volunteer Archives - Prayer Wine Chocolate https://prayerwinechocolate.com/tag/volunteer/ a spiritual journey to motherhood & beyond Tue, 05 Feb 2019 01:02:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://prayerwinechocolate.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-editwine-32x32.jpg volunteer Archives - Prayer Wine Chocolate https://prayerwinechocolate.com/tag/volunteer/ 32 32 99893247 7 Meaningful Ways to Support the Pro-Life Movement https://prayerwinechocolate.com/7-meaningful-ways-support-pro-life-movement/ https://prayerwinechocolate.com/7-meaningful-ways-support-pro-life-movement/#comments Sun, 14 Jan 2018 05:58:36 +0000 https://www.prayerwinechocolate.com/?p=18943   This post contains affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure policy on the About Me page. 1. Be open minded. Pro-life does not mean anti-choice. Not everyone with an abortion appointment is a person with no faith in God. Some people walking into the clinic were told it was best to terminate the pregnancy by […]

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This post contains affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure policy on the About Me page.

1. Be open minded.

Pro-life does not mean anti-choice.

Not everyone with an abortion appointment is a person with no faith in God.

Some people walking into the clinic were told it was best to terminate the pregnancy by a doctor and do not know about organizations like Be Not Afraid or Lily’s Gift.

The people standing outside the clinic are not pro-birth. They offer real help for after the child is born as well as during the pregnancy.

Don’t be afraid to listen to the other side and truly act and think – lovingly.

2. Give of yourself. Donate your time.

Go on the March for Life.  Before you say, “I can’t” . . .think about it, pray about it and consider it.  People have marched in Washington for extremely meaningful causes and made history.  This is definitely a meaningful cause and you could help make history.

Go on a “mission trip” . . . . for an hour . . . in your own community. Stand in front of a clinic and pray.  Pray the Rosary.  Pray, “Jesus, help them to hear Your voice”.  Pray for the moms, the dads and the grandmothers.  Pray for the employees that work there. Hold a sign. Don’t hold a sign.  Pray with others. Pray alone.  But GO.  It matters.  It helps.  Women have been helped and feel eternally grateful for witnesses standing outside the clinics.  Lives have been saved.

3. Buy Hot Chocolate.

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash

Yes, you read that right.

An amazing thing happened last winter . . .

It was an extremely cold day.  I had a million things to do and an hour and a half to do them in.

Still, it was Friday, and I knew full well what happens on Friday at the Planned Parenthood just 10 minutes from me.

I knew some people would be standing outside praying.  I thought, I’d like to go . . . but I just can’t.  I don’t have the time.

But, I really felt compelled to do something.  It was so cold . . . I thought the least I could do is buy a big thing of hot chocolate.  I thought, I’ll give it to those who are praying, and suggest they offer it to the women walking in for an appointment.

So that’s what I did.

I bought hot chocolate and gave it to my friend who regularly stands outside the PP.

I bought a huge container and a stack of cups and gave it to the men who were praying there, and I got a large personal one for my friend Mary.

I suggested they offer it to the women they were hoping to speak with before they entered the clinic. I thought, maybe that will be an ice breaker, and maybe it will lift the spirits of my friend freezing her butt off in the hopes of helping a young woman choose life.

Well guess what . . . it did.

Mary, my friend who was outside the clinic, called to a woman entering after I left.

She shouted, “My friend who just brought me hot chocolate will adopt your baby – you only have to take care of the baby for 7 more months”.

That woman came down to Mary on the sidewalk and spoke to her.

She ended up choosing life.

She ended up choosing to parent.

I couldn’t stand with Mary that day, but I brought the hot chocolate.

I suggest you bring the hot chocolate too . . .

or the lemonade, or just stop and say keep up the prayers, or ask them how you can help and deliver.

Your actions, no matter how small, matter.

4. Give time and resources to crisis pregnancy centers and other pro-life organizations.

The Pregnancy Center I work the most with, A Baby’s Breath, operates solely through volunteers and donations.  Find a “crisis pregnancy center” or “pro-life union” in your area. Offer to give your time.  If time is not possible, ask the centers what they need!  They might need diapers, or they might need help with marketing.  They may need a new website – donate the money or if you are a website designer, offer your services.

They may need to know who’s hiring for the families they support looking for work.

They may need gift cards to give to clients going through a rough time.

These centers and organizations are vital.  I was so unaware of all the help and love that is provided by these organizations.

Women and children need support and connection. So many of these places truly empower the women and families they serve.

They need volunteers.  They need you.  They need your friends.  It could be an hour a week.  It can be more than that.  It could be one box of diapers, or it could be a few thousand dollars.  You know what you have and what you can offer . . . bring what you are able.

 

5. Spiritually Adopt an Unborn Baby . . . or Two.

This prayer, authored by Fulton Sheen I believe, takes about 20 seconds to say.  It is SO POWERFUL!  The miracles my family has witnessed (God Hears Us: A Spiritual Adoption Miracle) have compelled me to share this prayer with anyone and everyone.  We pray it as a family every night after Grace Before Meals.  We now do so every 9 months.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you very much.  I beg of you to spare the life of (name your child), the unborn baby I have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion. Amen

That’s it.  That prayer saves lives.

Journal for tweens and teens

6. Stop being silent.

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In some causes silence is dangerous.”
–Saint Ambrose

Speak up in loving, but couragous ways.

Speaking up doesn’t mean pointing fingers or getting political.

Speaking up can mean sharing a post about Project Rachel, running a diaper drive for a crisis pregnancy center, inviting a friend to pray in front of a clinic with you or posting a picture of you at the March for Life.

Stress mercy.  Offer solutions that empower women and cultivate love.

7. Support change.

No matter what political party you belong to – tell your representative that you are pro-life and what that means to you.  Can’t go to the March for Life?  Take an hour that day to write and send a letter to your local, state and federal representatives.

Share articles about non-profit organizations like And Then There Were None,  

which helps people working in abortion clinics get different employment.

Let the world know about people who are very active in the pro-life community and adopt special needs children or from foster care.  Make a donation to Reese’s Rainbow or Special Angels Adoption.

Stress hope and love.

More Pro-life from prayerwinechocolate:

Dear Beautiful Woman Considering an Abortion

Dear Brave Soul Standing Outside of Planned Parenthood/

Pursuing Adoption Without an Agency: What We Did Right

The Rose Garden: A Baby’s Breath Adoption Group

Terminate, Interrupt or Choose Life?

Find more inspiration on Pinterest . . . follow CSMI on Pinterest



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