Return to the Scene...

I spent much of yesterday praying with 40 Days for Life, outside the Marie Stopes abortion facility. It seemed that Marie Stopes was doing a brisker business yesterday, than on the day of my previous visit; we stood our ground and prayed.

Impatient as I often am for results, there was that little hope in the back of my mind, that Almighty God would give us a sign that our fervent prayers were heard; maybe that a pregnant woman or a Marie Stopes employee would cross the road and tell us that they had turned away from abortion. But, yesterday that didn't happen at least, not on my shift. We prayed.

A man walked along the pavement on which we stood and spat rather aggressively as he passed. A young woman  shouted accusations at us, beginning with ' You should be ashamed of yourselves....!'
Another made mocking gestures as he passed, but for the most part, the passers by simply passed by. In the late afternoon as the temperature began to drop, we prayed as we shivered.
The spitter came back and spat aggressively once again, one of the counsellors attempted to speak with him but was met with a response I wouldn't wish to record here.

And it dawned on me that Almighty God  was answering our prayers as we made them:  in granting us that peace which remains despite angry verbal and non verbal gestures and in the certainty that our prayers will  help someone, though He may not grant us the satisfaction of seeing the results, because God always answers our prayers.
All that the verbal aggression, mockery and spitting amounted to was that a hornet's nest in hell had been stirred into action, because one of the  'successful' operations of the father of lies was being threatened by the power of prayer.

Update:

Clare from Battlements of Rubies has also posted about yesterday's experiences outside Marie Stopes.