By Missions & Evangelism Life Core Captains, Elizabeth Carrouth & Ann Wong
Faithful parishioners,
We begin our year celebrating the birth of the most precious baby in history, our Lord Jesus. It is only fitting, indeed, that January be set aside as Sanctity of Life month. It is a time when we particularly honor the great gift of life–beginning with babies and ending with ceasing earthly life and entering into a heavenly one.
The following is a narrative fondly called The Red Cap, written by one of our very own Life Core Captains, Elizabeth Carrouth, that captures Jesus’ power and love through volunteering.
It was this young woman’s first visit to the Belly Boutique...a sweet place where women come for support and needed baby items. (after they’ve been to A Women’s Pregnancy Center’s Main Campus and learn they are pregnant). I will call her Rose. I was reading through her chart and there was a bolded note that read 'Undecided.' “Rose, I don’t understand. What does this mean?”
Rose told me she had gone to AWPC and when her pregnancy test came back positive, she was terrified. She was determined to have an abortion or give the baby up for adoption. Her counselor of course prayed for her, along with thousands of prayer warriors who were notified from prayforbabies.com/AWPC. Before Rose left, her counselor gave her an encouragement bag filled with small items that women love...hand cream, mints, tissues, and a handmade card with a prayer. It also included a hand-knitted baby cap.
Later, Rose told me she took the cap and placed it on top of her dresser. Every time she walked by and saw the cap, she thought of her baby. Her baby was real. It was her baby. And Rose said that she knew then that she would keep this baby and never look back. Her boyfriend had been out of town and when she told him, he was adamant that she have an abortion. She never for a moment wavered and there she was, with her best friend, telling me this story and blessing me like Christmas and Easter and Baptisms all in one day. Rose shared that she had been estranged from her family for years, but was now feeling a closeness with her mother as never before. Rose couldn’t contain her joy and kept going back to the knitted cap on her dresser. She was thrilled.
I met with Rose again last week and this time her boyfriend was by her side. He thanked us for loving and supporting Rose and told us he was "all in.” I just want to thank You, Heavenly Father, and St. Peter’s, for touching my heart and letting me be a part of this sweet and tender Kingdom work.
Oh, and the encouragement bag that was given to Rose that day was sewn and filled with loving hands by two precious parishioners! And the Red Cap? Knitted by a beautiful young girl in our Church!
As servants of Christ in this critical area, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you, St. Peters! The outpouring of your love and effort with the Missions & Evangelism Life Core this past year has been overwhelming…weekly transporting of items between the ministry sites and locations, knitting, sewing, writing cards of encouragement, providing gift bags (that have been blessed by the clergy) to new moms, prayer vigils, Walk for Life, and, most recently, the outpouring of Advent Tree donations to support for babies and moms alike. We’ve never seen the Belly Boutique so stocked! There’s a place for everyone at this table… so, please join us in celebrating Life and being part of the Lord’s Great Commission in sharing His Gospel and His love of life!