Whole Life Ministry
I didn’t want to write this blog today. I wanted to write about Debbie, the janky tropical storm that's tearing through here as I type. I thought about focusing on my Memorial garden and what an amazing blessing it has been to calm me when I feel anxious (more on that next month). I considered writing about our new healing curriculum or what it has been like working through yet another healing course of my own. I could have written about the joys and challenges of being a mentor to some phenomenally brave women. I didn’t want to write about the risks of whole life ministry because I didn’t want to scare off any of the women who are newly healed and feel called to serve. An overflowing toilet tank almost derailed me just now but I’m pressing through.
I have to be obedient.
To be a whole life ambassador means to care for everyone throughout their life cycle no matter what society says about their worth. We advocate for life “from the womb to the tomb.” What does that really mean though? It means having an informed opinion about how precious all human life is and sharing that humbly within your circles of influence no matter the reaction.
It means speaking out against abortion no matter what each political party says is acceptable. Like, it’s not OK to be OK with abortion if it happens before a detectable heartbeat and certainly not up until birth. It’s not OK to be OK with euthanasia of the elderly no matter what their mental state is. It’s not OK to be OK with assisted suicide for the depressed or those who are differently abled. It’s not OK to be OK with engineering life in petri dishes only to be stored away in cryogenic tanks. In short, it’s not OK to make life and death decisions for ourselves or for others.
As a whole life ambassador, you have to be uncomfortable with societal norms to the point that you are willing to risk something to defend life as God determines.
The benchmark of our brief time here on earth is to live life abundantly and to support that same right for others. When God chooses to call us into existence or when He chooses to take us home is strictly within His purview. Honestly, we have enough on our plate to be concerned about during this brief dash between our own birth and death than to try and orchestrate aliveness for others (I’m not sure if that’s a word).
Who can know the mind of God and the plans He has for each of us? My mom initially didn't want me, but I became a champion for her and a great source of comfort in her later years. If I had been respectful of the sovereignty of God I would not have aborted my baby girl and I might have enjoyed the same type of relationship with her as I did with my mom. I thought I knew what was best for my life when I unexpectedly became pregnant but I did not. What I have come into alignment and agreement with God about is that He is the Almighty One and I am not. What I saw as unexpected, God saw as an opportunity for Him to be glorified.
This realization has been a big dose of humility for me.
For someone who grew up proud and self-reliant, being brought low through my abortion healing journey was the greatest gift I could have received from my Heavenly Father for only the humble can get close to God. Isaiah 57:15 NKJV says,
For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name [is] Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy [place], With him [who] has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
I cannot possibly know why God would keep a parent alive in a demented state but I must humbly speak up for their life to be preserved. I cannot know why children are born with extra chromosomes but I have to humbly speak up for their right to live out their lives. I can’t participate in celebrating the making of babies for infertile or same sex couples because it is God who creates life. It’s not even up to me to determine when my pet should die even if they are suffering because, in this life, we will all suffer. The state of suffering has a glory for God that I cannot fathom. But, I know now that I cannot step into His shoes and take His place as the “decider” over who lives and who dies for that is pride and not humility.
So, yes, this whole life ministry work will make you humbly speak to the hearts of those who already know His truth but may be choosing to ignore it as I once did. Hebrews 8:10-11 NKJV says,
10 "For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
This work will make you pray for everyone who has not yet humbled themselves (or been humbled) so that they can hear from God. This work will cost you relationships, likes and support. But to be obedient to God’s calling is to be OK with the sacrifice because you know you are seeking justice and righteousness. We all have the potential to have the mind of Christ as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2 NLT:
1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn't use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God's secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness--timid and trembling. 4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God. 6 Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. 7 No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God--his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began. 8 But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord. 9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." 10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit, and no one can know God's thoughts except God's own Spirit. 12 And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13 When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. 14 But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. 16 For, "Who can know the LORD's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?" But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.
This is my letter of encouragement to every future whole life ambassador: the work is worth fighting for.
Many blessings! Sylvia
Song: “Worth Fighting For” by Brian Courtney Wilson
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