I Was Gonna Be…

…is the title of a song that might break your heart. Actually, I hope it will. I’ll put a link to it in this post, but let me back up a moment first.

I’ve been tackling a few “controversial” subjects of late. I do so because they are important things to talk about and we shouldn’t brush them off without giving them serious understanding and thought. Too often these days, we tend to follow the leanings of the people who agree with us. And let’s face it, it is hard to see the “other” side to any story.

And then there are things that don’t fall into the category of he said/she said or his side/my side. Some things are simply right and wrong.

I know we as a culture don’t like to hear those words. We’ve become a culture of “my truth” and no absolutes. After all, who wants to submit to an absolute authority? Certainly not an earthly figure, and most of us would not want to submit to a spiritual One either. It can be the biggest flaw of the human condition. But just following blindly is equally flawed. So do the research and seek the truth. It’s out there and truth is absolute, not yours or mine.

Which brings me back to this song. “I Was Gonna Be…” is a song about abortion. Perhaps the best explanation is to just let you listen here or below.

Like I said, I know this subject is controversial. I was a teenager when Roe v. Wade became the status quo law of the land. For years I have mourned the choices made because of this decision. There is so much history behind it that we don’t talk about enough as a nation.

I did a lot of research into the subject before I ever sold my first book, and in fact, I have a full-length novel sitting on my computer that covers this very topic. It remains there because, to be honest, no one was interested in publishing it way back then. Now, I suppose I could self publish it if I took the time to completely revise it and bring it up-to-date, but I’m not sure that’s what God has for me right now.

What I do know is that abortion hurts everyone from the unborn child who was gonna be, to the mother who will grieve the loss whether she realizes it or not, to the father who may or may not have had a choice or hand in it, to the future siblings who will never know the one or ones who were lost. It robs cities and states and nations of people who might have found a cure for cancer, or wrote the next symphony, or produced that award-winning film that made the world a better place, or created a space for the homeless, or ministered to the poor, or preached the gospel to a desperate, dying humanity.

What if the mothers of Mother Theresa, Billy Graham, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Spielberg, Disney, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and so many, many more had not chosen to give birth to these offspring? What if your mother had chosen not to give birth to you?

I have a lot of compassion for women who do make that irreversible choice to end the life of their unborn child. I believe many of them have no idea what they are really doing. They believe the lies that the fetus inside of them is not really human. It’s just the start of what a human could be but it doesn’t or can’t feel. It’s not a person yet. The list goes on. They used to say it was a blob of tissue, but anyone who has ever seen an ultrasound can’t logically still say that. Watch the beating heart of the unborn and count their fingers and toes. See them suck their thumb in utero. Tell me that isn’t a life growing there.

Sadly, I think as a nation that we have more compassion for an abused animal or endangered plant-life than we do for our human offspring that is yet to be.

I hope…I pray…that if you listen to this song, you will think about where you stand on this issue. You will hear people tell you that this is about women’s healthcare and their right to their own body. I get that. No one wants to be told what to do with their body. I know I don’t.

But a woman’s womb becomes a separate place when a child is conceived. She is no longer her own. She’s deciding for two humans, not one. Please remember that. An unborn child is never a problem to get rid of. It is a God-created image bearer with a soul and heart and mind and spirit and you will never know what it will grow to become if you do not give it a chance to live.

Maybe it’s a girl. Maybe it’s a boy. Either one is precious and worth saving. But before it is born, it is helpless and has no way to defend itself. He or she needs you and me to protect them, to care for their mother and father. God loves all three. Let’s learn to love and protect them too.

~Selah