HANNIBAL – Most people live life based on what they see.
But Gail McWilliams, international speaker, author and radio host, says that that is a limited and disappointing view of life.
“They don’t see the big picture, only a narrow view that leaves them feeling stuck and unexcited about the life they’ve been given,” McWilliams said. “My goal is to always give people a new vision that looks past the horizon where the sky is the limit. We are here during this time in history for a purpose, and we need to live like it.”
McWilliams is one of several speakers who will encourage and challenge Missouri Baptists at the 2015 Worldview Conference, organized by the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) Christian Life Commission (CLC), on April 2 at Hannibal-LaGrange University here.
The backdrop surrounding her message of hope and vision began when she and her husband, Tony, welcomed five children into the world that the doctors said they would never have. After each child was born, McWilliams gradually lost her eyesight.
“I was pregnant with my second daughter and the doctor said I would need to choose between my baby and my eyes,” she said. “I told him, ‘I choose my baby,’ and as he left the room he muttered, ‘What a foolish decision.’
“In the middle of that defining moment, I didn’t realize that my choice was in any way noble. All I knew was that life made sense and that it was a gift. All of us have the chance to choose life on a daily basis; with the actions we take and with the words that come out of our mouths. Does that person matter? Is that life valuable? Always yes.”
With her ability to lift the spirits of her audience and inspire them toward their dreams and purpose, McWilliams has impacted thousands of people through her books, her radio spots and live speaking engagements.
“God will send a butler to your life and open doors you didn’t even know existed, let alone how to open,” she said. “Like Mary said, ‘Be it unto me according to your word.’ I’ve spoken to major national leaders and what’s funny is that I don’t ever really feel butterflies. Doesn’t matter if I’m speaking to a pro-life center, students at a university or leadership inside a corporation, I’m speaking my life message and it’s irrefutable.”
Because of her choice to have children, McWilliams’ message is always reinforced with the sanctity of human life. She said that Christians who make their love of life obvious and who are willing to break down walls with people, whether in church pews or in bleachers at a ballgame, are the ones who have the most success sharing God’s sanctity of human life message.
“Show up and love life,” she said. “See people and thank them for what they do. Love people. All people. You are a representative of God. Don’t be blinded to Him. Take every opportunity to display that life is good. He sent Jesus to give us life eternal. It’s not about a politically correct life, it’s about how we make a difference right here and right now.”