that the average woman in Romania has five abortions in her life time. In one healing ceremony that Esther Foundation coordinated, they had a lady in her 40’s that lit 36 candles, one for each of the babies she had aborted. My heart broke. During communism there was a law against abortion and they encouraged having children among the people, but when it ended they made abortion legal and saw a huge swing in the population. The man I had met at the radio station, who helped start the organization, is alive because someone talked his mom out of having an abortion. He is one of two well-known people in the community to come out and publically declare his pro-life stance. The summer before the race I was finishing my Bachelor’s in Social Work with an internship at the Pregnancy Resource Center. I split my time between three locations and learned so much from the amazing women of God that work in those centers. God also touched my heart through many of the clients I interacted with and the lives that were saved through His powerful means of encountering them. The PRC is also working on opening a home for pregnant women. Merci’s Refuge will house women who would otherwise be in unsafe environments or out in the street. They want to break ground in May and are still in need of some more funds. I have witnessed the prayer and work behind this project and want to invite you to be a part of the work God is doing! Visit the website here MERCIS REFUGE SITE if you want to learn more about Merci’s Refuge or give support.
These photos are from working with pregnant ladies in the Philippines...
