*This is the fifth installment in a series of articles that are designed to help unpack the practical implications of the We Have a Dream declaration that has been entrusted to us as a family of Friends here in Mid-America. Using Acts 2:17 as a holy compass, We Have a Dream seeks to discern and describe the specific directions that God is currently calling the people of EFC-MAYM to take so that the “dream of the gospel is lived out … in our local churches, in the communities where our churches serve, and in the family of churches called Evangelical Friends Church-Mid America Yearly Meeting.”
We have a dream of God’s Kingdom coming to heal the sick and the broken … the homeless and hungry knowing that God cares, and has sent friends to help them … orphans and widows … believing that their Creator knows their name.
Life as we know it in our country changed dramatically 43 years ago this month. On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Roe v. Wade that a mother has the legal right to end her pregnancy up until the point at which the fetus can live outside of her womb. According to recent figures provided by the Guttmacher Institute, over 1 million abortions are now performed annually, and more than 50 million legal abortions have been performed since 1973.
The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore the enormous gravity and complexity that so often accompany such a decision. Three-fourths of women cite concern for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say they cannot afford a child; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.
For many women today, the decision to carry a child to full term is clearly one of the most difficult and courageous choices that she can possibly make. I’m sure it must have been for one woman in particular. For purposes of confidentiality, we will call her Mary. Unmarried, uneducated, and unemployed, she would have been a prime candidate for abortion. In fact, she would have been strongly encouraged by many so-called experts to terminate her pregnancy “for the sake of the children,” not to mention her own sense of “personal health and well-being.”
Thankfully, Mary did not choose to follow the conventional wisdom of her day. Instead, with the support of a compassionate team of caregivers, she chose a much more difficult and courageous path. Because she truly loved the little ones growing in her womb, Mary chose life. In the words of poet Robert Frost, Mary chose “the road less traveled … and that has made all the difference.”
On January 21, 1996, on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Mary gave birth to twin girls. On January 21, 2016, on the eve of the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, our family will gather in our home to celebrate their 20th birthdays.
Jessie Anna Williams and Jasmine Elizabeth Williams, our adopted daughters, are two of the most precious and priceless gifts we have ever received. They have added immeasurable joy to the lives of their parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins, not to mention countless friends and neighbors. The truth is that it would be impossible for any of us to imagine life without them.
Over the past 20 years, these two little girls have grown into beautiful young women of God whose lives are now devoted to loving and serving the One who created their inmost being and knit them together in their mother’s womb, the One in whose image they have been fearfully and wonderfully made (cf. Psalm 139:13-14). It’s hard to imagine that Jessie and Jasmine’s birth mother could have possibly known what a blessing their lives would be to so many others when she chose to give them birth, but their Creator certainly did. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” our good and beautiful God declares, “before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5).
As we prepare to celebrate the completion of their first 20 years on planet earth, I just want to say “thank you” on behalf of our whole family to Jessie and Jasmine’s birth mother for making the courageous decision to carry them to full term in spite of the multitude of seemingly insurmountable obstacles that stood in her way. If she could see them today, I have no doubt that she would join with us in affirming the fact that life truly is a beautiful choice.
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