Abortion was not the answer...
I sat in church the other day beside my husband, listening to the yearly "Sanctity of Life" message. By now, it is a very familiar message for me. I have heard it many times, and even delivered it myself, both privately to individuals and publicly to large groups. Then the video began. Its message, too, is very familiar to me; the intricate design of life in the womb. Yet today, I was overcome with emotion…again. It was nearly uncontrolled emotion as I sat there and soaked in the images on the screen. I cried in complete humility of the Truth portrayed in the images, and for God’s amazing grace. I wretched as I tried to contain the sobs coming out of a complete and utter brokenness over the lies that women buy every day. I bought them too, twice…
Although I grew up in a home devoid of expressions of love, where anger was the dominant emotion, I was a very happy go lucky child. I spent most of my time outdoors and at my friend’s house. I loved to laugh and enjoyed being around people, especially babies. I have always loved babies. My dream was to be a wife and Mommy. I was sexually abused as a young child by a neighbor and that, coupled with the craving for love and acceptance I did not find at home, taught me to seek my “dream” in all the wrong ways. I became sexually active at 15. By 18 I was pregnant and married to a man who felt obligated after I refused to abort our baby. Five years later, we had a 4 year old and 6 week old daughter. My dream was once again shattered when I learned of his infidelity. Seeking comfort from another man outside my marriage, we separated shortly after. I continued in the relationship with this new man. Once again, I was using what I had been taught to gain acceptance. Six months into the relationship, I got pregnant. My first reaction was fear. Though I desperately wanted to live my childhood dream, the lies began creeping in. “If I keep this baby, then my husband will take my other 2 children away.” “If my parents find out, they will hate me” “I won’t be able to continue in Nursing School with another baby”… my boyfriend said he would support me in whatever I chose. The only friend I confided in responded, “Abortion is no big deal…I had one” It was sealed…Feeling as if I had no other choice, I exercised the legal “choice” to abort my baby.
I vividly remember sitting in the waiting room and pleading internally for someone to stop me. I wanted my boyfriend to step in and protect me and rescue me. I was screaming inside and wanted to run. Fear was the glue that held me there. I desperately wanted Hope…it would not come for years. The “counselor” at the Family Planning Clinic, seeing my tears, simply said, “It will be okay, honey. You are doing what’s best for you” I silently justified, “I have no other choice” Immediately following the procedure I was relieved it was over but I was numb, broken and empty. The finality of my empty womb set in almost immediately. Then the guilt came. Guilt overwhelming and consuming, yet I really couldn't even put a finger on it. After all...abortion is okay, right? It's legal. Many women have had abortions. It must be okay, right?
Two hours later I left that clinic with emptiness in my core being that would turn darker and darker as time went by. The ride home was silent, and we never mentioned it again. I became careless and almost daring myself to get pregnant again. I did, a year later. After experiencing heavy bleeding I went to my OB/GYN and was told I was miscarrying. A week later when I took another test and it was positive, I made an appointment for an abortion. I was so hardened by this time, I left feeling bold and confident.
Over the next several years, from time to time the issue of abortion came up in conversations at work, or with friends. I would express that I was “personally pro-life…but pro-choice for other people.” I remained SILENT about my “choices”. My boyfriend and I married after Nursing School and we had a daughter the next year. This pregnancy brought up many emotions for me. I had nightmares about a deformed baby, and I was terrified something was wrong with her. During delivery, my Physician even asked me why I was so afraid something was wrong with her. I made no connection between my irrational fears and my abortions. The anger within me grew. Still no one other than my husband and friend knew of my “choice.” Inwardly, there was a turmoil that was never settled. I resented my husband for insignificant reasons. I would swing from intense love to intense hatred for him. I was no longer the “happy go lucky” girl I had always been. My wittiness turned more to sarcasm and condescending stabs at other people, even my children. I hated myself and was having a harder and harder time loving others…including my 3 girls. I began to drink heavily and that compounded my depression.
By now, I had no mental connection to my abortions and my spiraling depression and self- hatred. I constantly pushed my husband away. I distanced myself from my girls. I suppressed my abortions so much so, that I didn't even make a connection between the slow destruction of myself, and the quick destruction of my babies....because... abortion is okay, right?
Over the course of the next 9 years, the self -hatred, anger and depression drove me to the point of attempting suicide in 1998. And that is where I met HOPE. Hope in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who covered the sin of my "choice" with His precious blood on the cross. When I could no longer carry the weight of who I was, I fell to my knees as my brain screamed "I want to die!"...Praise God, as I cried out, it became not a head cry for death...but a heart cry for life! Forgiveness was immediate... healing from the scars of my "choice" , and being set free from the silence, would come over the next 7 years. Through a private Bible Study, Forgiven & Set Free recovery program, support from a local Crisis Pregnancy Center and God’s abundant mercy, my husband and I experienced healing. We were able to forgive one another, and openly mourn the absence of our babies at a Memorial Service for the Preborn. I still weep from time to time, not as a condemned woman, but in sorrow of not being able to hold my babies on earth. I long for the day I meet them in Heaven.
I can no longer be SILENT...I am a VOICE for truth.
Friends, I know the statistics. 1 in 3 women exercise their "free choice" to abort...and are then in bondage from their decision. If you are one of them, and have not been HEALED & SET FREE...I beg you, please, seek help to recover. Contact me...you will find nothing but compassion here. My heart is breaking for all who have bought the same lie I did...because, NO...abortion is not right....it's just legal.
But forgiveness is a beautiful thing!
I sat in church the other day beside my husband, listening to the yearly "Sanctity of Life" message. By now, it is a very familiar message for me. I have heard it many times, and even delivered it myself, both privately to individuals and publicly to large groups. Then the video began. Its message, too, is very familiar to me; the intricate design of life in the womb. Yet today, I was overcome with emotion…again. It was nearly uncontrolled emotion as I sat there and soaked in the images on the screen. I cried in complete humility of the Truth portrayed in the images, and for God’s amazing grace. I wretched as I tried to contain the sobs coming out of a complete and utter brokenness over the lies that women buy every day. I bought them too, twice…
Although I grew up in a home devoid of expressions of love, where anger was the dominant emotion, I was a very happy go lucky child. I spent most of my time outdoors and at my friend’s house. I loved to laugh and enjoyed being around people, especially babies. I have always loved babies. My dream was to be a wife and Mommy. I was sexually abused as a young child by a neighbor and that, coupled with the craving for love and acceptance I did not find at home, taught me to seek my “dream” in all the wrong ways. I became sexually active at 15. By 18 I was pregnant and married to a man who felt obligated after I refused to abort our baby. Five years later, we had a 4 year old and 6 week old daughter. My dream was once again shattered when I learned of his infidelity. Seeking comfort from another man outside my marriage, we separated shortly after. I continued in the relationship with this new man. Once again, I was using what I had been taught to gain acceptance. Six months into the relationship, I got pregnant. My first reaction was fear. Though I desperately wanted to live my childhood dream, the lies began creeping in. “If I keep this baby, then my husband will take my other 2 children away.” “If my parents find out, they will hate me” “I won’t be able to continue in Nursing School with another baby”… my boyfriend said he would support me in whatever I chose. The only friend I confided in responded, “Abortion is no big deal…I had one” It was sealed…Feeling as if I had no other choice, I exercised the legal “choice” to abort my baby.
I vividly remember sitting in the waiting room and pleading internally for someone to stop me. I wanted my boyfriend to step in and protect me and rescue me. I was screaming inside and wanted to run. Fear was the glue that held me there. I desperately wanted Hope…it would not come for years. The “counselor” at the Family Planning Clinic, seeing my tears, simply said, “It will be okay, honey. You are doing what’s best for you” I silently justified, “I have no other choice” Immediately following the procedure I was relieved it was over but I was numb, broken and empty. The finality of my empty womb set in almost immediately. Then the guilt came. Guilt overwhelming and consuming, yet I really couldn't even put a finger on it. After all...abortion is okay, right? It's legal. Many women have had abortions. It must be okay, right?
Two hours later I left that clinic with emptiness in my core being that would turn darker and darker as time went by. The ride home was silent, and we never mentioned it again. I became careless and almost daring myself to get pregnant again. I did, a year later. After experiencing heavy bleeding I went to my OB/GYN and was told I was miscarrying. A week later when I took another test and it was positive, I made an appointment for an abortion. I was so hardened by this time, I left feeling bold and confident.
Over the next several years, from time to time the issue of abortion came up in conversations at work, or with friends. I would express that I was “personally pro-life…but pro-choice for other people.” I remained SILENT about my “choices”. My boyfriend and I married after Nursing School and we had a daughter the next year. This pregnancy brought up many emotions for me. I had nightmares about a deformed baby, and I was terrified something was wrong with her. During delivery, my Physician even asked me why I was so afraid something was wrong with her. I made no connection between my irrational fears and my abortions. The anger within me grew. Still no one other than my husband and friend knew of my “choice.” Inwardly, there was a turmoil that was never settled. I resented my husband for insignificant reasons. I would swing from intense love to intense hatred for him. I was no longer the “happy go lucky” girl I had always been. My wittiness turned more to sarcasm and condescending stabs at other people, even my children. I hated myself and was having a harder and harder time loving others…including my 3 girls. I began to drink heavily and that compounded my depression.
By now, I had no mental connection to my abortions and my spiraling depression and self- hatred. I constantly pushed my husband away. I distanced myself from my girls. I suppressed my abortions so much so, that I didn't even make a connection between the slow destruction of myself, and the quick destruction of my babies....because... abortion is okay, right?
Over the course of the next 9 years, the self -hatred, anger and depression drove me to the point of attempting suicide in 1998. And that is where I met HOPE. Hope in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who covered the sin of my "choice" with His precious blood on the cross. When I could no longer carry the weight of who I was, I fell to my knees as my brain screamed "I want to die!"...Praise God, as I cried out, it became not a head cry for death...but a heart cry for life! Forgiveness was immediate... healing from the scars of my "choice" , and being set free from the silence, would come over the next 7 years. Through a private Bible Study, Forgiven & Set Free recovery program, support from a local Crisis Pregnancy Center and God’s abundant mercy, my husband and I experienced healing. We were able to forgive one another, and openly mourn the absence of our babies at a Memorial Service for the Preborn. I still weep from time to time, not as a condemned woman, but in sorrow of not being able to hold my babies on earth. I long for the day I meet them in Heaven.
I can no longer be SILENT...I am a VOICE for truth.
Friends, I know the statistics. 1 in 3 women exercise their "free choice" to abort...and are then in bondage from their decision. If you are one of them, and have not been HEALED & SET FREE...I beg you, please, seek help to recover. Contact me...you will find nothing but compassion here. My heart is breaking for all who have bought the same lie I did...because, NO...abortion is not right....it's just legal.
But forgiveness is a beautiful thing!
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your powerful witness! May God bless you and your family.
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