{"id":161971,"date":"2017-02-08T11:43:04","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T16:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=161971"},"modified":"2017-02-08T16:13:06","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T21:13:06","slug":"happiest-inspiring-pro-life-story-youll-read-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/happiest-inspiring-pro-life-story-youll-read-today\/","title":{"rendered":"The happiest, most inspiring, pro-life story you\u2019ll read today"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Aleteia<\/a>, Sherry Antonetti) —\u00a0I\u2019ve been to marches; I\u2019ve prayed at clinics. I\u2019ve written articles and letters to the editor. And I have 10 children. Yet the most effective witness I ever gave to the pro-life cause was when I wasn\u2019t trying to do anything other than find a way to not be lonely.<\/p>\n

Back in 1993, I became a mother and I felt the walls of the world close in. So I went out \u2014 out seeking connections and adult conversations and anything to help distinguish one day from the next as I worked to recover from pregnancy and adjusted to being a full-time mom.<\/p>\n

One day, I saw the receptionist at our apartment and it looked like she\u2019d been crying. I asked her what was up. She told me, \u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t understand, but she invited me in to sit with her. It turned out she\u2019d just broken up with her boyfriend and found out afterward that she was pregnant. Two girlfriends already offered to drive her to get an abortion, but she said seeing my son every day, holding him as he smiled and kicked, she couldn\u2019t. She just couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Her reaction to me actually echoed my own reaction to someone else: I\u2019d become a stay-at-home mom because I\u2019d seen a baby boy in the daycare and witnessed his smiles. I couldn\u2019t not be with my son, I just couldn\u2019t.\u00a0That unknown baby\u2019s smiles led to my staying home and being desperately lonely \u2026 and that led to sharing my son\u2019s smiles with this pregnant receptionist. I hugged her and we cried over her worries.<\/p>\n

We talked about what she could do. I\u2019d never counseled anyone before, but we created a plan. It involved calling a doctor to get herself checked, calling her folks to get support and calling her boyfriend to let him know. I didn\u2019t know what would happen, but told her we\u2019d be there for her regardless.\u00a0She gave my son a kiss and dried her eyes.<\/p>\n

I left thinking that the loneliness of being a new stay-at-home mother was nothing compared to hers. It rained hard for the next week, so I didn\u2019t get out for my daily walk. The few times I made it by the office, she wasn\u2019t there.\u00a0I worried.<\/p>\n

However, the next time I saw her, she threw open the door and hugged me. Everyone had rallied for her. Her boyfriend and her parents. Now instead of the loneliness, there was a family fully engaged and fired-up alive, eagerly anticipating the child\u2019s birth.\u00a0They married and before I moved away, they\u2019d had a son and a daughter. My son\u2019s smiles allowed another two children\u2019s smiles to be known to the world and a whole host of smiles for the mom, the dad, and the grandparents.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t marching or protesting or lobbying that won a heart in a crisis pregnancy. It was presence. So while we march for all those who weren\u2019t given the opportunity of life, or who were wounded by abortion (fathers, mothers, siblings and everyone else), and while we hope for a defunding of Planned Parenthood, we should recognize the other part of being pro-life. We have to be more pro-life and pro-living than protesting.<\/p>\n

So smile and walk out into the world, and know God will put you where you can be most effective.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note:\u00a0<\/em>This article originally appeared at Aleteia<\/a>\u00a0on January 26, 2017, and is reprinted here with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Aleteia, Sherry Antonetti) —\u00a0I\u2019ve been to marches; I\u2019ve prayed at clinics. I\u2019ve written articles and letters to the editor. And I have 10 children. Yet the most effective witness I ever gave to the pro-life cause was when I wasn\u2019t trying to do anything other than find a way to not be lonely. Back in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":98883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe happiest, most inspiring, pro-life story you\u2019ll read today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes the best thing you can do for the pro-life cause is just to "smile and walk out into the world."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/happiest-inspiring-pro-life-story-youll-read-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The happiest, most inspiring, pro-life story you\u2019ll read today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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