This last week the team and I went to visit a pro-life organization that is run by some ladies that attend the local church. Their organization, Lydia, is the only running pro-life organization in all of Macedonia.
They have a location here in Stip and one in Skopje, and only four of them to run both locations, meet with women, take gifts and provisions to the mothers, and visit the hospital every time they are called.
Abortion is the number one form of birth control in Macedonia. Typically, women don’t have more than 2 children, its considered absurd and irresponsible. So, for any additional pregnancy after two children, women will get abortions. Many times, multiple abortions. Sex education isn’t prevalent in Macedonia, and putting your child up for adoption is looked down up and even more shameful then abortion in this culture.
Many times they are called to the hospitals to speak with a woman that is considering having an abortion. This speaks volumes about how the Lord has already opened doors for the Lydia Pro-Life organization. The doctors would make money from each abortion, yet the Lord has put upon their hearts to consider the lives that are at risk, even though they do not know the Lord.
It broke my heart to hear how many abortions are performed here, nearly 2x as many as in the United States. These women at Lydia are striving to educate women and teens everywhere, not only about birth control and safe sex, but about the love that Jesus has for them and their babies.
Most Christians would consider themselves “pro-life” when it comes to the subject of abortion. Yet, we must be careful when we proclaim ourselves to be pro-life and we walk throughout life as if we are the only people who matter.
We have a gift, a free gift, that saves us for eternity to live with the Lord. We have a creator who loves us beyond measure, and whose grace overflows on us despite our evil ways.
We preach that abortion is a sin, because they are human lives that matter. But do we preach Jesus at the human lives that matter all around us every day? When was the last time that we stopped to consider the lost in our world, in our schools, in our coffee shops, at our grocery stores?
We bustle through the world too busy to consider that there are lost people all around us. We tsk-tsk at those who are living ungodly lives, never wondering if they have even heard the gospel. We gasp when we hear of a young mom considering an abortion, but we don’t take our time to listen, to provide, and to support.
We MUST be pro-life, for all lives. For the unborn. For the unreached. For the hurting. For the broken. For the homeless. For those who are hard to love.
I called my sister last week and she told me of seven Indian men that always came into the sand which shop where she works. She began to make conversation with them, to ask about their homes, their families, and made an effort to love them simple by memorizing their sandwich orders.
These men’s hearts were so touched by her simple acts are loving care, that they “could not believe they had made a friend in America”. How many times were these men considered a burden because their accents were thick, and serving them just took a couple minutes more? How many times did they feel like they couldn’t go into certain places without being too much trouble?
When all but one of these men returned to India, my sister told the last man that she would miss them very much. Tear welled up in his eyes, and he asked her for a picture because his family would be so jealous of his new American friend.
These conversations, these few extra minutes to make these men feel valued and seen and loved were not difficult and required nothing more of my sister than to consider them as lives worthy of her time.
Next time you get a sandwich, a coffee, or stop to pump gas, simple as the store clerk how their day is going. Ask the person behind you if you can buy your coffee, and I promise you that the Lord will give you deep, meaningful conversations in which the gospel will be shared through small acts of love. Ask the Lord to provide an opportunity today in which you can share Christ through your speech or actions.
We must be pro-life for all lives that we encounter, for Jesus died for every last person on this planet. The unborn, hurting, broken, and lost were worth his life, and they are most certainly worth our time.
