Ashley Dewart Pregnancy Help News
How many of us can truly identify a time in our lives when grace and courage were the only sustaining factors moving us toward the life we were intended to live?
I fear it is a self-reflective moment too many of us miss, but it doesn’t have to be.
Our fast-paced, rat-race life often denies us the opportunity to identify those defining moments; the moment when we said “Yes!” to the hard, rejected the lies, and moved forward toward the unknown with a sense of purpose that we may not have understood and with a grace we may not have even recognized.
Then someone challenges us to pause. We see courage on full display, and we take notice.
Recognizing this in someone else gives us the moment we may need to see it in ourselves.
Grace and courage — the virtues witnessed when a young mom steps into the unknown and fearful land of an unexpected pregnancy, makes a choice she regrets, then seeks a second chance.
These second chances are the passionate mission of the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN). They open the doors to what grace has stirred in the hearts of women who are scared and longing for a course reversal.
The APRN team will tell you about the incredible courage and the Hand of God witnessed in every phone call. They've experienced thousands of times, with more than 4,500 lives saved and counting through reversal.
But what happens when a room full of generous people witnesses this courage firsthand?
Tears—lots of tears! And a spark—a spark that ignites a passion to seek the courage within themselves, that they just witnessed in that one brave soul willing to risk it all to speak life and truth.
Cassidy has a story to tell, grace to reveal, and courage to share.
What started as a choice set for destruction was on a collision course with grace and courage — a combination set for life.
Desperation and shame led to what felt like her only option-and she moved forward with her head down, doing what the culture and those around her told her would solve all her problems. The “abortion pill” was sold under the guise of choice and Cassidy reluctantly bought the lie.
Enter grace and courage.
With a heart full of regret and a cell phone in hand she searched for a second chance.
She got more than she bargained for—in a God kind of way!
With grace and courage, she found a new trajectory and never looked back.
The Abortion Pill Rescue Network worked quickly to connect her with the lifesaving abortion pill reversal protocol. And a team of passionate, courageous individuals stood ready to love her with all they had.
Her bravery resulted in a set of events that will make a generational impact—in her family and in the lives of perfect strangers, because her courage didn’t stop at the exclamation of “It’s alive?!”
No, she went beyond the expected and chose courage again.
Cassidy knew her story had to be told. She knew there were women just like her searching for a second chance, holding on to a glimmer of hope. They must hear that hope doesn’t exist in vain.
After saving the life of her son, Dexter, due this month, Cassidy told her story through social media. She told the story of a simple phone call that changed the path her feet would walk, a simple prescription for progesterone saving two lives, and a simple acceptance of the love and care of her community leading to the greatest joy she had ever known.
The Abortion Pill Rescue Network assured her that hope was not lost, and Coastline Pregnancy Care Center opened their arms and their hearts in their own moment of grace and courage, just like faithful individuals in centers across the globe do day in and day out.
And God spurred her on to go outside of herself and trust in a deep, abiding grace that would carry her forward to another courageous decision; the legacy building choice of sharing her story with those who made her reversal story, the life of Dexter, and her own life possible.
Last week, Cassidy got in a car and drove 10 hours, while 38 weeks pregnant, to push grace and courage to the limit. She made the trip to tell her story to a group of Heartbeat International benefactors gathered during Heartbeat’s 2023 Annual Pregnancy Help Conference.
Heartbeat International is the world’s largest network of pregnancy help, and it manages the APRN.
At the Heartbeat gathering, Cassidy shared her story with a room full of strangers; strangers who have devoted their lives to stepping into their own courage and grace to steward their resources to empower women just like her. Women who, until now, they never could have dreamt they would be standing face to face with.
When Cassidy spoke, tears flowed. The growth of courage to do more was a tangible feeling in the room as those passionate souls leaned in close to allow her courage to amplify their own.
She wanted to ensure that this room full of people knew their grace and courage-filled generosity was changing trajectories; was saving lives.
And she wants them to do more, to dig deeper, to be more courageous.
If sharing her story means that more moms hear about and have access to this second chance; if it means that more children will live and more moms are loved, then she will be courageous.
Will we heed her call?
Witnessing courage is like a mirror casting our reflection upon us.
Are we courageous? Are we filled with the grace that allows courage to go beyond the fear of the unknown and walk with purpose toward the best that God has in store?
Cassidy’s story will live on. Dexter’s story will live on. Her courage begs the question…will ours?
If she can—so will we. Until abortion is unthinkable and unwanted, until every child is cherished and every life protected, until every mother and family are valued, we will be courageous.
As Heartbeat International Vice President of Mission Advancement Cindi Boston talked with Cassidy in this moment, she reminded us that “often when the choice to be courageous is made, the circumstances have not yet changed.”
“One must walk forward in grace and courage in the midst of the same circumstances, holding on to a hope bigger than themselves,” Boston said. “This post-Roe generation will muster the same courage we see on display within the hearts of mothers like Cassidy and go beyond ourselves to open the door for second chances.”
We will not be deterred; we will not live in fear. We will live, and move, and speak truth covered in grace. We will ensure Cassidy’s pursuit to share her story is made possible and that her desire to see more lives saved is made manifest through our own courage.
Dexter is due on May 14. I invite you to stand alongside Cassidy and pray, to step into your own courage and to see what God has in store for a hope-filled future.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News.
Story courtesy of Heartbeat International
