Cherished
by Shannon Inouye
I am personally so thankful for the generous heart of Evergreen SGV to partner with Options to provide support for women with unplanned pregnancies. November 15th was my first day back to work after taking maternity leave to care for our first baby, Wonder. Becoming a mom has given me an even deeper respect and love for the women we serve and the children they are carrying.
As Garrett and I stare at Wonder, and we could do so endlessly, we marvel at her design and how someone so tiny and fragile can be so resilient and strong! God has been showing me that He looks at us the same way! We are His children that He smiles upon and can’t get enough of. This is how He looks at you, this is how He looks at the women who come into Options, and this is how He looks at their babies! It’s funny how raising a baby teaches one about the Father’s heart for us.
One day, I was asking the Lord if it was silly that I get so excited to plan out little ways to document Wonder’s life and growth. I felt like God showed me that He does the same thing with us. He has plans in place, all laid out, and He gets excited to see us step into them and captures the moment in His heart! I wanted to share this because I feel like it’s for you! God wants you to know how He cherishes you and all the little things you do!
I have been back to work at Options for about three months now, and I continue to have the privilege of seeing women understand that God cherishes them too! I want to share with you one cherished woman’s story (used pseudo names) in particular.
Whenever someone invites Jesus into their hearts at Options we sing the worship song “No Longer Slaves”. This song’s lyrics powerfully proclaim, “I am a Child of God”. We sing it as a prayer over the women and change the lyrics to “She is a child of God!”
Currently, we reconnected with a woman who received services from Options when she was seeking an abortion. I already knew Melissa’s story was powerful, but throughout the course of the conversation she shared things that we didn’t even realize! We saw how God was pursuing her and her baby Olivia. Melissa shared that when she first walked into Options it was like there was something warm on her head and her head got hotter and hotter as she sat in the consultation room. She later identified the warmth as the Holy Spirit! Melissa came to the conclusion that she could not go through with an abortion declaring, “I am a child of God!” When she said that, I was overwhelmed with God’s goodness because Melissa didn’t know we sang those lyrics over our clients. How wonderful God’s works are that our declaration for her would become her declaration for herself!
To see the inner workings of God’s story in individual’s lives is something I will never get tired of! I have the blessing of seeing firsthand just how much God cherishes these women and the babies they are carrying. You are part of helping women see the purposes and plans God has for their little ones. Thank you for believing with me that those plans are worth protecting!