It seems like our fall 40 Days for Life campaign just ended a few days ago and now we are beginning another 40 Days for Life campaign.  The task seems too daunting, but God’s grace is greater than our challenges.

After the fall 40 Days for Life campaign ended, we had to immediately refocus our attention on the Fiesta for Life, the major annual fundraiser for LifeSavers Ministries, which was only a month later.  This event always requires a huge effort to contact restaurants and businesses for donations, and we knew when we agreed to lead the fall 40 Days for Life campaign that we were sacrificing part of our necessary preparation time for the Fiesta for Life.

We survived the Fiesta for Life (barely) but we still didn’t have time to rest, as we needed to deal with crucial financial issues which had been set aside throughout the fall because of 40 Days for Life and Fiesta for Life.  Family and ministry problems also weighed heavily upon us.  The compounded impact of these circumstances brought me to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion.  As a result, I was sick throughout the month of December.  At some points I could hardly walk.

We had seen a sharp decrease in the number of abortions during the fall 40 Days for Life, and we had believed that God was going to close down Bakersfield’s abortion center by the end of the year, and that the election was going to help the nation take a turn toward repentance.

Instead, the results of the election were devastating on numerous fronts, and by mid-December the abortion rate began to climb as the FPA abortion business regrouped with new staff.  Instead of weakening, it now appeared that they were becoming stronger.

When the first of the year hit, the local abortion rate seemed to hit a new all-time high (we didn’t have the time or the heart to document the level of the carnage).  A few weeks ago, the abortionist was killing children from early in the morning until after 9 pm at night!  It was like a horrible nightmare, but it was really happening.

Around this time, we had to decide whether or not to join in the national 40 Days for Life campaign beginning February 25.  Although we were devastated and exhausted, we couldn’t escape the fact that we had seen God make a significant impact against the local abortion slaughter through 40 Days for Life.  At the same time, our plates are overflowing with new ministry responsibilities which have potential to impact not only the community but the nation.  It was beyond our capabilities to lead 40 Days for Life again, but we knew we had to do it anyway.

So we shared our situation with a few friends who had participated in previous 40 Days for Life campaigns and asked them to join us for a meeting to pray and discuss our dilemma.  And God answered our prayers, bringing together a group of people who not only provided encouragement, but offered tangible assistance to us with the many tasks involved in leading 40 Days for Life.  Mark and Amparo Kinnsch, Angelica Gonzalez, and several others agreed to make a significant investment of time to ensure that we can not only survive this 40 Days for Life campaign, but that this crucial ministry can thrive even in this time of crisis.

During our times of frustration a few weeks ago, I told Terri that I was giving up on the vision of the Traveling Life Center.  We had tried for years to get the word out about this project but we had received only a small fraction of the support we needed to make it a reality.  Thankfully, I didn’t have time to update our website to remove the Traveling Life Center.

During this time, our friends Grace and David Madruga of Grace Electric were looking at the LifeSavers Ministries website trying to see how they could help us.  They clicked on the link for the Traveling Life Center, and God moved their hearts to donate their RV to us.  Grace walked up to Terri on the sidewalk outside the abortion center and handed Terri a photograph of their RV, saying “this is your new Traveling Life Center!”  We were amazed at how this RV looked so similar to the photographs of the “dream RV” we had included in our Traveling Life Center pamphlet.

Throughout these months, from the previous 40 Days for Life campaign to the present day, we have also been blessed by the encouragement and intercession of Fred and Sue Rowe of the Kern Region Prayer Watch.  They have stood with us and for us at times when we had no strength to stand.

Perhaps you have prayed for us over the past few months, wondering if everything was ok because you hadn’t heard from us.  If so, thank you for your prayers — God is answering them abundantly!

Praise God for sending us encouragement in our time of need.  We look forward to the coming 40 days with great anticipation, knowing that our times of greatest weakness are God’s times of greatest strength.