Have you ever said, “Well, I would NEVER do that”? Yeah…I say that a lot. You would think I would have learned by now that proclaiming that I will “never” do something is the quickest way for me to actually do it…but apparently, I am a slow learner. I would love to hear what your “I nevers” are. I’m pretty sure this proves that God is hilarious.
1. I said I would never leave Planned Parenthood
I said that A LOT. I loved my job at Planned Parenthood. I was on the retirement track…401K matching program, disability insurance, the whole bit. I was what they called a “lifer.” (I know, I see the irony, too. Why would I ever leave?? But then God showed up…and the rest is history. You can read my story of why I left Planned Parenthood at abbyjohnson.org.
2. I said I would never become prolife
Yeah, I wasn’t going to put that label on myself. When I left Planned Parenthood, I knew that I didn’t want my hands in abortion anymore, but I wasn’t willing to say that I was prolife. Prolifers were crazy people with a million kids. That was not me. It was never going to be me.
3. I said I would never pray outside an abortion facility
No. People who did that were strange. By the time I made this proclamation, I had already decided I was prolife…but not one of THOSE prolifers. I wasn’t going to try to talk to people on the sidewalk. Then one day, I was suddenly out there. And then I had to keep going. Now, I am the strange prolifer on the sidewalk.
4. I said I would never write a book
Truth be told, I hate writing. I don’t even know why I signed up to be a regular contributor on this site. I’m a sucker, I guess. I think the trick is that I am easily worn down. You keep asking and I will eventually give in. I was NOT going to write up my whole, long story of how and why I left Planned Parenthood. Well, I did. And I just turned in my manuscript for my second book.
5. I said I would never be against birth control
I remember sitting in an office one day, proclaiming to everyone who would listen that I would NEVER stop believing in birth control. By the way, I was sitting in a room full of prolifers. They all just looked at me and smiled. Two months later, I was at my doctor proclaiming that birth control was wrong. Geez.
6. I said I would never become Catholic
A bunch of papist, idol worshiping, non-Bible believing, anti-reason crazy people. That’s what Catholics were to me. No, I was never becoming Catholic. All of my Catholic friends were nuts if they thought they were going to drag me into one of their churches. I was confirmed Easter 2012.
7. I said I would never use NFP
You know what they call people who use NFP? Parents. I was not going to be one of those people. I saw them outside of my abortion facility…the whole lot of them. Women who seemed perpetually pregnant. I was not going to be one of those women. Then I started using NFP…then I became an NFP instructor.
8. I said I would never have a bunch of kids
What was wrong with these breeders? Why did they want so many kids? Do they just not like having any free time? I was happy with my one little girl. I was never going to have any more. Never. Now I have four…and three under 28 months…and counting. Hi, my name is Abby and I am officially a breeder.
9. I said I would never drive a mini-van
This kind of partners with number 6. I was never going to need a mini-van, because I could happily drive a Mustang with just one child. I am a cool person. Cool people don’t drive mini-vans. Trading my car in for a mini-van was the best thing I have ever done. Now we are looking at a 12 passenger van. I lost my cool card a LONG time ago. I actually think it was around the time I became one of those papist Catholics.
What did you say you’d never do?
What can I say to wife to make her ok with getting a mini-van? You have ten seconds…GO!
You have more room to drag friends with you where ever you go… At least until you fill it up with kids. 🙂
They come with everything. They are getting a lot cooler looking. sliding side doors are awesome and practical. (and a little sci-fi.)
They look like the space shuttle, only they’re more reliable! 🙂
I have to laugh at #9. Embrace your destiny. I call my little Corolla my Lamborghini, because that’s what it feels like to me after I drove kids around in a minivan for 20 years.
Thanks for reminding me that swearing I’ll never do something simply gives God an excuse to surprise me.
Just wait till you graduate to the fifteen passenger van! They’re so darn useful, we’ve found, for carrying groceries, furniture, Christmas trees, sport and music equipment… oh, and my family’s 11 kids. That NFP, though. (They’re instructors, too, and were told they couldn’t have kids. That was their “never do” thing, but God certainly had other plans!)
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Well, with the exception of never having worked at PP, I can say “yep” to all of these. I NEVER would have imagined I’d be a pro-life Catholic mom who uses NFP.
Welcome to this crazy “club.” So glad you are a part of it!
I could never have imagened in my early life that I would become a Catholic. I was an atheist, I had a science degree, surely no rational person could believe all that. And yet I did, nearly 20 years ago now. And it was reason and logic that brought me to Christianity and to Catholicism.
Love the (Start Trek) Voyager reference! We had one each of the OTHER Chrysler minivans: the Dodge Caravan and the Chrysler Town and Country. I don’t understand why people buy SUVs instead of minivans–much nicer, more useful vehicles! (And that was before electric doors and hide-away seating!)
Dear Abby, You’ve made marvelous strides in your spiritual growth. I’ve seen your testimony. However, you are not in the Catholic Church. The post Vatican 2 ‘new religion/novus ordo’ claimed Catholic is based upon what Pontiffs have condemned. Modernists have been flexing their muscles for years. The infallible spirit is given only to the personal representative of Jesus Christ, the pope. They have warned of these modernists’ trappings yet Vatican 2 Council ’62-65 implemented many of these in changes that contradicted Magisterium. As a result of that bad council, new liturgies and a new mass was implemented that caused endless good Catholics to leave:
https://www.novusordowatch.org/pope-francis.htm
https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/m002rpMisunderstandingMass.htm
As promised Holy Mother Church does exist and will until the end of time. Where ever you go to Mass if the novus ordo missae is offered you have a duty to leave and not support what is hell bent to harm souls. Furthermore, use your talents and opportunities to speak in defense of Catholic principles and doctrines. Find counseling from a bishop or priest who has never and/or who has renounced the novus ordo religion that has disconnected from its own past.
I said I would never be anything but a liberal years ago, now I’m a conservative.