God’s Grace, Wisdom and Mercy Brings Life
When I was 15 years old, due to a suggestion made by a wonderful mentor that God had chosen to put in my life, I began to pray for the lady that would become my future wife. Not only did I not know who she was at the time, I had no way of knowing that she was in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy and needed prayer.
Joan was 18 years old and living in a Northern Manitoba town where the majority of advice she was receiving from her friends and co-workers was to have a quick abortion and move on with her life. Because of her faith in the Lord Jesus, she knew that was the wrong choice and she went humbly to her parents with the news.
While her mom was incredibly loving, she also told Joan that she would now have to grow up a lot faster than she had planned and that being a mother was an incredible responsibility (as a mother of 6 she understood well), but that her coming baby was a blessing. The first words she heard from her father as he came down the stairs after learning about his daughter’s pregnancy from Mom were, “Praise the Lord, we are going to have a grandchild.” The love and support that she received from her parents was again the covering of the Lord in her life.
Fast forward three and a half years. Joan and her daughter now lived in BC and with the help and the wonderful love of an aunt who looked after Krista during the day, Joan was able to work downtown for a large company in their corporate communications department where she was able to provide for the two of them quite well.
This is where God worked to bring me into the picture. I met Joan at an after-church function one Sunday evening (does anyone remember when we used to go to church twice on Sunday?) and I was smitten. After seeing one another for a brief time, we (the three of us) were walking on a path in a wooded park where Krista had run ahead enjoying all of the things kids enjoy in the woods. That is until a stranger appeared on the path ahead coming in our direction. Krista did a complete 180 degree turn and ran back to us. To my surprise, she ran and hid behind me and hugged my leg. I was smitten again!
I was so blessed by God to be able to marry Joan less than 6 months after our first date and the three of us began our lives together. That was 45 years, 2 more children and ten grandchildren ago. What God has done in our lives has been and continues to be truly fantastic.
Krista has had 3 boys of her own and is a wonderful mother and wife. She has become a doula, a breast-feeding consultant and a pre-natal course instructor. In choosing life for our daughter, others are being blessed by Krista working to help bring other lives into this world.
Through His amazing grace and love in our lives, He has brought Joan and I into a ministry called Love Life. Through this ministry our church has declared that we are a House of Refuge and our desire is to help women in unplanned pregnancy come to the knowledge and understanding of the love of Jesus Christ. To know that being pregnant is not a sin and that their baby is not a punishment, but a blessing. We will help to remove whatever obstacles might stand in the way of them choosing life for their baby. Also, for those who have had abortion in their past to understand that it is not an unforgivable sin, but that through the saving grace of Jesus they can know the peace and forgiveness that only He can provide.
It was through the providence of God that He instructed me to pray for a girl that wanted to choose life for her baby and then His blessing of bringing us together as a family. There were other truly incredible events that God used (maybe in another blog one day) to uniquely prepare us for the ministry of life that He called us into.
God wants to use each and every one of us to bring the knowledge of His love and forgiveness to a lost and hurting world around us. All He asks of us is to be willing and available to be used by Him.