First Fruits Friday - 40 Day for Life Reflections

Seneca will host the Fall 40 Days for Life Vigil September 22- October 31 2021. It is a powerful prayer, fasting, and community vigil that unites Christians in prayer across the world to pray for an end to abortion outside of local abortion facilities. Last vigil 10 lives were spared, 1 woman began the abortion pill reversal program, 1abortion worker quit, and countless women heard about the healing opportunities for those harmed by abortion. 

Our Assistant Director, Katie reflects on why it matters:

 The first time I heard about 40 Days for Life, I thought it sounded like a long shot. “Praying outside of an abortion facility? Isn’t that just what radical folks do?” Does it really make a difference?” I definitely didn’t think I would ever participate. 

It wasn’t until a few years later that I began working at Seneca and helped coordinate 40 Days for Life in my first few months here. I believe God used that first major “pro-life project” to show me His heart for women who have had abortions. I knew a few of these women before the campaign. The brave souls who had trusted me enough to hint or whisper: “I had an abortion” but it had taken years of friendship for me to be trusted with that secret. During that 40 Days for Life campaign, 5 separate women shared that same secret with me. Several of them had never told anyone else. 

These were the women who came to pray outside of an abortion facility: not radicals, but women wounded by abortion. Each had their own story, but essentially, the peaceful, prayerful, and supportive nature of the vigil had drawn them to pray for other women in the same situations they had once been in. I suspect the chance to join other Christians in this cause without having to give their “why” was another reason that their first step in healing was 40 Days for Life. Instead of “radicals” they were able to unite in prayer with loving, kind, patient, non-judgemental, devout people all united in the same effort.

I was truly honored by these women’s vulnerability and that they chose me to share such a personal story with. I could see in their eyes, and often their tears, that for them, abortion was not “healthcare,” “their right,”  or “the answer”  that much of popular culture says. It wasn’t political, it was personal.

These were women who were truly suffering from their abortion decisions. They were hungry for Hope, Healing, and Community. I was blessed to be able to refer them to our healing program. One of these beautiful women took me up on the offer to go to the Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat, and seeing her afterwards, she was a whole new person. A visible change in her eyes reflected the freedom she felt after years of carrying her secret.

After that experience, my heart was changed. Each time I witnessed a mother heading in for her abortion, I remembered the suffering that many of my new friends had carried for decades. That is what motivates me to keep praying. 

Each 40 Days for Life, we have the opportunity to pray and fast in a POWERFUL way.  A simple hour of sacrifice linked to the prayers and sacrifice of our next door neighbor, our friend from church, the friend from another church, all come together to move mountains. I’ve seen God use prayer and fasting to heal families, create activists, change hearts, and save lives! 

Devout prayer partners have been praying in front of the local abortion facility for years. We may never know exactly how many families have been impacted. What we do know is that since Seneca began, at least 165 babies have been saved from abortion, 7 abortion workers have quit, 6 women have reversed their abortion, and countless men and women have been offered healing opportunities.

God is doing all of this, but even more; He is changing our hearts and stirring up a new culture among the faithful: A Culture of Life. 

Calling all Christians: Will you join us this fall to make this our biggest 40 Days for Life Campaign yet?

If you or someone you know is hurting after and abortion, there is healing available. Click here for a list of several of the national resources available, or call Seneca at (706) 992-6700 to talk about our one on one program.