Linda For Life Stories From the Sidewalk

⻍ The Journey ⻌ Watching “our” new mom, Aleyda has been so inspiring. For all of the horrible things going on in the world she has shown us hope. She has shown us her hope and she has given us hope and encouragement to carry on in this fight for life. She has been brave, humble and gracious all at the same time. We have been amazed, humbled and honored to participate in her journey. We stand in awe of this young gregarious and joyful ,beautiful young lady. Aleyda entered our outreach building about eight months ago after I encouraged her to come talk to me. I reached out with the promise of a flower and some information and she trusted me enough to come talk to me. It has been such a joy getting to know the tiger inside this person who was so scared at that moment. She has gone from not knowing what to do or how to do it to I WILL do this. As she said, she has gone from abortion minded to “pro life” without even having a full understanding of what that means. It has appeared as if it i...

 Meeting Halfway  💖💖💖 A Story of a Mother I saw her from a distance on the other side of the parking lot. I called out to her asking if she'd like a free flower. It's amazing what a flower will do. She declined while looking a little frazzled. She walked around almost in circles and then towards another part of the building where there is a walkway down the back parking lot of Planned Parenthood. I walked to the other end of that walkway.   I only have a few moments to convince her that I have support that might really help her. So I just watched and then said casually that I thought “ it might be less intimidating if I wasn’t with a group of happy volunteers.”  We laughed together about that. I asked her if she was okay. She clearly was not. I questioned whether she'd just had a pregnancy test. She replied that she had and that it was positive. I waited a minute and then asked if she was planning to keep the baby. She said she wasn't sure and that she was th...

                                                                             Who would have thought🤔🤔 When you work for a goal that seems guided by the Holy Spirit there are perks and roadblocks that aren’t the same as other types of work. If you are not careful, you can run right into the road blocks and run right into them. You miss the blessings while you are consumed by the road blocks. I try to be aware — acutely aware. Sometimes even when I am trying to be aware the evils run right through me. These evils can come in many forms. Sometimes they are hecklers. We don't always know what our words do to others. Sometimes, the seemingly strongest person is actually the most sensitive. I can take a comment or gesture to bed with me, and mull it over endlessly,...

  The Visit  We all know what it feels like to go back to the place where a crisis occurred. This can be something mental or an actual, physical experience. Sometimes, doing this is healing. Sometimes it's just still plain hard, and part of the hard is making yourself do it. Part of the healing is the feeling of triumph afterwards. Hopefully that's how “Anna” felt after our visit. Anna is one of the moms that chose life after speaking with Monica and I. She was on her way into Planned Parenthood, saw they were closed for a meeting, and turned to talk to us. We talked to her about her circumstances. She was married, with two toddlers. Her IUD had failed, and she was in a crazy, fearful state. She felt overwhelmed caring for her kids. Her husband worked out of town most of the time, and her family wasn't helping. She didn't have any friends, and she felt alone in this plight. We talked about motherhood, friendship, and loneliness, and offered our friendship and support. W...

  Back to “normal”😕 I watched a big new SUV drive up and two women get out. It looked as if the women were mother and daughter. I offered flowers and literature to them, and the older woman waved me away in an angry manner. A few minutes later she went back to the vehicle, started it and drove towards the driveway near where I was standing. I waved and encouraged her to take my literature and I also pointed at our signs that say only encouraging things. I shook my head sadly. I did not know for sure what the situation was, but I’ve been doing this long enough to recognize the actions and reactions in that parking lot. I was sure what it could have been. A little while later the younger woman came out of the building, and I offered her a flower. She walked over to take it, enabling me to ask her a few questions and ultimately asking her if she'd like to talk in our Outreach building. She admitted that she wanted to talk. I led her over, and we spent over an hour talking about her ...

  She's Sad and she`s Happy 😥😃 The flower did it again. It gave me an opportunity to open the door to conversation with a mom crossing the parking lot to Planned Parenthood. She walked up to take the flower and we started a conversation. I asked if she was pregnant. She was. She was also scared and confused. She has a difficult relationship situation. Her man wants her to have an abortion, but she does NOT want to have one. She has grown children and a good job supporting the family. He doesn't live in town. She wants to have this baby. After talking together at the Outreach building, and having Sarah join in on Facetime, she sorted things out. We talked to her man on the phone. He`s more on board but not in a supportive way. She made a  complete change in her thoughts and emotions. She said she is having this baby because she wants to and if he doesn't support this decision she will do it without him. She high fived me and said I can do this. We are meeting for lunch tod...

 Surprised by life 😊 We often think that one event ends at the culmination of that specific occurrence. We celebrate small victories, and we grieve over endings. I think it is important to remember that life is a journey filled with directions and events. This has certainly been true with my experiences within the pro-life world. It truly is life and death work. It is hard, really hard when a mother-to-be walks away saying she has chosen to have an abortion. It is almost impossible at that moment to keep in mind that she may, at a later time in life, choose life because of our conversation.  The flip side of that has been my experience with the moms who do choose life for their child. These are the mothers we celebrate with. These are the moms that keep us motivated. Several of these new, young moms have been motivators in my pro-life work AND in my life in general. This confirms my belief that we need to work on building a better community of support. We all need support. I ...