Giving God Our Battles | Client Story
My office is usually busy so when there is a cancellation or extra time between appointments, I try to catch up on “follow-ups”. “Follow-ups” is a running list of clients I have in my mind that I want to check on. Maybe they have missed an appointment, never rescheduled, or just seemed a little “off” at their last appointment, so I want to give them a call and touch base with them. I was trying to go through a stack of this type of client files before my next appointment arrived; everything was going rather well…until it wasn’t.
“Hello, this is Mary from Crossroads.
I was just wondering how everything was going for you?”
“Oh… Well…” said Sophia*.
Long pause.
“I’m sorry if I caught you at a bad time; I don’t want to interfere with your schedule. May I please call you at a more convenient time?” I asked.
“No, it’s ok,” Sophia said, “I didn’t want to tell you…” Another pause. “But I went through with it.”
At this point in the conversation, I realized, like the school student who has not studied adequately for a test that I was unprepared for that response and I could only beg God to help me. Even though I was not expecting it, I knew what she meant by that phrase, “But I went through with it.”
“So, how are you doing? Are you ok?” I asked.
She hesitated and then sadly replied, “Yeah, I guess I’m ok.”
She then proceeded to tell me all the reasons why she felt it was “necessary” for her to abort her baby. We always hope and pray that the patients that come to Crossroads for options counseling and ultrasounds will change their minds and choose life. But I could empathize with her and the genuine and difficult obstacles she was facing.
Statistics tell us that 80% of abortion-vulnerable or determined1 clients will reconsider when they see the VERY REAL heartbeat of their baby in an ultrasound. Sophia was one of the ones that did not. Her baby became another abortion statistic.
Sophia and I spent some time talking. I told her we have post-abortion classes and I would be glad to meet with her and discuss anything. After a few minutes of conversation, she thanked me for calling but said she “Would be fine.” I have not heard from her since.
I remember Sophia coming in for her ultrasound, seeing her baby and the heartbeat, talking with her… praying about her situation. We have a great team here. Our RN, Tresa Mansberger is phenomenal. The scans she performs and the conversations she has with our clients are excellent. We have many success stories. We are prepared. We do work hard. But it is not always “sunshine and saving babies” at our centers. Sometimes we have what we consider to be failures–huge failures.
My son recently shared one of his life’s verses found in Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.” (KJV). While that is a great verse for a young man, I thought about how applicable it is to all of us here at Crossroads. We can work hard, do our best, be prepared, etc. but safety is of the Lord. It is in His hands, even when we do not get the outcome for which we strive.
All of this is to emphasize two things: one, although we work hard and do our best, safety is of the Lord. Only God can change hearts; “it” is in His hands.
Secondly, we need your help. Please, pray for us and pray for our clients. We covet and appreciate your prayers more than you will ever know.
- Written by Mary, Client Services Manager
* Client’s name has been changed to protect the confidentiality
Abortion-determined is a term we use when women have expressed their intent to get an abortion. We also use the term abortion-vulnerable when women express less intent but are unsure and in situations where they feel it's an option.