Heartbeats – Fall 2024

Isaiah & Keitra’s Story

Keitra came to First Coast Women’s Services worried about her pregnancy. She was fresh out of college, starting her career, and far from her home and family in the Bahamas. Pregnancy was not part of her plans. She and her boyfriend, Isaiah, had been together for several years and had recently moved to Jacksonville for employment. Finances were stable but the relationship was strained by their unplanned pregnancy.

The relationship challenges got so tough that Keitra considered moving home to her family in the Bahamas. In that case, Isaiah would never get to know his daughter. Thanks to the bond Isaiah formed with his male mentor at FCWS, he knew he could confide in his mentor and get help.

Through FCWS, both Isaiah and Keitra were able to get the mentoring, spiritual guidance, and support they needed. They took relationship skills classes and learned how to better communicate and problem-solve together, among other skills. They began to recognize that the challenges they were facing are shared by many couples…they were just experiencing them all at once.

A Letter from Judy Weber

Each of US Are a Part of God’s Rescue Mission in NE Florida

I am writing this article on the day after the 2024 Election, so please understand my euphoria. I know that by the time you read this, you will have read numerous wonderful articles about the huge victory for the unborn in the defeat of FL Constitutional Amendment 4, but it is still fresh and new for me as I write. I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving to the Lord for saving us from this evil plan. It was the faithful prayers, fasting and hard work by many of the Christians in our area, including you, and those all over the state who the Lord honored by stopping the passage of Amendment 4. Thank you for your strong response to our call for prayer and fasting on November 3rd.

In his book, “The Josiah Manifesto”, Jonathan Kahn has said,

When a civilization sets itself against the ways of God, the people of God must set themselves against the evil of that civilization. They must take their stand, no matter the price of that stand. The good can only be good inasmuch as it opposes evil, and the greater the evil, the more powerfully must the righteous stand against it.

We stood against it and the Lord gave us a great victory for LIFE! We are thankful for His mercy towards us in Florida.

We have spent the past several months with our eyes on Amendment 4, and now that the amendment has been defeated, you may be wondering, “What now?” The answer is simple. We are here to serve, and we will continue being here to serve no matter what. With the Heartbeat Protection Act remaining in place, we anticipate we will continue to see a rise in clients who are desperate for help. It is our joy to offer the support they need to choose life and see their families transformed for generations to come.

We are grateful to continue doing what we always have: saving lives and transforming generations. We will continue to offer free medical, educational and material services to more families in need. We will continue to offer emotional and spiritual support when our clients need it most. We will continue to fight for every single precious life and honor the Giver of Life. Thank you for standing strong in this mission with us. Your support allows us to continue.

Reflecting on the Annual Life Banquet

This year’s Annual Life Banquet was a beautiful celebration of 30 years of life-saving work in Northeast Florida as well as a celebration of CEO Judy Weber’s 18 years of leadership. This joyful evening left us all inspired and hopeful about the future of LIFE in our community as we reflected on all God has done through the ministry over the past 30 years.

We were blown away by the generosity expressed at this year’s event and are grateful to all who attended and who helped make this evening a success. We are delighted to report it was yet another record-breaking year!