March 2023 Impact Report
The Justice For All team is on a mission to train Christians to change hearts and minds about abortion, and along the way, we use the conversations we create to challenge people to take Jesus Christ and the Christian worldview more seriously. While our trainers report progress in some conversations, the progress of other conversations many times remains hidden.
When I read the reflection below from Kaitlyn Donihue, JFA’s trainer based in Ohio, I wanted to share it with you. It represents a sweet gift from God in giving her a glimpse of how He is using JFA’s work. May this spur us on to continue to be faithful in the work He has given us to do. And let us be thankful both when He does not allow us to see what He is doing and when He does. -Steve Wagner, Executive Director
Have you ever opened a novel to the middle, read a chapter, and put it down again? Neither have I, but that is what outreach often feels like. Through our conversations with students, we get a glimpse into their stories and hopefully have the opportunity to impact their lives, but it is a brief glimpse, and usually we don’t get to see how their stories play out. We don’t know whether our words made a difference or not. We don’t find out whether the story ends in joy or tragedy.
Not knowing the ending is hard. I often leave campus with a heavy heart because I care about the students with whom I talked but don’t know what will happen to them, and I can’t do anything more for them.
Last month as I got ready for our trip to Texas, I struggled with whether we are doing any good. I asked God to give me a glimpse of how He is using our work, and He graciously answered that prayer.
Halfway through our first day of outreach, our whole team was hot and tired. Several students were standing by the free speech board reading the comments. I walked over to one and asked him whether he had any thoughts about abortion. He barely gave me a glance as he said, “Not really.” “Okay,” I said. “Do you think it should be legal or illegal or somewhere in between?” “I don’t really care,” he said and walked away.
I stared after him for a minute feeling discouraged. Then I turned to another student who was standing nearby. “Do you have thoughts on the issue of abortion?” I asked him. I noted as I did that he was wearing a T-shirt that said, “Unashamed Follower of Jesus.”
“Yeah,” he said, “I think abortion is wrong. It kills a human being.”
“I agree with you. I’m Kaitlyn by the way.”
“I’m Sam,” he said. “I work with a campus student ministry, and I have been discipling a young man. Last semester he wasn’t following Christ, and he was pro-choice, but he talked to you guys when you were here before and that conversation was really significant to him. He has since become pro-life and made a full commitment to follow Christ because of that conversation. I wanted to come by and tell you that. God is using you guys. Thank you for what you are doing.”
“He has since become pro-life and made a full commitment to follow Christ because of that conversation.”
I was overwhelmed by the goodness of God. Because of His great love, He answered my prayer and gave me just a glimpse into what He is doing in the life of one student.
Hearing about this student was such a gift. It gives me courage to believe that God is at work in the lives of the other students with whom we talk even if we never get to see the ending of their stories.
As our outreach in Texas drew to a close, I began praying a new prayer that I have prayed many times since: “Thank you, Father, that though these students may now be out of my reach, they are not out of Yours.”