This is why I walk for Hope and for life. It has been almost 20 years since the day I returned to Hope Women’s Centers desperate for help. I was lost, alone, and terrified. I’d let myself be deceived into making a bad situation even worse by having an abortion. The regret was overwhelming and I was sinking deep into a black pit. I was shaken, frantic, and hopeless. All that I thought I was or would ever become seemed to be fading away, like a polaroid in reverse. Every day was a dizzy spiral of self- loathing, regret and terror. The day I came to Hope, I was spent and half dead, spread out on the shore, spit out like decaying seaweed left to scorch in the blazing heat. I sought out the only Christian I knew at the time, a counselor at Hope who’d tried to give me options other than abortion. Now two years later, I wondered if she would even remember me. She did. She met me with compassionate eyes, allowing me to pour it all out in her arms. She took me by the hands and prayed for me and with me. I was finally ready to let God take over the life I’d almost ruined. I choked out my salvation prayer in hiccups, the words falling slow off my thick tongue. My tears of surrender, so fat and heavy, I thought I could hear them bursting on the floor below. I was a grown woman, yet in my soul, I was still a helpless little girl. I knew I was giving up but I didn’t feel defeated. Instead, I was overtaken by a sense of security and relief. It was going to be alright. It was going to get better. That day was the first in a glorious journey of recovery. There are so many women and men going through the same thing all over Broward County. There is no other organization of its kind available. If they weren’t there, I would be nothing more than an abortion statistic instead of a full-fledged child of God. This is why I walk for Hope and for life.
Michelle sent us her thoughts about why she is walking for life. She wants to encourage others who may have a similar story and she is so excited about participating in our 2017 Walk For Life! Michelle was also featured as a previous patient in our 30th Anniversary Celebration earlier this year. You can see her full story HERE.
We are so thankful to be able to meet with patients like Michelle every day in our centers. Some patients come to our centers regretting their decision a few days after their abortion and some patients come decades later. What we know is that God has called us to continue to be faithful, shrewd and ready to receive patients as they come. The last 6 years, we have seen over 35,700 patient visits. Without support from our Partners in Hope, we would not exist to encourage and equip patients like Michelle.
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