Before I formed you in the womb I knew you

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

I love this most beautiful verse of Scripture. I love to think about what this really means to me. What was God really saying? He was not just speaking to us as a "group" of people. He was lovingly and clearly making his love known to each of us personally. He was trying to get us to understand that before we breathed our very first breath of life he was at work in our life.
He was forming (shaping) us from the beginning. Thankfully, God continues to mold us and form us into his very likeness and image. I love how these two words are linked together...his "likeness' and "image" It means that we are created to look (image or reflect) like our Father God and also to be like (act like) god. The best definition of likeness is "to be like." It was God's idea to create you and I in his likeness and image so that when others see us they will know that we are the children of God. What an awesome God. His plans are perfect. Every time I read this Scripture I think about the fact that God KNEW me BEFORE I was in my mothers womb .and he APPROVED of me before I came out of my mother's womb. I was special and "set apart" for a plan and a purpose. I was sent to this earth and appointed by God before I was born. You are appointed by God. The phrase "I knew you" does not simply mean that God knew OF you. The word "knew" here means that God has a special knowledge or "intimate affection" for me. His love always was and is and always will be.

God knew you and I BEFORE conception. God conceived us in his heart before we were conceived in our mother's womb. He is our Heavenly Father and our first love because he first loved us. I marvel at his great love for his own children and for all of his creation. 
No wonder God commands us to choose "life' All life is of God. I want to share a testimony of God's great love.

Six years ago I received a phone call from a friend who lives in a state nearby. The drive to her home is a six hour drive. She called me one day very distraught. She had been talking to a young girl at work who had recently learned she was pregnant. She was not married and she was from Poland. She was working here to help her family at home. She knew that if she told her parents she was pregnant they would be very upset. She decided to get an abortion. My friend asked her if she would talk to ME. I really was in shock. I didn't even know this girl. I asked her why she felt "I" should talk to her. She said she didn't know but really believed that would be the best. I reluctantly agreed. I thought about not going. It's not that I didn't want to talk to her or couldn't .I just didn't think she would listen to someone she had never met and had no prior relationship with. Still, I decided that this was important and I drove to the small town she was living in and we met at a local restaurant. I had brought my daughter with me because it was a long drive. Believe me when I say "I didn't know WHAT I was going to say" but I asked God to put the words she needed to hear in my heart first and then let them flow from my mouth. I asked God for her heart to be softened and for her ears to be prepared and anointed to listen to the heart of God regarding her child. I could not imagine what I could say to change her heart and mind. 

When we got to the restaurant and were introduced I noticed she had similar features as my own daughter seated next to me. It seemed that we all instantly bonded. I think she noticed early on that she and my daughter were about the same age and looked a lot alike. After coffee we began to talk about her situation. I asked her to tell me about the young man she was dating and why she felt she needed to abort the child she was carrying. She told me that the young man was pressuring her and wanted to continue to work and go to school as did she. Then the Lord gave me the words to say to her and I will NEVER EVER forget them and so I told her .

"Today you are in a situation that seems so difficult and so very hopeless. It seems that there is only one way to resolve this situation. That is because you are thinking about only now but not about the future. Often when we are in pain that is how we tend to think. It is our emotions and especially the emotion of fear that can blind us and prevent us from thinking of anything but the present pain and situation. I want you to think beyond today. I asked her what she would like to happen in her life. She told me that she would like to finish school and that the young man had promised to marry her in the future IF she would agree to abort this child. Then I said something the Holy Spirit told me to say. I told her this. "I want you to hear this with your heart and not your ears. The young man you love will NOT likely marry you if you abort this child you are carrying. I will tell you why. Today, and as of this moment, whether he likes this or not...YOU are the MOTHER of his unborn child. IF you should decide to abort this child that you have both created and is from God .you will then become the MURDERER of his child. I do not believe that a man is likely to want to MARRY the murderer of his child. I am not promising he will marry you if you carry his child to term...but I do believe he might if you honor the life of his child and this gift of God. He will respect you. She was shocked. I was shocked. God gave me words for her. I told her that he would not likely marry her because every time he seen her he would be reminded of the great sin they committed in taking the life of their child. I then told her something else. I told her that although she was hurting today she should begin to think about how her life might be 20 years from now and how things will be better and she will have a wonderful young man or woman to love and she would not be sorry then. She began to weep. She said she would keep her child. We offered to help .and then ...I told her something else...

"Do you see this young lady here with me?" Her name is Sandra. When I found out I was expecting her...I was not married to her father. I was young and afraid just as you are today. I was in the doctor's office and was about to abort this child when I changed my mind and heart. I simply walked out. That is the reason she is here today. She is my best friend in life. She has brought joy to so many people throughout the past 27 years. She is the mother of my two grandchildren. I would have missed such joy and blessing.

The girl I went to see went back to Poland. She kept her child. She gave birth to a little girl. Her mother called me and thanked me. Every time I see her pictures I want to cry. And I always think about how I considered not going to meet with her mother that day. I always think of how God gave me the words when I didn't know what to say. He has great plans for our little girl. They are plans for good. She has a good future. She is beautiful. And the best news of all is that her mom is going to bring her here to meet Sandra and I. What an amazing God!! The giver of all life!!

from: www.christianblog.com