by Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D.
Heartbeat International Board Chair
Today is being promoted as International Women’s Day. I’m always a little skeptical of secular “women’s events” since I came of age in the era of radical feminists like Gloria Steinem whose definition of feminism included an absolute “right” to abortion and unlimited sexual “freedom” (and more than a hint of disdain for men).
The website promoting this day reports that it has been celebrated through the years (since 1908) with various emphases – women campaigning for better working conditions, or for voting rights, women rallying against war or ending violence against women, or celebrating the accomplishments of women through history . . .
It also insists, “Today, IWD, belongs to all groups collectively everywhere” – so that means Heartbeat International too!
And, the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that those of us who are Christian pro-life women (and men) have more reasons than perhaps any other group to celebrate women!
Why? Let me share 3 reasons with you. At the end, I leave you with a few questions that may occur to you along the way (as they have to me).
First, we celebrate women because we have internalized God’s truth about how crucial we are in his plan for the entire world! Probably you have heard this taught over and over again and, if you are like me, you may almost take it for granted.
But let’s think about this for a minute.
Genesis tells us that God created women (and men), and He made us in His own image and likeness. And, God gave us stewardship over all his other creations.
We can only begin to understand what this really means, but it makes each of us unique and very special – we each bear the “image of God!”
Moreover, together – male and female – we bear God’s image. God is a God of relationship, and our marriage relationship is also an image of God. Just as God is three persons but one God, husband and wife are two persons but they become one, and the fruit of that love is another totally and unique human being – we can be called “co-Creators” with God. What an amazing power we have – to bring the next generation into the world and image God in the process!
Women have something in this crucial role that men do not have – the gift of fertility – women have babies!
Women actually conceive in their very bodies, and carry to term, a totally unique human being who has a purpose in this life (planned by God) and has the potential for eternal life as well! Without women’s fertility the world would literally not go on.
Many “primitive” societies understood this clearly, as evidenced by the carvings, sculptures, and paintings you will find in museums, thousands of years old, depicting pregnant women and fertility goddesses. They “got it” ages ago, but sometimes our own “modern” society forgets it.
Women are created to be life-givers, literally and figuratively. Even if a woman does not have biological or adopted children, she probably nurtures nieces and nephews, and many others. Some women devote themselves entirely to ministry (for example, in religious orders). Sometimes we talk about the “spiritual children” they nurture.
Let’s celebrate women as God created us to be – with inestimable worth, value, and purpose as life givers!
Not only does this Truth of how we have been created, redeemed, and made for such a special purpose change how we see ourselves, but we have the amazing opportunity to share this “new Vision” (as in The LOVE Approach) with the women God sends to us in our pregnancy help organizations!
Think of the opportunity – to free women from what our culture often tells them they are – nothing, worthless, made for short-lived pleasures – even objects of someone else’s pleasure, or simply material beings with no purpose, living in a meaningless world.
Let’s celebrate the women in pregnancy help, who bear this Good News to others as we minister to them daily!
Second, we celebrate womanhood because, even though sin entered the world, God had another plan to redeem His most valuable creatures, women and men, by actually becoming one of us – a human being, and a baby at that, showing us that he is “the Way” and then suffering and dying for our sins to open the gates of heaven for us. And as He walked on the earth, he showed us how special women are to Him!
God’s plan gave one woman the most special role imaginable – to conceive the Savior in her womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, to give birth to Him and to be His beloved mother in every way. Luke’s Gospel tells us that she proclaimed, “From this day all generations will call me blessed.” She can be described as Jesus’ first follower and he performed his first miracle at her request at Cana even though He said, “My time had not yet come.”
Jesus also and especially showed his love for sinful women, like the woman at the well. He told her “all her sins,” as she recounted. But then he forgave her, telling her to sin no more. And, he actually shared with her that he was the Messiah! The woman caught in adultery he also saved – her physical life and her eternal life.
Think of all the miracles in which Jesus healed women! And, it was women who stayed with him, even when the Apostles fled in fear, and it was women who came to the tomb to show their love for Him while the Apostles were hiding. He showed Himself as the Risen Lord first to Mary Magdalene, and she was given the honor of announcing this to the Apostles. (She is sometimes call the Apostle to the Apostles.)
Think of the women of strength in the Bible that are our role models and our inspiration, think of the virtues of the “Proverbs 31 Woman.” Eve, who tempted Adam and who brought sin into the world, is not the end of the story for women!
Think of the women in Christian history, after Biblical times, who are role models for us in their faith, hope, and charity. Three of my own heroines are Monica, who never ceased praying for the conversion of her son Augustine; Helen (I have her name is my middle name!), the mother of Constantine the first Christian Roman emperor, who personally led expeditions to the Holy Land to find and preserve anything that belonged to Jesus; and Mother Theresa, who taught that the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion.
Let’s celebrate the women of Biblical and of later Christian history who are our role models and inspiration!
Third, we celebrate women because we have known, and we now know so many outstanding ones! Your mother, grandmother, sisters, or aunts may come to mind first. But perhaps you are thinking of one or more of the scores of women you have worked with at your pregnancy help ministry who have courageously chosen life for their children, in the midst of great difficulty and often pressure to have an abortion. They called or came in thinking that this pregnancy would be “the end of their life as they knew it” but, once they got in touch with their maternal instincts, they would do anything and everything to have and mother their children.
Perhaps you think of a mother who courageously carried her child and then made an adoption plan, allowing her very-much-loved baby to be brought into a family that she could not provide at that time. I personally think of the two birthmothers of our adopted son and daughter. Both Tim and Katy have spouses now and they have children – who would not be alive at all, if not for these birthmothers. My husband and I have a family of children and grandchildren because of their courage and love.
Or perhaps you are thinking of the women you work alongside of – fellow consultants or volunteers, fellow staff members, the leader of your pregnancy help ministry (and, truth be told, still the vast majority of pregnancy help leaders are women!).
Women whose prayer lives are inspirational to you, whose relationship to the Lord shines through, whose caring for you and others is evident, whose courage, commitment, and faithfulness are outstanding. Women who are coming through great pain and suffering, who perhaps suffered abuse, abortions and other pregnancy loss, abandonment, and more, yet who are healing, willing to believe and trust in the Lord.
Let’s celebrate the women God has put in our own lives as companions in ministry and those he has allowed us to accompany in their pregnancies and motherhood!
Indeed, at Heartbeat, we have so much to celebrate on this International Women’s Day!
Finally, here are some questions you might want to reflect on – personally or perhaps in a small group:
- Do I believe in my own worth as a woman, created in the Image of God and redeemed by Him, with the role of a life-giver (literally and figuratively)? Do I sometimes focus on the world’s standards for women – perhaps regarding physical beauty, fame and fortune, or other standards which almost always make me feel less than worthy? What helps me see myself as God sees me?
- Who are the women in my life that I celebrate and am thankful for? In my family, in my work, in my church, in the Bible or Christian history?
- Have I ever shared the Vision of God’s design for women with another woman (perhaps a client or someone in my own family)? How did the woman respond? How did it make me feel? Is there someone I would like to share this vision with or I feel called to share this vision with?
