April 23, 2024
MOULTRIE, Ga. – The first glimpse that many young mothers-to-be get of their babies in this part of Georgia is via an ultrasound machine at the Hope House Women's Clinic.
They see the developing facial features, the tiny arms and legs, and they fall in love, tossing aside any notion of ending their pregnancies.
“Once they see the baby’s heartbeat and see that it’s a life, not just a clump of cells, then they change their minds about abortions,” said Katrina Bevins, director of Hope House.
So, when the ultrasound machine at the Moultrie pregnancy center stopped working, Pine Grove Baptist Church in Moultrie moved quickly to provide the money needed to purchase a new one.
“It speaks to their generosity, to their concern for the unborn, and to their concern for young women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies,” said Dion Brown, the associational missionary in the Conquitt County Baptist Association. “They were willing to dig deep for a kingdom purpose, and it’s a real blessing.”
Pine Grove Pastor Stanley Norman said two members of his congregation serve on the Hope House board of directors and they informed the church of the need for a new ultrasound machine.
The church invited members of the congregation to make financial contributions to cover the $28,600 cost.
“Our church has always been generous,” Norman said, pointing to any number of projects, both in the local community and beyond, including for the construction of wells in Third World countries to supply clean drinking water.
Norman said the Hope House gave the new ultrasound machine the name Abigail, after the life-saving heroine of the Old Testament.
“We hope this ultrasound machine will accomplish the same purpose, and save many lives,” he said.
Giving human names to machines may seem unusual, but not for Bivins.
“I just like to name things because names have significance,” she said.
The name Abigail, Bivins said, seems especially fitting for the ultrasound machine because the woman who had that name in 1 Samuel 25 prevented the shedding of innocent blood.
“We hope that is what the ultrasound machine does for these mothers and others, that they will not shed the blood of the innocent. And that’s why she’s named Abigail,” she said.
