From LifeDate - Winter 2007.

What a difference it makes to Christians to know that they are in the hand of God. This knowledge gives us identity, value, strength, comfort, and trust. It changes how we think about ourselves and the people around us and it influences our behavior.

When trouble, pain, or loss come, as they must, we know that we are in the hand of God. One of the memories most parents have is a handprint of their child done with paint or clay when they were little. I’m sure your household has many of them, as does mine. Why do we have our kids make handprints when they are small? When times get tough as they grow, as a teenager, in college, or whatever, we as parents can remember when they were small and trusted us implicitly.

When times get tough in our lives we can remember what God’s hands did for us.

God’s hands formed us in the womb. We are individually-unique creations, handmade, one-of-a-kind, known by God before all eternity.

God’s hands redeemed us. We can look at the hands of Christ bloodied with nail holes and remember we are loved so much that God sacrificed His only son for us.

When times get tough we know God is holding us by the hand. We know that we are safe and He will lead us away from danger.

When crushed by life’s problems—an unplanned pregnancy in our family or caring for elderly parents—we trust in God’s promises knowing that He is the God of life and life is in His hands, not ours.

But there’s more. We are in God’s hands so we can be the hand of God for others.

When we reach out with hands of compassion to the pregnant teen and her baby with love and support, we are the hands of God. When we teach our children to trust the Lord of life even when they make bad decisions, we are the hands of God. When we care for rather than kill the elderly, ill, or handicapped, we are the hands of God. That’s what Lutherans For Life is all about—helping Christians connect, through either our words or actions, biblical truth to life issues. When that happens, lives are changed.

Lives such as Sally, a woman who had an abortion years ago and struggles with the extreme guilt. Through the efforts of some LFLers Sally’s pastor preached his first pro-life sermon last January. Sally wrote her pastor the following letter:

"Where can I begin to thank you? I attended church on January 21. As usual I was forcing myself to go. I must admit once again I had been feeling like the ultimate sinner as I have felt most of my life since my abortion. I want to just tell you that your sermon changed my life. With all my heart I want to move on with my life. I have always felt like God should punish me and many times I think He has for my terrible choices. I can’t begin to tell you how I have tried to destroy myself with risky behavior. I finally feel safe somewhere thanks to the truth you shared in your sermon. We need someone to speak for us. God bless you."

Or Kara, pregnant and scheduled for an abortion, who ran across LifeDate and read an article about abortion risks for teenagers:

"I just want to thank you for the magazine. I know God reached out to me. I am not going to hurt my baby. I can not believe how close I came to doing something I would regret for the rest of my life. I am going to consider adoption."

Or Pastor Jim:

"I am convinced that your Better Off Dead? article along with Ventilators, Feeding Tubes, and Other End-of-Life Questions and Before I Die, a Practical Guide for End-of-Life Issues were primarily responsible for a family that I am serving to reverse their decision to remove the feeding tube from their 80-year-old father and husband who suffered a stroke 5 weeks ago following surgery. My face-to-face conversation with them made them only angry at me. I think they believed I was questioning their faith. After all, Dad wouldn’t want to live like this. On Tuesday they pulled the feeding tube but kept the trach. Even at this time Fred was still responding with nods. I visited with the family on Thursday and asked them to consider reversing their action. They had set their course and indicated that they were not going to change their minds. I asked them to do me the favor of simply reading the three documents listed above. I rejoiced when I entered Fred’s room on Saturday and found that nutrition had been re-established. Thank you so much for the wonderful materials that helped this family to see how they might honor Christ in their decision regarding their father’s life."