Little Feet

The gentleman in the car next to me was backing in at the same time. I heard loud, demanding voices as well as muffled crying coming from his car. I knew that, once again, someone was being brought for an abortion against her will.   

I opened my car door, just as a man opened the rear door of the other car. Then, I saw a young teenage girl lying across the back seat. She yelled,  “No, Daddy! No!” He pulled on one arm while she desperately held on to the headrest in front of her with the other. The woman in the front seat got on her knees and pried the young girl’s fingers off the headrest, ordering her to obey her father. Then she yelled,  “No, Mommy! No!” Though she continued to grab at whatever she could to prevent him from pulling her out, she finally lost the battle.

During this struggle, their car door pushed against my car door, and I was unable to get out. I had only managed to get both of my feet on the ground. I was not able to pull my legs back into my car.  

The mother came around to their side of the car. She grabbed her daughter’s other arm. With terror and tears on her face, the young woman looked at me and screamed, “Help me. Please help me!” The parents, holding tightly to both arms, began to muscle their still-struggling daughter toward the clinic.

They left their car door open, blocking me from exiting my car. I could not climb over to the other side of my car, because I could not get my legs out. Rolling down my window, I managed to reach their car door and shoved it just enough to open my door and squeeze out. I took off running with my car keys in hand.

By then, they had dragged her nearly all the way down the sidewalk. I jumped up on the brick flowerbed and ran alongside them to get up ahead of them. I landed hard on my feet right in front of them, just as they were turning to go up the stairs and into the clinic. 

Once again, she pleaded,  “Please help me!” Her father yelled at me to get out of the way. I yelled back, “NO!”  He said he was going to call the police on me. I told him to go ahead, then maybe the police will help me protect her “choice.” I knew they would not, but I said it anyway. With the father distracted while yelling at me, the young girl managed to escape his grip and started running back up the hill.  I threw my keys to her and told her to take my car and drive away.   

Her father was furious and moved toward me. He got in my face and said I was going to go to jail! I said,  “It will be a privilege knowing I helped your daughter, and your grandchild.” At that, I saw all the fight go out of the mother. She looked at her husband and said,  “Shame on us. We should be the ones protecting them, not a stranger.”  She broke down and yelled out to her daughter who had stopped some distance from them. Her father’s shoulders slumped forward in shame as they both shouted out their regret for the way they had been treating her, and asked for her forgiveness. Dad, although still angry, agreed to take her home and support her and her child.

An officer had already arrived, and while waiting to arrest me, he stood back and let the parents comfort their daughter as I stood there, still blocking the stairs. When he asked the father if he wanted me arrested, he reluctantly said, “Let her go.”

The young lady gave me my keys and clung to me, saying,  “I will always remember you and your little feet.”  Before I could ask her what she meant, they were in their car and on their way.

The parents forbade her to give me her name and contact info, but she managed to locate me and telephoned me months later. After questioning her to make sure her parents were really helping her,  I asked her what she meant about my little feet.

She went on to tell me her story. She said that she had hidden her pregnancy as long as she could because she knew her parents would be furious and would demand an abortion. She knew they would never agree to a marriage. She thought if she could hold out long enough, it would be too late for an abortion.  She did not know that facilities in Atlanta would perform abortions to full term.

She and her boyfriend were excited about the baby, but  felt helpless to protect their pre-born child. She went on to tell me that when the parents noticed that she was pregnant, her boyfriend was forbidden to see her anymore. When she told him that they were insisting on an abortion,  he tried to help her. He made plans to secure a safe place for her and his child. He climbed through her bedroom window the night before the scheduled abortion to rescue her. What a guy!  Her father called the police and had him arrested.  When her father caught her trying to leave the house later that night, he sat in a chair in her room to watch her. She waited for him to fall asleep, to escape, but he discovered her just before she got to the front door. This time, he forced her back to her room and tied her right wrist to the bedpost!  She told me how she fought her parents as they tried to get her into the car the next morning. She said at one point on the way to Atlanta she tried to jump out into traffic. All I could think about was how hard she fought to save her preborn child. Now that is a mother!

I asked again, “But what has that got to do with my little feet?”  She said that she was feeling so helpless that morning. She was lying on the back seat begging the Lord to send a whole army of great big, strong men to help rescue her. She said that when she was still lying down in the back seat and her father opened the car door at the same time as I opened mine, the interior lights from both cars lit up my feet in the dark.  Her heart sank because God did not answer her prayer! No army of big, strong men! Just one woman with little feet. Then she added, “I guess God did not need a bunch of strong men in army boots. He only needed one little woman wearing Mary Jane shoes.”

I share this story to encourage you in your ministry, especially when you feel small, inadequate, or so very alone. The Lord, of course, can work without even one of us, but how wonderful that  He considers us worthy to use us, even if we are just one, and it is just our feet!

For there is nothing to prevent the Lord from saving,

whether by many or by few. (Or one!)

I Samuel 14:6b (AMP)

NOTE: Want to read more stories about the power of one? Please go to: karenblackmercer.com/store to order my memoir, Only If God Says So! at a reduced price with FREE SHIPPING. Thank you.

(Available in hard, soft, or e-book)