By Divine Appointment.
The Fulfillment of the Vision
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. HABAKKUK 2:3, kjv
As we continued working with young women, I became increasingly concerned about responding to the tragedy of abortion. God had planted a seed within me several years earlier when I was leaving Teen Challenge to raise up His work in Monroe. He had given me a vision of a broader ministry that would include reaching out to pregnant young women, but He had not revealed the appointed time to expand the vision.
I knew from the Word that one thing God hates is hands that shed innocent blood (Proverbs 6:17). As I was reading my Bible one night, several verses stood out boldly:
“Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die. Don’t try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it. For God, who knows all hearts, knows yours, and he knows you knew! And he will reward everyone according to his deeds”. PROVERBS 24:11–12,
When I thought of the pictures I had seen of the mangled and bloody bodies of aborted babies, this particular scripture cut me to the heart with conviction. This is God’s Word to His people, and it is up to us as Christians to effect a change! I vowed that night to share this verse in every church I spoke and to every group I met, to remind them of the millions of children whose lives are being taken prematurely each year by the unfortunate act of abortion.
That verse birthed in me the overwhelming desire to begin ministering to young women who were pregnant outside the bonds of marriage. I prayed that God would provide the resources for a maternity home now that Mercy Multiplied was firmly established, and our expanded home was running smoothly.
The calls from young women facing an unplanned pregnancy had increased as the word had spread about how many young women we were helping. Many of those who called were frightened and had no place to turn; we desperately wanted to help them, but I didn’t see how it was possible. I expressed my regret to these young women, saying, “I’m sorry, we would like to help you, but our home is not equipped to handle the special needs of expectant mothers. We hope to establish a maternity home someday, but until then . . .”
It was extremely difficult to turn these young women away because we sincerely wanted to help them. However, until God provided us the land and a building, I honestly felt like I had no other way to respond.
The Challenge
One morning, while I was praying, God convicted me that my thinking was backward. I had expected God to provide us with another home so we could accept pregnant residents. But God wanted us to step out in faith first accept pregnant residents and then receive the home He would provide.
God showed me my hypocrisy in speaking out against abortion on the one hand and turning away pregnant women on the other. His message was very clear: I was to stop talking against abortion unless I was ready to obey Him and begin taking in pregnant residents! I felt a sense of relief and asked Him to forgive me.
I also promised Him that no matter what, I would never again turn away a pregnant young woman He sent to us for help. God wasted no time sending that first young woman! The very next day we received a call from a thirteen-year-old who was pregnant by her mother’s thirty-seven-year-old boyfriend.
As I gripped the phone and listened to this helpless young girl cry out for help, the reality of the commitment I had made the day before came rushing over me. God was giving me another chance to do the right thing, and I was ready! That was the beginning of one of the most rewarding decisions I have ever made. It wasn’t long before pregnant women began calling us from all over the country.
The more of them we took in, the more fervent our prayers became for a new home. The needs were greater than our capacity to handle them in the present home.
As we prayed, believing God for the right direction, we began looking for property. Ideally, we would have preferred to add another, separate home next to the original home, but there wasn’t enough land left due to the expansions. We began looking for property nearby but couldn’t find a suitable lot.
One day, a couple of the residents from the home went next door to take some fresh-baked banana nut bread to our neighbor, Mrs. Guidry. True to our word, we had befriended the elderly mother of the man who sold us his home. She was in her mid-eighties and needed someone to check on her periodically. We frequently took her cookies and other home-baked goodies and enjoyed visiting with her.
When the residents came back, they told me Mrs. Guidry wanted to see me. I finished a couple of things at the office and walked the few steps to her house. I knocked on the door, and Mrs. Guidry greeted me with her warm smile and invited me inside. She was a precious Catholic lady who was very committed to God. We had all grown to love her. Although it was always good to see her, today she appeared a little worn and tired.
Nevertheless, she was in good spirits and asked me to sit down.
“Mrs. Guidry,” I said, “the residents told me you wanted to see me. Is everything okay?”
“Yes, everything is fine, although I haven’t been feeling very well lately. I guess that’s to be expected when you get to be my age. In fact, that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about.
“I’ve been so tired, and I’ve really been talking to the Lord, and I believe that He’s shown me that I’m not going to be here much longer.”
She smiled as she continued, “But I’m ready to go and I’m trying to settle all my affairs. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with my property. I know your ministry has grown a lot and that you don’t have much room to expand. I was wondering if you might be interested in having my property after I’m gone?”
“Yes, Mrs. Guidry, I would be interested.” I spoke softly, trying to be sensitive to her feelings.
“Well, I’d love to be able to give it to you, but I’m not in a position to do that. I don’t want my family to have to be responsible for my funeral and other expenses once I’m gone. But I would like for you to have the first option to buy my property. I’ll tell my son we’ve talked and ask him to make sure he sells it to you at a fair price.
“Now, if you were to buy this property, what would you do with it?” she asked me.
“Mrs. Guidry, we really need more property to build a maternity home. Right now we have more young women calling us than we’re able to help. If we bought your property, we would probably have your house moved and build a maternity home here. That way, pregnant young women would have a place to come instead of going to abortion clinics.”
Tears came to her eyes as she looked at me and said, “Nancy, I can’t think of anything I’d like better than to know that my property would be used for that.”
I was touched by Mrs. Guidry’s desire to help us. I told her how much she meant to us and what a blessing it was that she wanted us to have her property. I prayed with her before I left that day and asked God to bless her and keep His hand on her, and I thanked Him for her. About three months later
Mrs. Guidry went on to be with the Lord. At her funeral I thought about what a wonderful neighbor and friend she had been. We would all miss her. I also thought about her desire to help us grow, and I was filled with gratitude that God had put her in our lives.
Mrs. Guidry’s son, Lawrence, called me a couple of days after the funeral and asked if we would like to buy her property. I assured him we did, and he gave us a reasonable price. It was obvious that God had opened this door to us, and the advisory board agreed that we should purchase the property. We all shared the vision of expanding Mercy to reach out to pregnant young women, and the property included more than enough land to build the home. Within a short time we had enough money to make a down payment.
Once we sold the house and had it moved, we paid the balance and owned the land debt free. Now that we had the land, we were faced with the challenge of finding a way to raise the money to build. We took a picture of a pregnant resident sitting on the vacant lot and placed it on the refrigerator door as a reminder to the staff and residents to pray, believing for our new maternity home. We thanked Him in advance for making a way for us. We sent out a newsletter informing our supporters of our need. While many of them gave generously, we did not have nearly enough money to start construction.
Although it seemed in the natural realm that raising the money we needed was impossible, we knew God had a plan. We just weren’t sure what it was.
This text is an extract from the book “ECHOES OF MERCY” written by Nancy Alcorn.
We invite you to read the following article “Catching the Vision”.
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