Ever have one of those light-bulb moments that heats up your brain, settles in there, and leaves you wondering what to do with it? Is it inspiration or indigestion? It won’t go away. It must be important. Do you dare share it with anyone else? Who?
Well, maybe this will give you courage to pass along your light-bulb moments. I know at least one lady who would say, “Yes! By all means, pass it on!” John Blandford would agree.
John is director of church relations for Heroic Media (heroicmedia.org), a faith-based nonprofit that works to connect women with hopeful alternatives to abortion. John recently shared his story with the AFA staff in Wednesday morning devotions.
Early last year, John had one of those light-bulb moments himself. As he mulled it over, he became confident God had given him a vision for a short film that churches could use on Sanctity of Life Sunday. He was immediately certain of the pastor he wanted to feature, a pastor whose past included two abortions before he came to faith in Christ at age 19. He would be the perfect one to address the issue of how churches can minister to post-abortive women.
Although the pastor didn’t accept the invitation right away, John’s confidence didn’t waver. He waited patiently for a response, but delay after delay followed. The clock was ticking. It was time to get to work on the film, and the pastor wasn’t returning John’s calls or emails. The deadline loomed close on the horizon.
“I had nothing,” John said. “We had to get started on the film, and all I had was my light bulb – no script, no theme, no ‘star.’”
Then he remembered having met AFA’s Anne Reed. John knew her as a prolife activist and journalist, so he reached out to her, searching for leads to pastors who might fill his need.
“I began to work on connections,” Anne said. “I suggested a few who might potentially fill that role. That was the extent of my knowledge. I had nothing more to offer.”
Meanwhile, John sent an email to three post-abortive women asking them what post-abortive women in the church need to hear from the church and/or from the men who had been complicit in their abortions. They thought that was a great question, but no one ever had a clear, concise answer for him.
“So I still had basically nothing,” John said. “Nothing but a light bulb that was growing dimmer by the day. Then I heard God ask (bright new light bulb here), ‘Why don’t you ask Me what post-abortive women need to hear?’”
Prayer had been a prominent component of John’s journey, but now he began to pray more fervently for God’s direction for this project. If it was to be completed for use in 2015, it must get into production quickly.
As John persistently sought God, a woman several states away was experiencing a deep and rich fellowship with God. “In my quiet time,” she said, “a series of apologies suddenly started rolling through my mind. (A light-bulb moment?) It was personal and intense. These apologies spoke to me deeply as a post-abortive woman. Tears streamed down my face, and immediately, I felt compelled to write John Blandford about these apologies.”
She quickly grabbed her laptop and began typing. “To be totally honest,” she said, “I felt a little uneasy and apologetic. Was this the Holy Spirit moving me or not? Why was I sending this to John? What kind of kook would he think I am? I even wrote something like ‘I don’t know what compelled me to share this with you,’ and then I clicked “SEND” before I could change my mind.”
John answered soon and said, “I don’t know what compelled you, but I know Who compelled you. He now had the plan he had prayed for – a powerful four-minute film titled The Apology (graceheals.com). It features not a high profile pastor, but three men who speak for themselves and, by extension, for the body of Christ. They are contrite and transparent as they confess their own abortion history and offer apologies for decades of silence and absence of ministry to post-abortive women.
Who sent the unsolicited email? Who heard apologies rolling through her soul, messages from heaven? Who is she who had the courage to share her light-bulb moment? She is none other than AFA Journal staff writer Anne Reed, the one who “had nothing else to offer.”
One never knows when a simple idea may be just the light that needs to be focused in a dark place where it becomes a powerful tool in God’s hands. Don’t be apologetic or uneasy about your light-bulb moment.
Anne Reed says, “Pass it on!”
John Blandford says, “Amen.”
