Life Begins

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  II Chronicles 7:14

             

 Sometimes choices are hard. Sometimes we make the wrong choice. Sometimes we don't fully understand the choice until it's too late to change the choice. But God is the Great Forgiver and Lover of our souls. 

When I began to keep chickens, I wanted to raise my own flock. I didn't know how to keep my hens from laying with my setting hen. I hated wasting eggs, so I attempted to sort them without candling them (looking inside with a light through the shell.) One day I cracked an egg into a bowl and there lay a yolk with a few arteries stretching across it with a tiny heart beating.

Oh no. What had I done? I couldn't put it back in the shell. I couldn't keep it warm, and I couldn't throw it in the trash. It was alive and dying before my eyes. Over the next 20 minutes, I watched the heartbeat slow as the egg cooled down to room temperature. I tried to walk away but I always returned to check on it, wishing it to live, knowing it would die. I had made the wrong choice. Finally, the little heart no longer beat. I slid it into the trash, my heart broken.

Read the verse again, please. If my people, that's Christians. Aren't we God's people?

Shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face. Why? 

and turn from their wicked ways. It sounds like there must be something there that needs repenting. What have we done? What are we allowing? Are we sitting idly by while children are being murdered in the womb? Maybe they are being murdered before they even make it to their mother's womb. When does life begin?

When does life begin? My friend had trouble conceiving so she and her husband turned to invitro fertilization. The fertilized egg was implanted in her womb. Was the fertilized egg alive? Sure, or it would not have embedded itself in the womb. It would not have grown into a beautiful little girl. There had to have been life there. This couple was attempting to create a life. How many people today would never think of going to an abortion clinic but they prevent the embedding of a fertilized live baby from implanting itself in his/her mother's womb? 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is hard to write but it is necessary if we want to see our families, our churches, and our nation healed. We can't pretend this is not happening even in our own churches. I know it is. But what does the Lord say?

 then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. We are not without hope only if we choose to be. What will we choose?

Please choose life,

Gail