John 16:20 (LIFE Runners!)

Welcome God now with this LIFE Group Devotion (FB), provided by LIFE Runners (FB).

"Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy." John 16:20 (full readings)

Steve's Reflections: Jesus uses a beautiful metaphor of what authentic Christian joy looks like in the face of grief - a mother holding her newborn baby just moments after the pangs of childbirth. This joy, born of sacrifice and suffering, is denied mothers with the evil of abortion. As a Pro-Life community, we are facing a time of trial and grief as we labor and cry out to be a voice for the unborn, but we can make a difference! June 13th marks the beginning of the 18 week Kansas City Marathon (15 Oct) training for the national LIFE Runners team. Much like the mother who labors for the joy of her newborn baby, over 100 LIFE Runners from 17 states and Canada/England/Turkey/Kenya will labor for 18 weeks through heat, exhaustion, 20 mile training runs, speed workouts, and tempo runs...for the Unborn. We run to end abortion and the culture of death. Our goal is to raise $25,000 for the Sioux Falls Alpha Center Fleet for Little Feet bus that provides free ultrasounds in rural areas. We offer our training sacrifices and physical pains as a living prayer for abortionists, mother's and unborn babies in crisis, post-abortive families and aborted babies. Our grief over the millions lost will become a cry of joy for the lives saved through the mercy of our Father God. The LIFE Runners team will experience the joy of crossing the finish line...for Pro-Life!

Faith Challenge: Please join us as a LIFE Runner, sponsor, prayer partner, or race weekend volunteer (14-15 Oct). Details at http://www.run.liferunners.org/.

Sr. Francelle's Devotion: Lets Take Back Sundays

Counter-Culture News: LSN, Vatican, AFA, Priests for Life, Live Action &gt

Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion, Spiritual Adoption, Alpha Center, Peters family (JP). Add Prayers on our website. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, LIFE Runners, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now. >

Feast Day: St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs (d. 1886) "One of 22 Ugandan martyrs, Charles Lwanga is the patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa. He protected his fellow pages (aged 13 to 30) from the homosexual demands of the Bagandan ruler, Mwanga, and encouraged and instructed them in the Catholic faith during their imprisonment for refusing the ruler’s demands."

Faith Quote: "As a LIFE Runner, all of me is being involved." ~ Rosemary Bernth

Through Christ Our Lord,
Steve
Romans 12:2 .

* Pray/Fast: Prayer connects us with God’s will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. Fast from things that take your eyes off Jesus. Those who pray together stay together, and close to God!
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion reality (images)…#1 death cause (23% pregnancies). Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa.
* Evangelize:Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/sacrifice/mercy). Matt 28:19.

Comments? To subscribe/unsubscribe to the emails, go to LIFE Group Devotions or LIFE Runners Updates.

Job 3:11,16 ("if not you, who?")

Welcome God now with this LIFE Group Devotion (archive, Facebook).

Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light? Job 3:11,16 (full readings)

Pat's Reflections:

* May today's Scripture challenge us to embrace God's gift of Life...and inspire us to be courageous/sacrificial in defending Life. Two nights ago I read Dr. Allen Unruh's amazing Alpha Center story (filled with God sightings). In the early years, he writes about his wife Leslee no longer wanting to lead the crisis pregnancy center (tired/discouraged)...but then, "The next morning she walked out the back yard, and one beautiful rose was blooming. The rose happens to be the pro-life symbol. It was like God saying to her, "If not you, who? If not now, when?"" Last week I received a card with that same quote...hello, God. For a marathon of years (26), Leslee has faithfully led the Alpha Center in saving babies (and parents)....and this year our LIFE Runners (marathoners) teamed up with the Alpha Center. Coincidence?, I think not!

* Today's devotion picture is Jason Peters giving thanks to God after finishing the Sioux Falls Marathon (12 Sep) with his son JP and the LIFE Runners. In the late stages of a marathon, when offering up pain as a prayer for the Unborn, the song Sweetly Broken resonates with LIFE Runners..."to the cross I look and to the cross I cling, of it's suffering I do drink, of it's work I do sing...On it my Savior both bruised and crushed, showed that God is love and God is just." This deep song will quickly center you on Christ.

Faith Challenge: "If not you, who? If not now, when?" Support your local Life Chain on Respect Life Sunday (3 Oct): background and locations. Stephanie Kemp shared: "Dear ProLife Ambassador, instead of a long-winded Life Chain reminder, I am forwarding this short video Abortion - the cruel Murder [very graphic]. It says all there is to say about why we need to fall on our knees and pray to end abortion. It will make you weep...for all His little ones who are lost to the god of choice in our culture today."

Counter-Culture News: 40 Days for Life (until 31 Oct), LSN, Vatican, AFA, Priests for Life, Live Action.
* Republicans Block Repeal of Military Gay, Abortion Bans.

Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion. Peters family (JP), Rich Reich (cousin Tom cancer), Helene Couchon (Molly Barber's health).

* Leslee/Allen Unruh (grandbaby Pierce's brain surgery Friday)

Feast Day: Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides.

Faith Quote: "We are not placed on this earth to see through each other....but to see each other through"...pregnancy, addiction, injury/illness, forgiveness, finish lines, etc. What else? Thanks to Sue Peters for sharing the quote (author unknown).

Through Christ for ProLife,
Pat

Phil 4:13