In my head, I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the words to answer her. I got down on my knees to her level and said, “You are right. Those babies are always people and they are gifts from God, so it is not okay, is it?” She shook her head. I continued, “I know that this is so hard to understand, Grace, but I used to talk to those mommies, and I want you to know that they are not doing it to be mean.” Before staying home with my children, I was a professional counselor – supporting abortion minded women. “Many of them are just poor and afraid that they won’t have the money to buy diapers and things for their babies, so we are called to help them.”

Grace then stood up tall and said,

“Well, I want to help! I want to make something and sell it and give the money back to the mommies, so they don’t have to do abortions.”

When I asked her what she wanted to make she proceeded to tell me her idea, “I want to sew a cross and stuff that cross, and on that cross, I want to put a baby because those babies are suffering like Jesus suffered on the Cross. I then want to put a heart of rays of light coming from that baby.”

I was then given an image in my heart of what that pillow was supposed to look like – incorporating the call to prayer in the pocket of the pillow. God’s timing is always perfect, and the next day we literally had a seamstress scheduled to come to our house and teach us how to sew. We homeschool and bring teachers in to help us.

A few months later, we began selling the Pro-life Prayer Pillows. Very quickly tens of thousands of dollars were raised through the sale of the pillows to support women and families experiencing a crisis pregnancy. Word got out about this little girl on a mission and in 2016, my daughters and I were invited into the schools to share the story of the pillows and inspire other kids to make a difference too.

Through God’s amazing grace and provision, as we continued to go into the schools, a team of outstanding people and our 4S Model of Education™ was formed – using Scripture, Science with live ultrasounds, Stories, and Service to teach kids across the country about the gift of life.

Through this story of how Heart of a Child Ministries began, may we know that it is because of grace—God’s grace—that His blessings happen in our lives. May we have hearts like little children to be dependent upon Him, hear His voice, receive His inspiration, and follow Him all the days of our lives!

May God bless you,
Nikki Schaefer, MSW
Executive Director
Heart of a Child Ministries™