Samantha came in before closing to tell us that she had an abortion. She was barely coping. Samantha was struggling with her little girl, Emma - two years old and a real handful. Samantha said sometimes she didn't know how she got through the day. Every other weekend, Emma goes and stays with her dad and that gives Samantha some time to herself. But in the every day, the days are long and the sleep is interrupted nightly. She began to cry. She really did not want to have an abortion, but she felt she had no choice. The guy she was with now, it was an “on again/off again”. He wasn't sure he could cope with Emma. She didn't even tell him she was pregnant with his child. She had no one to tell. Her parents were Catholic and would be really disappointed. She asked if we knew of a church where she could go.
The floor was crazy busy – kids playing with the toys, babies crawling, moms looking for stuff. In the midst, Samantha still cried. We went upstairs. In the quiet, we talked about her church and what she had learned about God growing up. She felt what she did was wrong and wasn't sure God could possibly forgive her for the abortion. She felt so alone and abandoned in her grief.
We shared that God was so close she could reach out and touch Him. He had not abandoned her, He had brought her in so we could remind her how much He loved her. He had lost His son too. A sacrifice. God knows grief. She was not alone. At that moment, she chose to be born again and to be a Christ follower.
We provided some names of churches close to her home where she could grow in her faith and Samantha was set up in counseling to work through her post-abortive experience.
Please pray for our clients who have abortions or are calling in to schedule them. And remember our volunteers who minister to them with grace and kindness and hope.
Katherine Michel
Executive Director
(a true story with details changed to protect confidentiality)
