He LOVES This Place!

By Debi Boerckel
      Office Manager

I believe that you can tell a lot about places and people if you watch children and observe their reactions to those places and people.  For instance, I have seen children, toddlers even, nearly jump for joy when they walk into a McDonalds®, and NOT because of the fries!!  Part of that excitement is probably tied to the Happy Meal® toy that will greet them, but they are also crazy excited about playing in the PlayPlace®!  It is a “happy place” for them – a place where they can run, jump, slide, laugh…be a child…and they LOVE it!!!

Until the other day, I never thought of Care Net’s office  as a “happy place” for a child.  One of our long-time clients stopped by to donate some things.  That in itself is a wonderful thing – so many of our clients give back to help other clients.  She has been a client through her pregnancy, delivery, and now with a very rambunctious little guy who literally runs EVERYWHERE!  The staff knows this client well, so when she pulled up with donations and her little guy in tow, we offered to help her.

As soon as his little feet hit the floor in our Waiting Room, he was off like a shot!  He ran the length of the room to the door leading to the offices.  WOOSH!  Through the door and down the hall!  WOOSH!  Full speed into the Counseling Room, which had no lights on, and up onto the couch where he normally sits when his Mommy comes for an appointment!  His beautiful Mommy was trying to chase after him with her arms full while the rest of us looked at him with wide-eyed wonder!  She said, “He LOVES this place!”

Why?  Why was he so happy to be here?  There’s no “PlayPlace®”, no Happy Meal® toy, no lollipop or sticker when he’s ready to go home…what was it that caused his little spirit so much joy?

Love.

We love him and his Mommy with the love of Christ.  They are both truly loveable people, but what I’m talking about is beyond human love.  It’s soul love.  It’s Holy Spirit love that goes deeper, reaches farther, holds tighter than any human love can.  To this little guy, Care Net IS his happy place!  Care Net is also his Mommy’s happy place!  Children are tuned in to their parents’ moods and feelings, so we know that if that were not true, he would not find so much joy in being here.

We ended the visit that day with a lot of smiles, laughter, and hugs.  They went home, and I walked back into my office thanking God for allowing me to see Care Net through the eyes of one of His precious little children.  Thank you Lord, that Your place called Care Net, is a happy place for so many.

When Do You Say Life Begins?

By Rayma Zugel
      Lead Center Director

January 21^st, the third Sunday in January, is a date marked by Presidential decree in 1984 as Sanctity of Human Life Day, 11 years following the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. President Regan was a strong pro-life advocate and claimed that the Supreme Court had “struck down our laws protecting the lives of unborn children.” He is also quoted as saying in 1984 that, “Each year, remarkable advances in prenatal medicine bring even more dramatic confirmation of what common sense told us all along – that the child in the womb is simply what each of us once was: a very young, very small, dependent, vulnerable member of the human family.” (Taken from NYTimes.com 1/17/1986, “President Deplores Abortion; Proclaims a Human Life Day.)

His successor, President George H.W. Bush, continued to recognize this Day. President Bush’s successor, President Bill Clinton, discontinued the practice throughout his presidency. Then President George W. Bush reinstated the observation during his time in office. President Barak Obama did not recognize this Day throughout his presidency. Now, President Donald Trump is in office and he, once again, recognizes the importance of the Sanctity of Human Life, even addressing the crowds at the annual March for Life held in Washington D.C. on January 19.

This past weekend, many churches around the country observed Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, making a statement that all life is sacred, from natural birth to natural death. It is fitting that this past week was also the week Americans honored Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who valued and defended life until his was taken from him. If we, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and our forefathers before him, believe, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (The Declaration of Independence), then we cannot ignore those whom God is wonderfully knitting together in the womb (Psalm 139:13).

But if we say we believe in the Sanctity of Human Life, when then, does life begin?

Heartbeat: Modern technology can detect the baby’s heartbeat 18 days after conception; it can be seen beating by day 22. Between conception and birth, the heart beats approximately 54 million times!

Brain waves: By 6 weeks 2 days from conception, signals from the brain can be detected.

Independent movement: Although the Mother cannot feel it, the baby begins spontaneous movement between 5 – 6 weeks.

Breathing: The baby can hiccup by 7 weeks. The diaphragm muscle is completely formed by 8 weeks and intermittent breathing motions begin.

Many more milestones of life can be noted, but the bottom line is this, once a human egg is fertilized, a new human being has come into existence. All information concerning the child’s sex, hair color, eye color, and much more is present from the beginning. If the newly formed being is not human life, what is it?

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)

Since 2009, more than 534,000 unborn lives have been saved as a direct result of the work of pregnancy resource centers affiliated with Care Net (stats through 2016). As you consider these facts, we’d encourage you to consider what your role might be in upholding the sanctity of human life – not just one day out of the year, but every day.

You can contact our Port St Lucie Center to receive more information about our upcoming Walk for Life being held on March 24 at Jensen Beach High School, or maybe you want to do even more. Our spring volunteer training will be held the first two weekends in March. Call to speak to us today 772-828-3168.

Overwhelmed by LIFE

by Willow Sanders
     Director of Student Services

You’ve been there right? Where the world feels like it’s coming in around you. Where if one more thing happens, they can pencil you in at the nearest rubber room. Then suddenly, almost cryptically, you hear of the need of another and it jolts you back.

We too know it. From our major move in August, to leaving for our national conference, only to return to a hurricane, and then jumping straight into a new school year! Yet in the midst would be

beauty. Things like a student committing to a major lifestyle change, having a 40% increase in student contacts, and walking through a difficult journey with a young man and watching him face it head on with Christ.

From despair to thankfulness, from selfishness to empathy.

I was thinking of this just the other day and how frequently it happens...which made me think of the word frequency. Defined, frequency is the rate at which something occurs or is repeated over a particular period of time or in a given sample. That reminded me of parenting and repeating things over and over again. Why?  Because I needed my boys to get a message. For whatever reason, there was a need for repetition. For frequency. Whether it be for Safety. Education. Fun. So many ways that the frequent occurrence of things can affect us.

My mind travels back to times in Scripture when the Lord repeated something. It could be in various books or in the very same verse, but I always knew if He said something or used an illustrative scenario more than once, I should key in and see what the point was. You know, see what the ‘therefore’ was there for. When we allow God to reset our focus from our lack to our abundance, it can be overwhelming. We can go from being OVERWHELMED by life to being overwhelmed by LIFE. In those times of discovery, we can find ourselves being reminded how much we have to be thankful for.  How blessed we are. How cared for we are.

Working in ministry can be like that. Overwhelming. Agendas to accomplish, tasks to be completed, needs to be met. However, you do not have to find yourself inside the walls of a non-profit or church to be ‘doing’ ministry. Our everyday life can be walking out what the Lord has called us to do. Yet repeatedly, I find that the greatest times of growth come when a tough time is met with an opportunity to see more than just the situation.  The Good. The Bad. The Tough. The Easy. All working together to overwhelm our hearts and remind us of the message of God’s overwhelming love.

Meeting with clients, speaking in schools, reaching out in our community, each offers so many chances to minister to the hurting and take our eyes off of the personal.  So as we all start this New Year off with different struggles, joys, or unknowns, let’s be ready and open to be overwhelmed by LIFE. 

The Divine Dance

by Sue Chess, Executive Director

(Excerpts from https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-new-years-plea-plan in italics.)

Nothing but the simplest impulses get accomplished without some forethought, which we call a plan.  As the Executive Director for Care Net, planning is very important to the future growth of this ministry.  It is very possible to go through life with little time devoted to the future, but this is not God’s way.  However, reconciling that with being open enough to God’s leading to accept closing doors and adjusting course will always be the challenge.

Proverbs 14:15 says “The simple believes everything, but the prudent looks where he is going.”  He considers the days to come and what they may bring.  Then the “prudent” thinks about how best to prepare for them and use them to accomplish His purposes.  The difference between planning and not planning is whether you look where you are going in the future, or whether you focus all your attention on the immediate right in front of you.

Over the last month, I’ve been examining the process God has used for Care Net and what we’ve learned in studying His ways over the past 16 years. 

When we pray, then plan, THEN move ahead doing just the next step (since that’s all we may know) God does big things!  Several years ago, we felt He was leading us to begin offering STI testing here at Care Net in addition to pregnancy testing.  Each week, I’d write down the next step to seeing that goal accomplished.  Weekly, the list would change.  “Call Health Dept.” “Check possible lab” etc. At one point, the realization came that when one door closed, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we simply went to the next, and so on.  It was like an investigative journey or a Holy Spirit dance.

We applied the same method to adding a new Center in Martin County.  First, we prayed and believed the way clear and then listed the plan of what to do.  Each week found something else on the week’s plan moving us in that direction.  One big hurdle that we had no means of jumping was the Board’s determination (with my full support) that we needed a $50,000 buffer in bank before beginning.  A letter went out and the funds came in. 

We added the Student Services department to the ministry of Care Net in a similar fashion. 

Care Net’s Administrative Center that we moved into this past fall 2017, was approached in exactly the same way.  We searched for the perfect location for years, with one location after another checked off as not the right one. First, the knowledge that purchasing a building was His plan, then one step, a door closed, one step, another door closed, until another would finally open.  I’d love to say it was easy but it was not—it was painstaking, toiling, frustrating, but amazing.   PEACE has always been the guiding beacon.

God has done this for years, and I have finally realized He frequently leads all of us this way as we search to find the pathways He has for us.  But the point is to search…and take a step…if you want to find the path!  Yes, go there…no, not there…adjust course...recalculating…yes, there! For years, my motto has been “do the next right thing.”  Perhaps it should be DO the next right thing.  Start moving so that He can adjust or confirm the next step!

This is the Divine Dance of the Holy Spirit and it is the truest intimacy.

Careful planning is part of what makes a person wise and productive.  Not to plan is considered foolish and dangerous.  This is true even though the Proverbs teach that we do not know what the future may bring.  “A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”  (Proverbs 16:9)  The fact that the Lord is ultimately in control of the future does not mean we shouldn’t plan.  It means we should commit our work to the Lord and trust Him to establish our plans according to His loving purposes. 

Paul gave many examples of this in the epistles.  He carefully planned and then God would change those plans. Frequently, He put Paul in prison where he would write letters instead of going to the places he wanted to be.  But, in that process we received letters that make up a LOT of the New Testament.  He (Paul) had a general guideline: he wanted to preach where no one had preached before.  Then he developed a specific plan from this guideline….what makes this especially significant is that as far as we know those plans frequently fell through.  He was arrested in Jerusalem.  He went to Rome as a prisoner….It’s just like we saw in the Proverbs.  God is the one who finally makes the future.  But we plan nevertheless.  God uses our planning even if he aborts it and replaces it with something else.

 

Planning is crucial in Christian living and Christian ministry—even when God overrules it, and maybe especially when God overrules it.  That simply means He is doing a new thing along the way.  His creativity in teaching us new things as He is about the work of the Kingdom is a source of amazement to me.  If He corrects direction along the way, that is simply His leading in the Divine Dance.