When I joined the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center’s Board of Directors in 2012, I expected to contribute some time to a good cause: If I believe expectant mothers should carry their babies to term, I have a responsibility to help make that choice feasible for them. The Pregnancy Center does this by counseling expectant mothers and fathers, providing them with crucial supplies and connecting them with a support system.
I didn’t expect to also learn an ongoing, powerful lesson about God’s provision for the needs of his children—yet that’s what happened.
The Pregnancy Center serves thousands of clients every year on a shoestring budget, less than the salary of a single typical mid-career lawyer at a big DC firm. And while resources are tight, many clients’ situations are overwhelming. Many are pregnant teenagers whose mothers have threatened to kick them out of the house if they don’t get an abortion. Nearly all of the clients are poor, disadvantaged and unmarried.
A Grace Downtown volunteer.
When I started spending time with the Pregnancy Center team, I first noticed constant prayer—and I noticed that these prayers were more often prayers of thanks than prayers of angst. The chance to minister to a new client, a supporter’s donation of a used baby stroller, an opportunity to set up a parenting class at an additional local high school—the Pregnancy Center team enthusiastically thanks God for all these things, all the time.
The Pregnancy Center team’s prayerfulness and thankfulness show that they know God loves them, loves the clients, loves the work. Their confidence in God’s love buoys them, powers the organization, and shows up in energetic service.
Meanwhile their prayers keep getting answered in improbable ways. One month, giving might increase unexpectedly. The next, a stranger might walk in and offer to pay for new carpeting. Or a former client might stop by to share news of her healthy, happy family. All these things have happened.
A CHPC family after completing a parenting class.
I tend to base my own decisions and actions on whether I feel powerful—not on confidence that God loves meand purposes to bless me “exceedingly abundantly” beyond what I could ask or think (Ephesians 3.20). The Pregnancy Center team’s prayerfulness and thankfulness have challenged that.
God provides for his children—never in the ways we’d expect, always “exceedingly abundantly” better than our expectations, and always with perfect love and perfect knowledge. Knowing this truth means we can relax, celebrate, and work without desperation.
» Pray for CHPC’s mothers, fathers and children; for CHPC’s funding and resources; and especially for continued confidence in God’s love.
Grace Downtown is participating in the Pregnancy Center’s annual Baby Bottle Fundraiser. Learn more about how to participate.