{"id":43897,"date":"2014-02-19T09:06:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T15:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=43897"},"modified":"2014-02-19T09:17:44","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T15:17:44","slug":"good-true-true-guiding-star-brazos-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/good-true-true-guiding-star-brazos-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Too good to be true? But it IS true! Guiding Star Brazos Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Guiding<\/a>

Guiding Star Brazos Valley event<\/p><\/div>\n

Almost exactly 16 years ago to the day, I was at a very similar place in my life. And I held a meeting at my parish in Aggieland – St. Mary’s Catholic Center. Just like we did this past Sunday. With some of the same people, some of the same faces in the audience. And the same nerves rattling my stomach. Sixteen years ago, Planned Parenthood had just announced that they were building our community’s first abortion clinic. And we were determined to do all we could to protect women and babies from the lies, pain and death that would take place inside.<\/p>\n

We were starting something new then, something one-of-a-kind. Something that we hoped would do great things \u2013 but we didn\u2019t quite know what that would look like. All we knew that God was our stronghold and would make of it what He willed.<\/p>\n

It was the first day of the Coalition for Life, and St. Mary\u2019s church was full of community members \u2013 eager to be involved, to give of their time and talents and prayers. Eager to be a voice for the unborn and women in need.<\/p>\n

We were a ragtag group, with passion and a hazy vision of what could<\/em> be. And sometimes that\u2019s ALL God needs to do something amazing! Little did we know of all the good that would come to our community and beyond, across the world, as a result of that meeting 16 years ago.<\/p>\n

And here we are now, coming together again to start another grand adventure in Aggieland. Once Abby Johnson and I were on opposite sides of that iron fence at Planned Parenthood in Bryan TX, but today we are here together and asking you to join us in a new mission.<\/p>\n

Now that Planned Parenthood has closed, I know that many of you, like me, have wondered \u201cWhat now!? What can I do now?\u00a0 I want to do something here, in our community to help women, babies and families, but what can I do?\u201d<\/p>\n

We’ve wondered, we’ve prayed, we’ve waited. And now we have an answer.<\/p>\n

We are at the beginning of something new \u2013 Guiding Star Brazos Valley<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Once again, we are one-of-a-kind, doing something in Bryan\/College Station that hasn\u2019t been done before. We are eager to do good in our community, to help those who are most helpless and in need of love. To be a truly Pro-Life, Pro-Woman presence. And we know that God will guide this effort and make of it what he wills, with his blessing.<\/p>\n

What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a very unique opportunity. After 16 years of fighting Planned Parenthood in our community, we are now RID of them!<\/p>\n

BUT WOMEN STILL ARE IN CRISIS PREGNANCY AND STILL CONSIDER ABORTION AS AN OPTION. WOMEN STILL NEED TO BE SERVED.<\/p>\n

We have an opportunity…<\/p>\n

no \u2013 a RESPONSIBILITY<\/p>\n

…to step into the gap, to be truly pro-life in every sense of the word – to offer the women, children and families of our community the help that they desperately need and deserve.<\/p>\n

Guiding Star Brazos Valley is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. GSBV is committed to serve the women and families of the Brazos Valley by opening a Maternity Home and a Women’s Resource Center. We aim to create a comprehensive center that coordinates health care and support for natural means of family planning, fertility care, childbirth, parenting support, and family life. GSBV will also provide post-abortion counseling, RU-486 reversal, and counseling due to miscarriage and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

Like before, this organization is only as strong as it\u2019s members. This is our effort \u2013 all of us normal, every day people – we have a mission. And it will succeed with God\u2019s grace and our very hard work!<\/p>\n

Guiding Star Brazos Valley is in its infancy, but has already garnered much support. We have a stellar board of directors, a office space on Church St. in College Station, a block away from Texas A&M University. The Knights of Columbus of Missouri have donated a brand new ultrasound machine, ready to deliver as soon as we’re ready to put it to good use. And there’s even more in the works that I can’t share just yet – but it’s pretty amazing!<\/p>\n

I can’t sufficiently express to you how much joy this project brings to my heart. After years of prayer, of waiting, of worrying and hoping, we finally turn over a new leaf. Rather, God does. God does it ALL – He shows us, over and over again, how much He loves us, how He just needs to to be patient, to be fervent and to be willing and He will take care of the rest. He can use us in our own small ways to do great things – to love people and change lives.<\/p>\n

Please join in our efforts by filling out our ‘Get Involved’ form <\/a>on our website. You can also follow us on facebook<\/a> and twitter<\/a>. Pray for us, will you?<\/p>\n

\"Guiding<\/a>

Guiding Star Board of Directors<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost exactly 16 years ago to the day, I was at a very similar place in my life. And I held a meeting at my parish in Aggieland – St. Mary’s Catholic Center. Just like we did this past Sunday. With some of the same people, some of the same faces in the audience. And… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,4,110],"tags":[1795,232,2204,2203,2201,2200,67,2202,345],"class_list":["post-43897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-acnm","category-blog","category-social-justice","tag-prolife","tag-abby-johnson","tag-bryan","tag-college-station","tag-guiding-star-brazos-valley","tag-lauren-gulde","tag-pro-life","tag-pro-woman","tag-texas","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43740,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/guidingstarlightsthewaytonewfeminism\/","url_meta":{"origin":43897,"position":0},"title":"Guiding Star lights the way to a new view of Feminism","author":"Julia Motekaitis","date":"February 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Brazos Valley in Central Texas is going to be the home of a new center devoted to pregnancy resources and women's health. 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The theme will be Oktoberfest, celebrating delicious and hearty German fare and beer. \u00a0The event takes place from 6:30-9pm at the Monsignor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Oktoberfest Logo 2013","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Oktoberfest-Logo-2013.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33248,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/01\/four-words-ill-never-forget\/","url_meta":{"origin":43897,"position":3},"title":"Four Words I’ll Never Forget","author":"Lauren Gulde","date":"January 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Four years ago, my son Jonathan found me sitting in front of my laptop, tears running down my cheeks. I had read an email and had been stunned to tears and silence. I was in shock with joy. 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