Standing in the rain for the Lord

I received this message today from David Bereit, the man behind the 40 Days for Life Campaign. Read it and rejoice - another life saved by prayer and fasting. Check the 40 Days for Life website and see if there's a location near you. You may be God's hands to reach out to a woman considering abortion and her little unborn child.

FROM DAVID BEREIT:

One of the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil participants in Kalamazoo, Michigan tells an amazing story of what God can do with two guys standing in the rain.

On a recent morning, he went to spend time in prayer in front of the abortion facility. When he got there,it was pouring."I decided I would stay in the car and pray and when it lightened up I would get out and stand in frontof the abortion clinic and pray," he said. "After all, I could pray just as well in the car as in front of the clinic."

But then his prayer partner arrived. "I told him to get into the car -- we could pray here."

"No," he said politely. He wanted to pray in front of the clinic.

"I didn't need any more convincing." As they stood there praying in the rain, "we must have been an odd sight! What were we thinking? What good could be accomplished standing in the rain?"

The rain came down even harder as a young couple drove in with a baby in a car seat. One of the men made eye contact with the woman and he knew immediately -- she was there for an abortion.

She went into the clinic, but came out ten minutes later. The two men rushed to her with their umbrellas. She was pregnant, she told them, and the child was not her husband's. It was he who insisted on an abortion."She was a fallen away Christian who had just returned to God," said the volunteer. "We told her that God had never left her and that He was always with her and would always be with her in all of her decisions. She felt pressure from her husband, the abortion staff and the doctor and that's when she asked to go outside to see us. "It turns out the woman had made an appointment with her pastor that morning but something came up and it was canceled. So she kept her appointment for the abortion.

Her pastor was her last chance, she thought, and that had fallen through. Maybe God did not hear her prayer. Now, she said, it was too late."But just as they were turning into the abortion clinic she had seen us," said the volunteer. "Two guys standing in the pouring rain, wet and soaked --praying. She knew we were praying. She couldn't believe it; God had answered her prayer after all! He sent two strangers to stand out in the rain and wait for her!"The men consoled her, told her God loved her and that she was not alone. "We held hands and the three of us prayed the Lord's Prayer." She went back inside, and two minutes later, they all came out and drove away.She waved to the men as they left.

"What a powerful God we have!" said this 40 Days for Life vigil participant. "God had made his love and presence known to all of us that morning. Many lives were touched; a life may have been saved." Meanwhile, it kept raining. College students passed by as they ran to a nearby bus stop. "Some of the students looked at us kind of funny," he said. "After all, we were just two guys standing in the rain."