A black cloud dominated the sky to the south. I was forced to turn and stare at it, because the bitter cold wind out of the north pushed my face in the opposite direction. The street was very quiet, except for one municipal truck which was taking the garland and bows off of the street light poles. One car was in the abortuary parking lot. When I approached it to hand the occupants our envelope, they waved me off–as did the second car and the third and the fourth. Eventually, two out of the four cars did leave; but there was never any kind of meaningful exchange with anyone, either coming or going. For an hour and a half, then, our basic job was to stand there in the bitter wind and take it.
When there was no longer much hope, we left–and as soon as I pulled away my phone beeped. It was a text message from the Summit group, informing us that they had just had a turn-away. Later, when we met them at Rosita’s for breakfast, Monica had a second success story to telll us. During the drive home, she sent the message that there was a third who had just called her.
Once again, God tells us that what He mainly wants from us is our perseverance. I had driven 17 hours straight on Friday in order to be able to go to the abortuary on Saturday. And when the world looked bleak and we felt completely alone standing there at American Family Planning, other Guadalupe Partners, several more than usual, had gathered at Summit. God worked with our perseverance, as I know He always does in one way or another.
