IN THIS ISSUE
The Smallest things can make the biggest difference!
Dear Friends...
We try as often as possible to tell you how thankful we are for your support. Every prayer, donation, and sacrifice is cherished. It is not often that we can give you a clear example of how even the smallest gift can make a huge impact for life.
You may have noticed how costs are rising everywhere today. Basic necessities like eggs, meat, diapers, and formula are not only more expensive, but sometimes hard to find. These economic circumstances create an even more harsh environment for women to choose life when faced with an unintended pregnancy. Studies show that 75% of women that have had an abortion, claim that financial concerns were the main motivation for their choice. This is according to the abortion proponents at Guttmacher.org.
Recently, I was blessed to learn about a Refuge story from a former client. I want to share with you Lila’s story.
Lila was new to the area when she discovered she was pregnant. She had recently moved to Georgia in order to make a better life for herself and the child she was already raising. When she realized she was pregnant, she was honestly torn. You see, her economic outlook was bleak to say the least. Lila had no local support structure to help in her new community. She was trying to start her own business, while scraping to make ends meet to provide a good life for her child. She assumed that adding another child would make things much more difficult. So, Lila was stuck between aborting this pregnancy or making an adoption plan for the second child.
In her confusion, Lila decided to do some research on the internet in hopes of finding some answers. She found Refuge. Lila told me that she chose to make an appointment at Refuge because we seemed to be a Christian organization. She hoped we would help her sort things out.
When Lila came for her initial appointment, she had a positive pregnancy test. According to the information she provided us, we determined that she was early in the pregnancy. She was only 4 weeks and 4 days.
Thankfully, Lila agreed to return for an ultrasound appointment. We prayed with her, we asked God to give her the clarity and strength to make the right decision for herself and her children.
When Lila returned for her ultrasound appointment, the baby was still so small that there wasn’t much to see. However, the pregnancy was confirmed to be healthy and viable by Candy, a sonographer who volunteers her time with us. But the ultrasound itself did not clarify Lila’s thoughts on how to go forward. Candy still felt a sense of confusion and indecision in Lila.
But then God… Candy remembered the hats!
You see, about a week earlier Refuge had been gifted a supply of tiny, knitted hats. Some sweet elderly women hand knitted them and donated them to our ministry. They said it wasn’t much, but they hoped we could use them to bless some families.
Candy went and retrieved one of those tiny hats as Lila was getting dressed.
When that tiny pink knitted hat was placed in her hand, Lila felt a sense of calm and peace wash over her. She knew immediately that she was given a gift from God, and she was indeed going to give birth and raise this baby!
I asked Lila what message she would like me to pass on to our supporters. She said, “Please tell the generous people that donate to Refuge that it was so worth their sacrifice.” She added, “Thank you for helping me see things in a new way!”
Some of our supporters are generous with their financial resources and we are so grateful. Some of our supporters can give time and volunteer. We have many that do. Some of our supporters who stand for LIFE do not have great financial resources, or time to give. But they give what they can. And that is so glorious! So, if it is a pack of diapers, a bag of gently used baby clothing, or a tiny knit hat, please remember how much He loves your sacrifice for His glory.
“Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” Luke 21:3 On behalf of Lila, her two beautiful children, and the entire Refuge family…Thank you! Your sacrifice is worth it!
Client Needs... We gladly and humbly accept gently used donations of baby care items. Currently we are in need of the items listed below.
Baby Clothes (New born to 4T) Maternity Clothes Baby Towels Diaper Bags High Chairs Walkers Pack n Plays Strollers Baby Monitors
Certain items can only be accepted as new.
Car Seats
Bottles
Sippy Cups
Diapers/Wipes
Formula
Baby Food
Baby Wash
The Next Court Battle is FORMING
Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and each state has the power to decide the laws governing abortion for its own citizens, there is a new battle emerging and each side is preparing for the next stage in this war for Life. There are currently two cases working their way through the lower courts and we thought you would like to know about them and be praying for God’s will to prevail.
Case #1 A group of doctors and medical associations with the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine sued the FDA in November challenging the original approval of chemical abortion drugs, arguing the FDA failed in its mission to protect the public’s health owing to its reckless and inadequate screening of the dangerous abortion drug regimen which includes mifepristone. The case is unprecedented, having the potential to take the chemical abortion pill off the market, and is therefore at the center of the abortion issue post-Roe v. Wade. It comes after two decades of FDA stonewalling attempts to hold the agency accountable for its handling of the approval of the abortion pill.
The FDA failed to abide by its legal obligations to protect the health, safety, and welfare of girls and women when it approved chemical abortion drugs, the suit alleges. Pregnancy Help News - February 25, 2023 https://pregnancyhelpnews.com/with-fda-chemical-abortion-case-at-hand-amid-continued-push-for-pills-pregnancy-help-advocates-focus-on-safety
Case #2 Several Democrat state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Friday against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), challenging the agency’s restrictions on mifepristone, the first of two drugs used in a medication abortion.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is leading the lawsuit and is joined by attorneys general from Oregon, Nevada, Delaware, Arizona, Illinois, Connecticut, Colorado, Vermont, New Mexico, Michigan, and Rhode Island. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington and claims that the FDA’s abortion pill restrictions are unnecessary and “burdensome” because the FDA has deemed the drug “safe and effective.” The lawsuit claims: FDA’s decision to continue these burdensome restrictions in January 2023 on a drug that has been on the market for more than two decades with only ‘exceedingly rare’ adverse events has no basis in science. It only serves to make mifepristone harder for doctors to prescribe, harder for pharmacies to fill, harder for patients to access, and more burdensome for the Plaintiff States and their health care providers to dispense. Breitbart News—February 24, 2023 https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/02/24/democrat-state-attorneys-general-sue-fda-over-abortion-pill-restrictions/
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