On Saturday 2nd September we had the privilege of being a part of March for Life in London.
Some of you may have never heard of March for Life UK before so let me start by telling you who they are.
Who is March for life UK?
March for Life UK is a pro-life organisation which incorporates three main annual events as well as a continuous mission comprising of three key aims. The first aims consist of: raising awareness of the hurt and damage that abortion causes. Their second aim is to promote the value of every human life from the first moment of conception. Hence their strapline “Life from conception, no exception” Another one of their key aims is to foster a sense of community within the pro-life movement to bring togetherness and unity as one voice. Lastly, they aim to inspire and educate people to become pro-life not just in name but in their actions by marching for life daily.
So, as you can probably tell from their mission statement, March for life is actively campaigning to save and protect the lives of the unborn and raising awareness about the impact and effects of abortion and they are not being quiet about it, which is good as there is so much to say on this issue.
As a ministry it is our aim to use our voice to defend the unborn and to raise awareness and promote education and research on the physical, medical, psychological and social effects of abortion and to lead women to the right pregnancy help and support.
It has been on our heart for a while to join one of the marches, however for a few different reasons we didn’t get the opportunity to attend until this year, but we are so glad we did! - it was definitely worth the 6.5 hour travel time!
All I can say is it was a very inspirational day, to see an estimated 7,000 people join in unity to march for life was powerful. From the placards to the chants and all the various speakers it was a well-rounded organised day and not even a train strike or some rather loud pro-choice advocates coming up against us could block what God wanted to do! And they were certainly outnumbered. As we watched them try to compete with us, I was reminded of the story in 2 Kings 6:16-17 where Elisha and his servant are surrounded by an enemy army and Elisha’s servant is panicking saying: “We are surrounded. There’s two of us and an entire army circling us, surrounding us.” And Elisha looks at his servant and says, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” - and then he goes on to pray to God to open his eyes so that he can see, and the Lord opened the servants’ eyes and he saw the horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (Paraphrased).
My point is, even if there were more of them and only two of us, God’s invisible army is what makes them outnumbered! Thankfully we have spiritual back up, that they do not have.
As humans and even as Christians, sometimes we tend to focus more on the ‘seen’ than the ‘unseen’ but once we have the revelation and awareness of what we have, and who we have in our corner, it will change how we live and perceive situations in our lives that pose as a threat to us.
“We’re in a spiritual battle and we fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons” ~ David Platt
Also as I write I’m reminded of the lyrics from the song This is how I fight my battles, the part where it says “it may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by you” We must ask the Lord to help us live in our spiritual power so we do not cower in fear but do as scripture says:
Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole amour of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12)
I remember when we first headed out of the Emmanuel centre to join the crowd; it was quite overwhelming seeing the drones of people gathered together and I remember feeling quite light on my feet like I didn’t have the strength to walk or the conviction in my voice to shout as I wanted to, but once I knew what was happening, I took authority over the attack in my mind and body and the louder I shouted chants like “extra extra read all about it, were pro-life and were going to shout it” the stronger I felt.
"It made sense, it was a familiar feeling, and I could recognise it because this is how the enemy works, he tried to silence me then, and he was trying to silence me now - But it didn’t work."
Post-abortive women will not be silenced
See the truth is, being at the March for Life felt like a bit of a full circle moment for me, because 18 years ago I had an abortion, and it was something that I didn’t talk about until a few years back due to the shame I felt. So when I felt like I had no strength, (and I could barely find my balance and voice when we first stepped out into the crowd) it made sense, it was a familiar feeling, and I could recognise it because this is how the enemy works, he tried to silence me then, and he was trying to silence me now - But it didn’t work.
I am glad I was able to take my power back, as soon as I took back control (and remembered what I was there for) my shout got louder, and my walk got stronger.
Not only did I have this experience, but another victorious moment was when I saw two of the post-abortive women, I had met at the Rachel’s Vineyard retreat that I went to back in 2020. They are both doing amazing things to raise awareness about abortion and sharing their story to help shed light on the trauma abortion carries. It filled me with joy to embrace them and to see how far they have come and hear about what God is doing in their lives, it was such a special moment.
As we marched on, we came to Parliament square, this is where we were met by a young lady named Ella who started to share her abortion story to the crowd. I thought she was brave, and I admired her courage to speak over the pro-choice protestors who stood close to the stage trying to talk over her – but she kept going and didn’t allow their stance to stop her from getting her message across to the crowd.
I was touched by her story, and even got emotional because some of the things she said I resonated with. But what set a flame in my spirit was the way she expressed God’s compassion, love and her newfound value for life and her freedom in Christ. It touched me because in that very moment, I was recognised exactly how far I have come on my own abortion healing journey.
To be in a place where I can stand and agree with her when she said “who the son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36) and smile and shout about it - gave me life. Why? because I wasn’t supposed to be here, I wasn’t supposed to be able to do this, I wasn’t meant to get out of this dark hole I was in, but here I am by the grace of God! And I am so grateful.
If God can set me free from the pain, shame and guilt that I was held captive to for many years, then I know there is hope for others too, and the very least I can do is fight for the babies that are at risk of having their very own basic right; right to life taken away from them.
Not only will I continue to fight for my own freedom of speech, but I will also continue to fight for the unborn to have the freedom to live.
Blessings,
Satisha
Choose Life Ministries
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