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“And the angel answered her,
‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.’”
~ Luke 1:35

A true little story:

Once upon a time, a young woman experienced a strong conversion. She was so grateful for all that God had done in her life, transforming the events she considered as ‘deaths’ into beautiful gemstones, that she started serving in her local church with gusto!

‘Jerusalem, you are sad and discouraged,
tossed around in a storm.
But I, the LORD, will rebuild your city with precious stones;
for your foundation, I will use sapphires.’
~ Isaiah 54:11

If the church needed a volunteer to help clean, she would clean. If they needed a reader, a meal to be prepared, a gardener, a babysitter, or the flowers arranged, she would give it a go. Whatever the need, she was willing to fill it. Even if she had no experience, she was willing to serve because, in her eyes, Jesus was asking for her help with His Church, and she believed if she said yes, He would help her with the rest.

After nine years of faithful service to the church, a pregnancy help worker reached out to her and said, ‘We’re looking for volunteers. Would you consider applying?’.

The woman’s heart leapt with joy as she walked through the pregnancy centre and witnessed the simple outreach of LOVE for the first time. As usual, she received the invitation as coming directly from the Lord Himself, but upon returning home that evening, she began to pray — ‘Lord, are you sure you have the right person? Do you know how unqualified I am? Don’t you think someone else would be much more suitable for this assignment?‘ But the more she prayed about it, the louder the Lord knocked, with the radical call to serve in a pregnancy help centre.

Remembering her experience in the church, despite not feeling qualified, she said yes and trusted that God would do the rest. Every morning, as she would enter the house to begin her shift, she would pray:

Dear Lord, Giver of Life,

I pray that as I enter <insert the name of your centre/service>, I leave my own troubles outside, knowing that you are taking care of every aspect of my life, and I need not worry.

I offer myself to you today as a humble servant ready to do your will for the other. I allow you to fill me with Your grace, trusting that Your Holy Spirit of love will give me the ability to welcome, listen and console your people who come calling today.

Help me to spend time caring for <insert the name of your centre/service>, remembering always that this is a sacred place where Your Spirit dwells and miracles are performed.

I offer you my simple service as a prayer for the protection of life and the healing of those hurt by abortion.

Thank you for this joyful opportunity to spend time with You.

Amen.

Of course, she went on to do loads of training and study on ‘how’ to be the best counsellor. It was all very worthwhile and essential. However, even with a lengthy show of qualifications, she understood that it was not those certificates that gave her the confidence to believe she could be a real help to the clients who came calling.

Instead, it was the daily prayer reminder to be pregnant with faith and invite the power of the HOLY SPIRIT to fill her, giving her the right ears and heart to listen and the right words to speak so that the Light of Christ could be born in that counselling room.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we thank You, we praise You, and we love You, for You are an awesome God! We pray for the zeal to announce the work of Pregnancy Help in Australia, inspiring an abundance of individuals and groups to start or join an existing Hub Of Love in their neighbourhood.

May those You have called to the mission of pregnancy help respond boldly and swiftly to Your invitation. May we receive the grace to unite ourselves seamlessly with the Heart of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so Your streams of living water can flow through every town and suburb of Australia, connecting those in desperate need with Your life-sustaining, inexhaustible perfect Divine Love. Your Kingdom Come! Let it be done! Amen.

Prayer Points:

• Pregnancy Help is hard to find in Australia; an alarming number of neighbourhoods don’t have pregnancy centres. This means that vulnerable women can’t access the vital support necessary to continue their pregnancy and choose LIFE for themselves and their unborn babies. With Christian churches present in every suburb of Australia, the infrastructure is already there. Pray that the church would respond and arise to start a hub of love, a pregnancy help service that reflects the heart of our Father.
• Spiritual Refreshment. The emotional energy given by those who work in the pregnancy help movement is extreme. They give of themselves daily. Pray for spiritual refreshment for those who cover shifts on the Helplines or go into the centres today.
• Willing Volunteers. Pray for the Lord to send workers for His harvest. Willing volunteers who would connect with their local pregnancy help organisation and see what their needs are, and how they may share their skills to fill a need.
• Give thanks to God for the generosity of all who sow into the PHA network financially, spiritually, and practically. Praise the Lord to remove any barriers or blockages to the release of financial provisions or real estate.