Hear Jennifer Shelton’s personal story along with exciting ideas being implemented in Texas to reach abortion vulnerable clients. Also hear about how the enemy is attacking from international waters.
Transcript
The transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.
Welcome to the Pro-Life Team Podcast. My name is Jacob Barr, and today I’m joined by Jennifer Shelton. Jennifer is going to be sharing her story, as well as some exciting and creative ideas that they’re doing in Texas to reach the abortion-minded. And also, she’s going to share some ways in which the enemy is attacking from international waters. So, Jennifer, I’m excited to have you on the Pro-Life Team Podcast. Would you introduce yourself as if you were talking to a room full of pregnancy clinic directors? Sure. Hello, my name is Jennifer Shelton, and I am the CEO of RealOptions, which is a pregnancy health clinic in Allen, Texas, which is just north of Dallas.
And we have two locations and one mobile unit and opening a new one this coming year. Awesome. So, yeah, I had you on the podcast essentially to give you some space to share your story. Would you go ahead and get us started and tell us where things started and talk to us about your journey into this position of being a director that are in Texas? Well, people ask me a lot of times, how did you get into this work? And I kind of always jokingly say, well, it happened at conception, because my story happens all the way back. So I’ll start there, because I never expected really to be in the pro-life realm.
But God had other plans and helped me understand my story so that I could share it. So I was adopted. And back when I was adopted, it was closed. No one really knew anything. My parents knew nothing about my birth parents, nothing like that. But they always said, if you ever want to know something about her, you let us know and we will help you. I always felt very blessed by adoption and that she had so selflessly given me life.
And so it wasn’t until I was a senior in college and I started having very vivid dreams of a young girl being pregnant. And every time I woke up, I just felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me, find her. So finally, I called my dad, who happened to be a private investigator. So that always helps. And he found her name. And he called my mom in and told my mom my birth mother’s name. And my mom’s face went pale and she ran out of the room.
And she comes running back in, carrying a coffee cup, crying. And he said, what is wrong with you? And she said, I know her. And we found out that my birth mother was 14 when she got pregnant with me. And my mom was teaching her at the time. It was her favorite student. And my mom knew that my birth mother had a very, very rough home life. And so my mom, my birth mother stayed in my mom’s classroom a lot of times after school and for different events.
My mom had kind of taken her in. And so when my birth mother had graduated high school, she had brought my mom this coffee cup and my mom had kept it all these years. So my mom called my birth mother and said, do you remember me? And she was like, of course I do. You are my favorite teacher. And she said, well, we have something else in common. And she told her about me.
And my birth mother just began to cry and said, if I could have picked one person in the entire world for her to go to, it would have been you. And so I had no idea that that was my story. And but the Lord allowed me to find my story and connect with my birth mother and meet her. And I found out I have a half brother and sister that I got to meet as well. And she actually came to my college graduation. And little did I know that two months later, I would be working at a pregnancy center. Wow. That’s what an amazing story.
Would you share your thoughts on where you see God’s fingerprints or what’s it like to reflect on this story with, you know, with trying to, you know, pinpoint where how your faith is strengthened or where you see God really working in the details here? Well, as I said, I never expected to be in the pro-life movement. In fact, when I graduated college and was a biblical studies major, I wanted to go into some type of women’s ministry, something like that. And honestly, I felt called to the Dallas area. So I had come to visit a friend who lived in the Dallas area. And I sat in her living room with absolutely no other logic than there had to be women at a pregnancy center. So I opened up the Yellow Pages, which, you know, the young people have no idea what that is, but it was a book and you actually had phone numbers.
And I went to the Yellow Pages and I found the first pregnancy center. And I called and said, do you have any openings? And actually, the girl said no, and I’m hanging up the phone. And all of a sudden she said, well, I’m leaving, so I guess so. And I went and interviewed the next day and got the position and have been here for 20 years. And what I love is that there was such this beautiful timeline of, you know, so often we question God, you know, well, Lord, what about this? Or can you bring this?
Or can you make this happen? And sometimes we don’t understand his timeline. But when I look back at my story, I absolutely see his fingerprints along every point of that timeline for me. You know, when I was conceived, abortion was legal. My birth mother could have absolutely gotten an abortion. In fact, logically to the world, it would make sense.
She was 14. She had very little family support. She was actually living with a family member. She wasn’t even living with her mother. It was a disaster. I mean, it really was. But the Lord protected me, gave her courage to be able to choose life for me.
And my parents actually went through four failed adoptions before I came along. And so, you know, all of those heartbreaks, you know, I’m sure they were thinking, God, why? You know, what’s the timeline on this? But there was an absolute reason for that. We even found out later on that my mom could have probably had children with a simple medical procedure, but they misdiagnosed her. But she told me years ago, she said, you know, I’m so glad that they didn’t find that because I wouldn’t have had you. And that was God’s plan all along. And then, you know, to see how our timelines intersected between my birth mother and my mom and how God brought that together.
And we even found out that when I was about a month old, my mom was the booster club president for their school. And they were making these big floats for the parades. And they were out in the parking lot after school and working on this float. And my birth mother was there working on the float with my mom. And my dad had actually brought me up to the school. And so my mom looked at this young girl and said, hey, do you want to hold her? And so my birth mother actually held me and didn’t even know it was me. And so just to see all of these things lay out and then to be a part of a pregnancy center where then I got to share my story because I came into this whole movement as an abstinence educator.
So I got to go into the schools and I spoke to over 300,000 students in my seven years and got to share my story of, you know, that there are consequences to sexual behavior, but also the incredible blessings that can occur even from bad things that happen. And then 10 years ago, I was asked to step into the role of leader leading this organization. And I just never did I ever think I would be in this position leading a ministry like this, seeing God move. But yet it all started way back then when God took all of our timelines and made them work for his glory, even those timelines that we didn’t think were working for our good at the time, but he knew better. Wow. I’ve got a couple of questions, but I want to start off with, would you, yeah, just what emotions are stirred up in you when you think about your birth mom holding you at a school event without her even knowing it was her own, you know, it was your birth mom, like holding you, like, what is, how does that resonate? Or how does that, what emotions are stirred up with that?
Gratefulness is probably the biggest one. I’m so grateful that a young girl had the courage to make a choice for life. I, and the other word that comes to mind for her is, is brave. She was brave and she made a very brave choice. And then to also see the fact that, you know, I, in my mind’s eye, I can see my birth mother holding me standing next to my mom. And both women have gone through so much, you know, this young girl in her, you know, few years had gone through so much trauma. And my, my mom had gone through so much trauma wanting a child.
And, and there was so much pain in that parking lot. And that one child, me, brought so much redemption, even though we didn’t even know what that story was going to look like. But so there’s, there’s so much gratefulness that I have when I think of that time. Yeah, that’s good. So you’ve been working with Real Options in Texas for 20 years. Would you say that you’re still learning new things as, as you know, in recent weeks or months, or what’s the learning curve been like? You know, was it very steep in the beginning, but yet it continues?
Like, how would you say that experience has gone? Well, I learn every single day. There is not a single day that I don’t learn something new, because it is constant. It’s constantly changing. And especially in the last few years with all the legislation and all of the big movements that we’ve seen. But there, we’re fighting a, an enemy that is creative and cunning. And we have to be creative.
It’s actually one of our core values of how do we, how do we move and pivot and do the things that we’re called to do. And it may not be in a way that we had, have done it, have done it in the past, and that’s okay. So every single day, I’m learning something new. I also, every day I’m learning from other people. And I think that that’s such a powerful thing in our movement is that we don’t have to do it alone. We have, I know so many directors that I can call and say, you know what, I’m dealing with this.
What do you think? And I am so much stronger to be able to do that. And, you know, with our national organizations in different places, to be able to put our heads together, because it is, it is not a fight that is going to be lessening. I think that it’s only going to grow. In fact, in the last year, you know, post jobs, it’s probably been the most spiritual warfare I have ever experienced in the last 20 years. So that’s not going to end because sin’s not going to end. So as long as there’s sin in the world, we’re going to deal with this issue of life.
And so I think we have to, can constantly be evolving. That makes sense. So how far is the nearest physical abortion clinic to, you know, to your, your center and clinic? And then also, you know, what are your thoughts on abortion pills being mailed to people in Texas? Well, actually, there are no abortion clinics anywhere near us now. You know, pre-jobs, there was one just about 15 minutes from us, but they have essentially closed now. However, there are some that are open about 30 to 40 minutes away that really act more as travel agents for other states that do provide abortions.
So it has, it has really moved our target as far as how we, how we connect with clients, how we market to clients, because they are getting, like you said, the abortion pill shipped in. There’s also floating abortion clinics in the Gulf of Mexico. So they’re, you know, going into international waters and getting abortions. There are other states that are pouring money into Texas, especially to try to lure our Texas women into their states. There’s even been reports from California that they’re offering free Disneyland tickets if Texas women will come to their state for the abortion. So there is a lot of, there’s a, there’s a lot of pressure on, especially Texas women, that we’re having to try to help calm that before, help them to see that, you know, hey, let’s talk through this before you actually cross the, you know, state lines to do that. Or, you know, get the abortion pills because we’re seeing, of course, the incredible emotional toll that’s taking on women who are essentially turning their bathrooms into abortion clinics. Wow. So are there, I actually have not read or learned, I haven’t really heard anything about the abortion clinics that may be in the Gulf of Mexico.
Is that current, is that actually something that’s taking place where they’re trying to claim international waters? And can you tell me a little bit more? And how far, so it looks like that’s several hours away from where you’re at. Is that like, how many hours would that be roughly? Like, is that five hours drive or what would that be?
About five, five and a half. Okay. Yeah. So it’s not super close, but it’s, in Texas, we are so spread out. Most people don’t mind driving five or five and a half hours. That’s kind of normal for Texas people. But to my understanding, there are two ships in international waters off the Gulf.
We’ve talked to a couple of women who’ve had experiences. What we have been able to gather from those women is there seems to be three basic rules. Someone has to drop you at the dock. You have to come with cash in hand. You have to leave your cell phone behind. And they ferry you out to the ship in international waters, which takes about 90 minutes. You’re not allowed to bring anyone with you.
And then, you know, if you can imagine going 90 minutes to international waters, which clearly you can’t get to a hospital if you need additional medical care. And then after an abortion procedure, you have to ride 90 minutes back on a ferry to get back to the dock, and they drop you off. And so that’s some of the things that we’re hearing. Of course, international waters, there’s absolutely nothing that they can’t do. They’re just free range. And that’s just a way to get around it. We hear that there are stories of them trying to do that and, you know, like Florida with some of their, I know that the six week ban is up.
I think that there’s some legislation around that. I don’t think it’s gone into effect yet, but I know that they were considering moving some ships down to the Florida coast as well. I don’t know if that’s happened. Wow. Do you know who, do you know which group is running the floating abortion clinics in international waters? Okay. Yeah, that’s really intriguing.
I have not heard anything about those before, but I mean, I’ve been to Missouri where there’s like floating casinos, you know, on a river. But yeah, I haven’t ever heard of that. I haven’t heard of that, that scenario for an abortion clinic before. That’s new to me. Wow. So what’s it like to, well, boy, that’s, what can, what’s, you know, since you’ve been thinking about, you know, the closest abortion clinic is this novel slash creative, cunning, you know, evil idea of having it in international waters to try and get as close as possible because states are making, you know, they’re saying no to physical, in-person, surgical abortions. And yeah, but the enemy is trying to, you know, get them mailed in, trying to take advantage of international waters.
You mentioned before that the spiritual warfare has been more intense since Dobbs. Tell us about that. Like what’s that been like and how is it more intense? Well, we’ve had to change so much of what we do to kind of give you some ideas of what I mean by that. You know, used to it would, you know, we would talk to a woman considering abortion or wanting more information and say, you know, you need to come in, you need to get a sonogram in order to date your pregnancy, make sure it’s a viable pregnancy, you know, get some medical information before you make this decision. Well, now they’re getting information from the government and medical places saying that they don’t need a sonogram, just take these pills. We actually have gone online to see how easy it is to get abortion pills just to know for ourselves, and it was five clicks. You go to the website, you pick what you want, you click that you are over 18 because no one lies about their age, you click that you’re within a certain gestational age because everyone knows exactly how far along they are, and then they ship it to you.
And so we have seen that these women don’t want to come in for ultrasounds because they don’t think they need it now. They think that, you know, they don’t need any type of medical care because they’re being told, you can just get these, you know, off the hotline. You don’t need any type of medical personnel involved in this process, which of course we know is completely untrue and very unsafe for the woman, but this is what they’ve been told. And when they’re getting all of this false information from all of these seemingly reputable places, it is very hard for us to convince them otherwise. So that’s one thing. Second is the abortion pills. And when I said that they’re turning their bathrooms into abortion clinics, it has been horrific what we have been seeing.
And as far as the spiritual warfare, my staff taking these calls when these women are saying, I have this baby in my hand, what do I do with it? And, you know, because they are aborting babies that are way farther along. And so, you know, think of a 20-week baby that they’re holding in their hands and they don’t know what to do with it. They are, you know, bleeding or hemorrhaging after going across state lines and getting an abortion. They’re getting no follow-up care.
They’re being sent back to Texas. They’re calling us devastated and crying. It is just, and then also you have this intense battle of pro-life and then the other side, you know, trying to, you know, say we’re coming for you, we’re attacking, you know, on this day, we’re all going to rally around you. We haven’t had any physical attacks like some other pregnancy centers. I’m grateful for that. But we’ve had plenty of cyber attacks where they come in and they fill up all of our appointments and shut, you know, crash our website and all of that. So there’s just been so much more than just the heaviness we already deal with that has been compounded one on top of the other.
And also just the other attacks that, one of the things that I was talking to some of the Texas directors is so many of our staff have had sickness, have had, you know, issues with marriage, just all kinds of attacks on our people as well. And so it’s been a hard couple, well, two years. Wow. It just seems like the enemy is, yeah, just the relentlessness of, I mean, I’ve heard of them setting up like the mobile abortion clinic, like in an RV at the border of a state to like maybe in New Mexico, for example, next to Texas. But yeah, really in the end, Texas is, there’s a lot of land between Allen, Texas and New Mexico, or, well, that’s pretty much the closest state, I suppose, unless someone’s taking a flight to California, then that’s a different story. Yeah. Most of the ones we hear is New Mexico, Colorado, or Kansas.
Those are the ones that most of our women are going to. Okay. Yeah. But then like when it comes to the, you know, companies offering to cover the cost for someone to travel, or when California promotes it in a vacation styled concept, or with like these, when I think of the ships that are off the Gulf of Mexico, I think of pirate ships for some reason. I mean, it’s just weird to even call, you know, think of like an abortion clinic ship that is in international waters with a ferry ship taking people to it so that they can stay outside the jurisdiction of the country. Like that seems like, I’m just sort of, in the back of my mind now, I’m wondering what other illegal activities, if any, are currently being fostered or leveraged by using international waters and with a ferry ship? Like is there literally like, is anything else that’s been outlawed? It’s illegal. It’s wrong.
Is anything else being done by using international waters or is abortion a uniquely evil thing where it’s like, you know, we must have this take place. So we’re willing to have multiple ships and all of this coordination and no phones because maybe Lila Rose or her team will visit the ship and expose what’s really taking place or like, it just seems like there’s a lot there. And I’m wondering like, I’m just trying to process it. Honestly, that’s a new, wow. What is it? Yeah. Can you reflect some more on what it’s like to live in the middle of Texas, five and a half hours away from the Gulf of Mexico, and for that to be a threat to your community, like literally a five and a half hour plus 90 minutes.
And then there’s a ship out there just postured and ready to attack the unborn and women and couples. Well, one of the things that we have been trying to help our donors and people around our area understand is that the battle’s not over. You know, once our trigger law went into effect and abortion was essentially banned in Texas, I think a lot of people kind of, they were lulled to sleep like, oh, we won. And that’s not true. These ships, of course, popping up, prove that the abortion pills coming. And I honestly, I think the abortion pill is a much bigger threat than the ships. I mean, even though they are this physical thing, it’s almost like this other.
It just almost seems demonic, like it’s just showing up on their doorsteps, you know, used to, we would say, come to us before you go to the abortion clinic, you know, let us help you. Now we have to convince them to not stay at home and wait on their doorbell to ring, which is a very different thing. So it is, it just. People think, oh, well, you’re in a state where. There’s no abortions, that’s not true. We’re in a state where there’s absolutely abortions. It’s just not, it’s just done in different ways.
And in fact, there are abortions going on all around us, whether it’s in the Gulf of Mexico or it’s in their bathroom, but it’s happening. And I think sometimes the states that are, that have abortion bans, there’s even more of a possibility of, of things slipping through because people say, oh, well, we’ve won, we’ve got, we’ve done it, even our legislators, which I’m super grateful for pro-life legislators, but we’ve, we’ve still got work to do and we, we can’t be lulled to sleep because of it. Yeah. Yeah. Essentially the fight, you know, the, the spiritual fight has shifted and broadened from going beyond traditional spaces like the sidewalk of an abortion clinic or, or college campuses. Now, literally it’s, you know, it’s the amount of traffic that when people are Googling the phrase abortion pill online, abortion pill cost, abortion pill near me. These phrases have, I feel like they, you know, they have grown exponentially.
Well, they have grown exponentially probably over the last four years. And there’s several reasons why they’re growing, you know, the law change or the legal change, you know, it’s just, all I have to say is that it’s so important for us to continue reaching our communities and, and how, in your opinion, you know, what are some of the top ideas of how to respond to these, you know, the shipment of an abortion pill to someone’s doorstep? Like, what are some of the things that you’ve, you have pondered or that you have heard from God about when it comes to how to respond to this, this new, this new angle in which the enemy is bringing the attack? Well, a couple of things we’re already doing and some are on the horizon. One being offering the abortion reversal pill. So we started doing that last year. We also, you probably heard about the Google, how Google has censored us and we are, our ads are being taken down.
They are censoring us with a Google toggle and all of that. So we decided we’re still in the Google space, but we also put humongous billboards, one that says abortion pill, get information with our number. So doing some old school things with some new school things. We also have location geofencing, so we can geofence around certain areas. One of the other things that we have found is in the last six years, we’ve really concentrated, concentrated on different demographics and how to serve each one of them individually and not as a blanket, you know, we do everything the same. And so one of those we have in the Dallas area, we have a very large Hindu and Muslim population and they aborted a very, very high rate. Hindus are some of the most abortion determined population I’ve ever worked with.
So we started geofencing around Muslim mosque and Hindu temples in order to provide information that’s specific to them and in their language. And so last year, one in six of our clients were Hindu or Muslim. And so being able to help them. We’ve also had quite a few of them, especially our Hindu clients who have told us that, you know, they, of course, travel back to India or different places and they are bringing back massive amounts of the abortion pill with them and distributed it among their community. And so being able to be a part of that and help educate them so that they can then go to their community and help educate their community that we can’t necessarily get to ourselves. So that’s one thing. And then coming up this year, we are going to be partnering with human trafficking organizations in order to offer the medical side of it.
Many of them are forced into abortions or they are rescued out of that captivity. But because of the trauma, they continue making some of those cycle decisions and can get into unexpected pregnancies and possible abortions. And so we want to be that place. So we are actually going to have advocates that are trained in trauma care and specifically for them. Also, how to share the gospel in a way that won’t trigger their trauma and then also offer that mid-level medical services like, well, women’s exams for them, rape kits and full STI panels. We’re also going to abortion labs. So we’re going to be doing labs that a woman would need before she takes the abortion pill or crosses over state lines.
So that would be Rh factor, hemoglobin levels. If they’re at risk for any type of infection, specifically chlamydia, we want to test for that because that’s something syphilis is also on the rise, especially here in Texas. So those type of things. So offering additional medical services to help them, you know, to say, hey, before you make this medical decision, you need these medical information pieces before you do that. So we we’ve done that as well. And let’s see, what else have we been? We’ve also been trying to help women who are considering the abortion pill to understand the ramifications of that.
And so we will we have a list of questions for them when they come in as far as, you know, if if you do plan to have this, you know, take the abortion pill, you need to make sure you have towels. You need to make sure you have a place to dispose of the body when the body, you know, these different things that they don’t think about, they think, oh, I take a pill and it’s over. And for them to really ask some thought provoking questions so that they can they can make a decision without all the misinformation that they’ve been given, like the abortion pills, like Tylenol, which we know it’s not. So those are some of the things that we’re we’re doing or we plan to do. Wow, that that’s an amazing amount of ideas.
So many good, really good ideas. That’s impressive. Honestly, that is you covered such a wide range of creativity. And just like I can tell that your team is well, that you and your team are working as hard as you possibly can to save as many lives as possible. Like that’s what that reflects. That’s awesome. I do have an amazing team that well, they’re creative in their own right, but they are so good about, you know, rocking with me with my with some of my crazy ideas that I come up with.
But, you know, it’s all about meeting them at their point of need. And that takes some creativity. And we’re OK to try out some of those. Some of them work, some of them don’t work. But if we save one life out of it, it’s all worth it. So one of the things I’d like to reflect on, I don’t think I’ve ever shared this on this podcast before. So back in 2000 to 2001, I used to work for Clear Channel Outdoor or Eller Media, which is a billboard company.
I was working with my business partner at the time on their internal website. And one of the things that we learned while working there is that billboard companies will often have, well, at least Clear Channel would have about 35, 40 percent of the boards in a given market were actually sold with current fresh paper that was paid for. And there were always in almost every market, there were there were unpaid for billboards. And one of the things that I learned from that experience was nonprofits and a nonprofit organization, the way to essentially connect with a billboard company is to say, you know, well, first of all, you should get to know the person at the billboard company at the point where you might take them out to a Mexican restaurant and spend some time. But then also, if you were to offer them, you know, we’d like to pay for fresh paper or, you know, fresh print, a fresh print to go onto that board in exchange for you donating the cost of that board. And essentially the benefit to them is that they have fresh paper up on that board that was not otherwise sold. And then the benefit to you is that you get a reduced price tag.
And so anyways, all that to say is that’s an idea that I’m really glad I’ve got the chance right now to share that because it’s a way to negotiate. But part of that, again, that key part is the relationship with the team there at the billboard company because they can do this. But it doesn’t mean that they by no means do they have to do this. And so the relationship will make it into something that they may want to do. And then by understanding their love language, which is having fresh copy up on unsold boards, then, yeah, it actually makes them look better because they’ve got fresh copy up on boards that otherwise may have sat stagnant for another month. I love that idea. I’m actually going to use that immediately.
But one of the other things we found with billboards is that we had to be careful because not all billboard companies would put up anything related to what we were talking about or found out we were pro-life and didn’t want to work with us. So we had to kind of find the ones that would actually, you know, put up stuff for us. And, you know, like some of them said, you couldn’t use the word abortion, you couldn’t use, you know, different things. So that was that was a challenge within itself. But I love this idea to try to be a way for us to help them. And then in turn, they help us. Yeah, yeah.
And I’m a big fan of looking for opportunities where there’s a good deal will have benefit for everyone involved. And if you can find out what will benefit everyone involved, you know, cash is not the only way to come across an opportunity to advertise. It’s definitely the most common, but it’s definitely it’s not the only only it’s not the only way to do that. And I think what else? But yeah, he’s had so many good ideas. It sounds like you’re you have it sounds to me like you’ve got a marketing plan that has been exercised and thought out. That’s what that’s what I’m hearing. Yes. So in the last three years, we really worked hard to make sure that the money that we are spending is actually translating into lives being impacted versus, you know, just just being out there to be out there.
And so one of the things that I I’m in a Christian CEO group, that’s it not just for nonprofits and especially I’m the only pregnancies that are in our area. But it was such a it’s been such a great opportunity for me to learn business tactics and how that translates into the pregnancy center world without losing the heart of it, without losing the Holy Spirit, you know, being able to drive our decisions, but to really be able to look at things in a very logical manner and see what works and what doesn’t work. So I actually translated the classic sales funnel that everybody knows and I changed it into the client funnel. And so I actually have marketing at the top and I have conversion rates all the way down. So I know, for instance, how much it costs at the top of my funnel to save a baby at the bottom of the funnel. And I can tell donors that and I can say, hey, it costs this much to put into Google or this much to put into billboards in order to save one life. Do you want to be a part of that?
We also can see if there’s any, you know, any places that we need to shore up. Like, are we losing it mostly after they call or, you know, are we not converting them into appointments or is it them not showing for their appointments? What can we do in that area? So all the way down the funnel, it’s been really, really helpful for us to shore up everything and do everything with excellence and not just, you know, assume, oh, well, we had, you know, this many clients this year, maybe less than last year, but we don’t really know why. Now we know why and we can make it better and and be better for our clients. Wow. Yeah, it sounds like that’s what I’m hearing is that you’re you’re being good stewards of your donors money and you’re being strategic and putting in your complete effort into accomplishing the mission.
Yeah, that’s that’s beautiful. Well, so, Jennifer, I’ve really enjoyed having you on this podcast. Do you have any final thoughts before we wrap up? I’ve really enjoyed it, too. Thank you for having me. It’s always fun to share some of the things God’s doing here because it’s definitely not me.
It’s not even my team. It really is that the Lord allows us the opportunity to walk alongside him and watch him do mighty things. I guess my my last thought would be that we we so need each other. The pro abortion community is so unified. And I think that that’s the reason they have, you know, really gone as far as they’ve gone. And I have seen some major strides of, you know, state coalitions and national coalitions coming together. But I so believe that that is where our strength lies is in in this together.
And we all have great ideas. We all have different things that we’re doing. And, you know, let’s not be close handed. Let’s be open handed with it and work together because we are so much stronger that way. Oh, that’s good. Would you would you close out our podcast with a prayer, with the expectation that those who are listening may join in on the prayer? Absolutely. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to share some of the things that you have been doing.
And Father, I pray for our movement because it’s not just a political movement or a movement of a cause, but it is your heart. Thank you that you love life, that it is your creation and that you hold it so tightly and it is so cherished. Father, I pray for those who are struggling, that don’t know what to do, who are discouraged because of laws or because of the things happening around them. Lord, I pray that your peace would be upon them. Lord, I pray wisdom that you would allow us to know how to better serve our communities. Lord, I pray for our legislators that you would help them to make laws that protect all life and that they would be able to see how precious the unborn are. And Father, I pray for those that that have caused division.
Father, I pray for healing and for unity to come together so that we could be able to move forward in power because I know that division is not of you. Lord, I pray for those women and men who are considering abortion, that you would touch their hearts, soften their hearts. I pray for them to find a safe haven of a pregnancy center, to be able to see their precious child, to be cared for. And Lord, help us to do that, giving all glory to you, because Lord, ultimately, this is yours. In your name, amen. Amen.