{"id":5675,"date":"2011-08-22T21:26:46","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T01:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/liveaction.org\/blog\/?p=5675"},"modified":"2013-03-31T03:16:33","modified_gmt":"2013-03-31T07:16:33","slug":"sidewalk-counseling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/","title":{"rendered":"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>It was a year ago this day that God first used me to save the life of an unborn child and that I felt first-hand that\u00a0sidewalk counseling and reaching out to abortion-minded women is both a responsibility and a privilege.\u00a0 It was my last day to sidewalk counsel at the abortion facility near my home before I headed back to school for the year.\u00a0 There were dozens of people praying that morning\u2014many more than usual.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Around ten, two young women drove into the parking lot.\u00a0\u00a0When they got out of the car, I offered the information on local pregnancy resource centers\u00a0to them, asking if I could help them in any way.\u00a0 The girl with the appointment (you can tell by the way they\u2019re dressed), whom I\u2019ll call Courtney, hurried towards the facility.\u00a0 Courtney\u2019s friend, whom I\u2019ll call Lanie, came over and talked to me.<\/p>\n<p>Lanie eagerly took the information\u00a0and\u00a0told me she would show this to her friend inside.\u00a0 Before she walked away, she said &#8220;thank you for being out here.&#8221;\u00a0 It shocked me\u2014I had never been thanked by a client or an escorting friend or family member before!<\/p>\n<p>About 45 minutes later, Lanie walked out of the facility and sat down on the bench in front of it.\u00a0Projecting my voice but being careful as to not yell, I asked her if Courtney was OK.\u00a0 Lanie turned around and nodded with a weak smile.\u00a0 Again I called to her, asking if there was anything I could for them.\u00a0 She sat a few minutes longer, then came down the steps from the abortion facility with the information I had given her in her hand.<\/p>\n<p>She showed me a leaflet for a <a href=\"http:\/\/rachelsvineyard.org\" target=\"_blank\">Rachel&#8217;s Vineyard<\/a> retreat and asked where they were located.\u00a0 At this point, a fellow sidewalk counselor, Elizabeth, had approached us, and she explained to Lanie the different opportunities to attend the retreats around our state, and the Bible studies that are held to help women heal from past abortions.\u00a0 Lanie opened her mouth to respond, then put her hand to her eyes and choked up, apologizing.<\/p>\n<p>She admitted to us that she had had an abortion ten years before because her mother told her she had no other option, and said that she hasn&#8217;t been back to church since her abortion because she didn&#8217;t feel that God wanted her there anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Lanie cried, &#8220;Why couldn&#8217;t you guys have been there when I was going to get my abortion&#8230;&#8221; and said she never would have done it if she knew she could have had help.\u00a0 Lanie told us that she didn\u2019t want Courtney to have an abortion, but she would feel like a hypocrite saying so.\u00a0 I told her that she wouldn\u2019t be a hypocrite\u2014she would be saving a baby\u2019s life and Courtney\u2019s soul.\u00a0 With a small heave she apologized again for crying and wiped off her eyes.\u00a0 Elizabeth gave her a hug and asked Lanie if she&#8217;d like to pray, so the three of us held hands and Elizabeth led a beautiful prayer for Lanie.\u00a0 Then, she went back inside to wait for Courtney.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5698\" style=\"margin: 10px;\" title=\"baby-hand-adult-hand\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/liveaction.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/baby-hand-adult-hand.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"167\" \/>Here is the responsibility aspect of sidewalk counseling: we MUST be there for the women in their most desperate time of need.\u00a0 They feel trapped, pressured, and often forced into a decision they don\u2019t want to make.\u00a0 If no one is there to help them, a child&#8217;s life will be taken and a woman will be scarred for the rest of her life.\u00a0 As Christians, we are called to abide by the most fundamental teachings of Jesus, one of which is putting others before yourself.\u00a0 That is what sidewalk counselors do every time they reach out to abortion-minded women.<\/p>\n<p>About 15 minutes after she had first come down, Lanie and Courtney came out of the facility.\u00a0 I held my breath anxiously\u2014they had not been in the facility long enough for Courtney to have had an abortion.\u00a0 Courtney was walking normally, she had no post-abortion medicine bag in her hand, and she was coherent and capable of driving\u2014 she did not go through with her scheduled abortion!\u00a0 Lanie gave a small smile as she got in the car, and waved to us as they drove away, with information about free pregnancy resources in her hand.<\/p>\n<p>This is the privilege aspect of sidewalk counseling: getting to witness first-hand an absolute miracle of God.\u00a0 The fact that a woman can walk into\u00a0the most\u00a0hopeless place on earth, one that thrives off of taking the lives of innocent children,\u00a0and come back out with that precious little life still inside her is nothing short of a miracle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a year ago this day that God first used me to save the life of an unborn child and that I felt first-hand that\u00a0sidewalk counseling and reaching out to abortion-minded women is both a responsibility and a privilege.\u00a0 It was my last day to sidewalk counsel at the abortion facility near my home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":12435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved - Live Action News<\/title>\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\/sidewalk-counseling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was a year ago this day that God first used me to save the life of an unborn child and that I felt first-hand that\u00a0sidewalk counseling and reaching out to abortion-minded women is both a responsibility and a privilege.\u00a0 It was my last day to sidewalk counsel at the abortion facility near my home [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-23T01:26:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-31T07:16:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/baby-hand-adult-hand.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"167\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ee46ba3624c9d950f1e366c60c7fddc8\"},\"headline\":\"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-23T01:26:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-31T07:16:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/\"},\"wordCount\":791,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/\",\"name\":\"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved - Live Action News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-23T01:26:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-31T07:16:33+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ee46ba3624c9d950f1e366c60c7fddc8\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26c53535cc141cadad3769e6540b7630?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26c53535cc141cadad3769e6540b7630?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/guest-column\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved - Live Action News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved - Live Action News","og_description":"It was a year ago this day that God first used me to save the life of an unborn child and that I felt first-hand that\u00a0sidewalk counseling and reaching out to abortion-minded women is both a responsibility and a privilege.\u00a0 It was my last day to sidewalk counsel at the abortion facility near my home [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2011-08-23T01:26:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-03-31T07:16:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"250","height":"167","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/baby-hand-adult-hand.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/"},"author":{"name":"Guest Contributor","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ee46ba3624c9d950f1e366c60c7fddc8"},"headline":"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved","datePublished":"2011-08-23T01:26:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-03-31T07:16:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/"},"wordCount":791,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/","name":"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved - Live Action News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-23T01:26:46+00:00","dateModified":"2013-03-31T07:16:33+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/sidewalk-counseling\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sidewalk counseling: my story of a child saved"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ee46ba3624c9d950f1e366c60c7fddc8","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26c53535cc141cadad3769e6540b7630?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26c53535cc141cadad3769e6540b7630?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/guest-column\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}