This is from the National coordinators on day eight (8):
Late last night, weary -- but joyful -- local 40 Days for Life leaders from across America gathered on a conference call to review the amazing progress of the first week of the campaign.
Little did anyone know how inspired that discussion would be!
When I asked everyone to write-in the greatest blessing of the first week of their 40 Days for Life effort, the responses came pouring in! Here are excerpts from just a FEW of those comments, in their own words:
WEST CHESTER, PA:
Our single greatest blessing have been the new people who have stepped up to the plate with their individualcommittments to be at Planned Parenthood. One example - a gentleman who is coming every day from 1:30 - 2:30 am before his paper route.
NORWICH, CT:
The greatest blessing has been how AWESOME our God is! It is wonderful to work along side so many devoted individuals with a singular purpose and voice and how he has melded all of our talents! Many new people have joined our prayer vigil that have NEVER prayed like this before...AND when we need to fill hours, people are coming forward. The excitement is building once they pray outside Planned Parenthood; they WANT to come back! It's just awesome. We had to cover some of the hours in the first few days and now that word is getting out, people are volunteering their time to return! God is SO GOOD! May he continue to grace all of us with his blessings!
PITTSBURGH, PA:
God is looking down and seeing His church as it should be. All denominations, all uniting for His purpose. That's the beautiful thing here in Pittsburgh.
LUFKIN, TX:
So many people are waving and honking...strangers bringing us water!...a man came and thanked us for being at PP because he knew the hurt of his wife's abortion...new or revived support of the ProLife movement.
SARASOTA, FL:
Through our kickoff with Alveda King, we made some great connections with African American pastors who are interested in fighting Planned Parenthood. It's been wonderful working with people of different faiths on such an important issue.
WILMINGTON, DE:
The number of people who have never prayed in front of a clinic who have come out numerous times already to participate.
DURANGO, CO:
The response from neighboring towns. People are driving 50 miles to fill our time slots.
WILKES COUNTY, NC:
The number of churches who have signed up to participate and the positive newspaper coverage
LUBBOCK, TX:
The single greatest blessing for our 40 Days for Life Lubbock campaign has been the mobilization of God's children to defend their brothers and sisters. Here in Lubbock, we haven't had any sort of coalition for life, only departmentalized groups of people who happened to share a purpose and a passion for life. With God's blessing upon 40 Days for Life, more and more newcomers and old-comers are joining us in prayer and helping change Lubbock and our nation for the better!
WASHINGTON, D.C.:
The babies that have been saved by the presence at 16th Street Planned Parenthood have been enormous. Two known on Saturday the 29th of September. Nothing can compare to that, but one thing I have to say is the outpouring of interest with 40 Days for Life is amazing! So many wonderful people I have spoken to. A real honor to be the campaign director here in Washington. Three couples drove up from Southern Maryland for a "date" on Sunday night to kneel and outside the door of Planned Parenthood before they went for a quick bite of dinner. 150 people processed from Farragut Square with candles singing "Onward Christian Soldiers," only to kneel on the sidewalks and grass. What an awesome sight. All for the love of the Lord.
CHICAGO, IL:
My greatest blessing: getting to know such wonderful people on a deeper, more spiritual level! I believe that 40 Days for Life is truly unifying the pro-life movement through these new friendships. Praise God for that!
MORRISTOWN, NJ:
The greatest blessing we have experienced, in addition to renewed interest in prayer vigils, are the miracles of grace that we see occurring among all of those who participate. I feel that very personally, but I also see it visibly all around me. One of the first churches to support our effort had been struggling to get people to attend Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament just one day a week. By Sunday, more than 400 parishioners had signed up for Adoration 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And it is not a large, wealthy parish. What seemed almost impossible has happened almost miraculously. God is lighting the way. Meanwhile, we are now up to 5 different clinic vigil sites in north Jersey -- not 24/7 but the breadth of coverage in just a week is unreal.
NORWICH, CT:
The single greatest blessing for this 40 Days for Life is working with and meeting new and reviving old friendships with the greatest, most dedicated and gifted pro-life people. The feeling of oneness in purpose and commitment has been both exhiilarating and tiring.
COLLEGEVILLE, PA:
Saying yes and stepping out in faith and trust in Jesus as the Campaign Director in much opposition from various sources. Many Miracles too numerous to mention with the most incredible being St. Eleanor's Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel opened 2 weeks before Sept. 26th the start day of "40 Days for Life" and 1 week into the prayer, fasting and vigil over 1100 scheduled adorers and visitors have visited Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament in adoration, prayer, thanksgiving and petition! Yes, with God All Things Are Possible!!!
BUFFALO, NY:
The greatest blessing so far has been the hope and excitement that seeing young people show up at the clinic gives the veterans who have been there tirelessly for years.
GREENVILLE, SC:
The beautiful Christian people who have come together with overwhelming generosity of their time and talents to join together in this, especially the few good men covering the night hours. A shooting star appeared directly over our clinic as 4 men were praying there one night. A motorcycle roared up one night and the rider in full black Harley gear got off and sauntered over to the 2 men there. He huskily asked what they were doing. They told him. He responded, "Oh, yeah, I heard about that on Catholic radio." And he has since pulled two all-nighters! Our abortionist talked to us respectfully and we are praying hard for him.
COLUMBUS, OH:
A family came to pray from a church which I hadn't contacted anyone from. It told me the word is getting out. Also, local TV NBC's Chopper 4 swung by twice, reinforcing this thought.
TUCSON, AZ:
The most special day of our Tucson 40 Days For Life so far has been the fantastic turnout on Friday and on Saturday just last week. We were blessed with many young people, and several people new to the idea of public witness through fervent prayer. I am seeing the momentum build steadily. I believe we may have many repeat prayer warriors at the locations after the 40 Days is over. This has been one of the hardest, most time-consuming ministries I have done to date, but this is one of the most successful in terms of getting to the community with a positive message and a strong image of what pro-life is all about in Tucson. God bless you all, and may we all continue St. Paul's "Good fight."
FARGO, ND:
People's hearts are being converted. They have been called by name to be a witness for the unborn and they are answering that call from our Lord.
EVERETT, WA:
Single greatest blessing so far: Learning to trust in God, more completely, and not on my own strength, skills, or talent, nor fret about the lack thereof.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX:
The greatest impact 40 Days For Life has in CorpusChristi, TX is to re-enkindle the zeal of many persons since our Rescue days in the early 90's, and for individuals who were not born then to join us in the greatest cause of this counry & the world, and that we will never stop our efforts to save innocent human life.
DALLAS, TX:
It has been awesome to see the powerful work of the Holy Spirit bringing so many people to prayer. At our kick-off candlelight procession and prayer vigil we walked a little over half a mile through a neighborhood adjacent to the Planned Parenthood abortion center tbe prayed-over during the 40 Days for Life. This neighborhood is predominantly all apartment complexes. We had thought maybe about 50 people would come because there wasn't much advance notice. To our great surprise over 100 persons participated along with a three-car police escort with lights flashing that were not expected. The silent candlelight procession was impressive and appeared to be about a half mile long that included parents walking with small children and strollers, teenagers, senior citizens and pregnant women. The neighborhood residents came out to see what all the commotion was. Little did they know that their neighborhood was in the process of being blessed and would continue to be for the next forty days. There were two Catholic priests accompanying the procession. Once at the Planned Parenthood site, we prayed, sang and heard testimonies. No one wanted to leave. A beautiful 40 Days for Life banner was held throughout our visit that gave the passing traffic our message. Thoughout it all, the police remained the entire time and escorted the remaining walkers back to the park where we had originally gathered. Thank you, Father God for all your blessings.
AKRON, OH:
The biggest blessing of this campaign has been the amount of people who are getting involved and fired up. In the past we have only had a handful of people who go out to pray and counsel at the clinics. Now people are taking notice of the need for this effort. One person wrote in an email to me, "Thank you so much for organizing this. It has put a fire under me to actually do more."
LONG ISLAND, NY:
Single greatest blessing: Reaching college students. Students on their way to class at the two nearby colleges have noticed us outside Planned Parenthood and stopped: among them - one doing a report that needed to include religion, one doing a report for the college radio station, and one post-abortive. The Catholic Campus Ministry is involved and some students joined the vigil!
SUN CITY, AZ:
I have been drawn by the Holy Spirit to pray and fast as never before.
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WOW! God is good!
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