.png)
There's power in prayer. Delana Brooks, executive director of Pregnancy Help Center of Fort Worth (PHCFW), has seen answers to prayer often in her eleven years of service. (Read her amazing story of abortion survival here.)
"I've seen it time and time and time again where [a patient] will leave [the center] and then something will happen in her life that it'll do a complete 180."
She tells the story of a woman who was determined to go out of state to have an abortion. When she arrived at her location, she paid for the abortion and was on the table when something within her cried out so forcefully, as if pulling her to get off the table. Telling the story in the woman's words, as told to her, Delana said, "'I had to get off the table and leave,' she said. 'I left the waiting room. I ran out as fast as I could. I got in the car with my friend that drove me, and I just said, "Drive!"'" Delana smiles. "And so she had her little boy. She brought him in to meet us. She named him Jeremiah."
When the team learned that he was born on the 29th of November, the assistant director, Connie, said, "Jeremiah 29:11!"
Connie read the Scripture to the new mom. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Having never heard the verse before, Jeremiah's mom began to cry. "I know there's a reason he's supposed to be here. There's a reason that he was born."
"Even when we might think it's hopeless, we're praying for her (the patient). ...We're praying for her as she's going about her day."
Delana and her team were praying for a woman, whom we'll call Rose. "She was so on the fence. ...She didn't come back for her appointment, and she wasn't returning my phone calls. So, in my mind, I'm thinking she had the abortion."
But they continued to pray for Rose, not giving up.
Around this time, Delana's daughter lived about thirty miles away and called her, asking Delana if she would bring her medicine, as she wasn't feeling well.
"I'm thinking, she's not that sick," Delana said with a smile. "Can't you just get in the car?"
Delana drove to her daughter's town, but rather than going to the store she usually preferred, she went to a different one. There, in the aisle of the pharmacy was Rose.
"I said hello; it's so good to see you. And in my mind, I'm trying to think, 'Okay, don't cry, because she had an abortion."
Rose welcomed Delana's hug. "I'm so sorry that I've not called you back," she said. "I want to show pictures of my baby girl!"
To Delana's dismay, Rose pulled out a sonogram picture. Rose gushed out the whole story: she and her boyfriend were engaged, the baby was still on the way, and she was seeing a doctor throughout her pregnancy, thanks to their encouragement and help.
"It's just a reminder that God hears our prayers and there is power in prayer, for sure."
Many times the women that come to the center have experienced trauma at some point in their lives. Understanding that there are walls of protection and caution, the center's staff focus on not only the woman's physical needs, but also her mental, emotional, and spiritual needs.
"Our mission is for women...to choose life and not abortion. But we also want to present the Gospel to her. ...She too is made in the image of God ad she was an unborn baby."
Sometimes Delana will tell her story of having survived abortion [INSERT URL], but most often, she will ask if she can pray with clients. "I'll pray for her and as soon as I say 'Amen' and i look up, she's sobbing, just tears rolling down her face because she's never had anyone pray for her before."
Many former clients come back to volunteer at the clinic, and many keep in touch, visiting with their child years later.
The impact is truly generational...and it all starts and ends with prayer.
"There's a mission field locally all over," Delana said. Referring to prayer, support, and seeking to make a difference, she said, "It's those things I feel like sometimes people take lightly, but I think...one day we'll stand before the Lord, and we'll see the eternal rewards for the things that are done on earth. ...You'll really see the impacts made for the Kingdom. Because it really is about God's Kingdom and God's children."
.png)
