by Monica Cooper
The Good Lord often calls us to action in mysterious ways. That was the thought that kept running through my head yesterday as I stood on the main street of my little town of 10,000 in Dixon, California, surrounded by twenty-five of my peers, beads in hand and praying together. It was a rare Saturday before Easter. Many of our group of teens and young adults all had the day off and we had made plans to spend the afternoon together. But those plans were temporarily derailed by the evil that came to our town in the form of Planned Parenthood. Our little farming town was holding a block party for families and young children. It was so small in fact that most of us did not even know that it was happening. But while driving past it, one member of our group saw that in the midst of food, family, music and games was a terribly out of place Planned Parenthood booth, ironically complete with several children’s games. Immediately, we mobilized. Facebook messages went out and within fifteen minutes our group was there ready to peacefully, calmly, lovingly, but perseveringly pray in front of that Planned Parenthood booth.
As members of our young adult group arrived so did many members of our church’s high school youth group. They gave up their Saturday willingly, joyfully, unhesitatingly, to join us in the fight for life. Without a word being said, it was understood that we would not leave until Planned Parenthood left. Planned Parenthood tried their typical tactics. They took photos of us. They then asked the local police to remove us. But when the police saw that we were just praying with our backs to their booth they said “we respect your first amendment rights, please do not incite them and keep enough room on the sidewalk for people to walk by.” We acknowledged the rules and kept praying.
Within minutes, the foot traffic at the Planned Parenthood booth ceased. They stood at their nearly empty booth for almost an hour as they faced our backs with signs that said “Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion chain in the USA” and “Planned Parenthood aborted 334,000 babies last year.”
It seemed all to fitting that on Holy Saturday, when our darkened world awaits the return of the Light of Christ, the darkness of Planned Parenthood would be brought to light and destroyed by the Light which is the power of prayer. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless if it meant that one single person out there yesterday was spared from falling into the trap of the eloquently worded lies that make up Planned Parenthood’s mission statement.
Although the fight for life can often look bleak, and the culture of death seem impenetrable, Saturday afternoon in our small town showed us without doubt that God hears the cry of His people. May we never lose hope in this war. The lives of millions of innocent, defenseless, unborn babies depend on the efforts made and the prayers said by me and by you. Your presence matters, your prayers are answered. Saturday was proof of this; we came, we saw, we prayed and we conquered.
Editors note: The latest annual report indicated that Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions in the United States.
