Life After Abortion pt. 1

Introduction

One of the most traumatic experiences I’ve seen women go through is the loss of a child. It seems to be one of the most agonizing experiences I’ve witnessed parents go through. Childbearing is no easy task, there are health implications for the baby to be born, there are health implications determined by what is going on with the woman. Even further, we must understand that childbirth depends heavily on the level of care and resources within the neighborhoods that these mothers live in.

I could belabor you with a number of statistics today. I could tell you that the level of care for black women in hospitals is vastly different than women of other races. I could tell you the story about the nursing staff that didn’t believe my wife when she was in pain with our firstborn and blood pressure levels had reach stroke level. I could tell you about my childhood friend that had to bury two children before they could even walk. I could tell you about the women who have died during labor and delivery, I could tell you about the women who have suicidal ideation, depression, and PTSD due to making a decision to follow through with an abortion. I could tell you about some women who became pregnant at the expense of rape and still were ridiculed because they were pregnant without being married.

Today I’m not going to do that, today my goal is to help those who have experienced such a traumatic experience that God still provides and heals. Today my goal is to help someone find purpose after the pain. Today my goal is to show you that Jesus cares for you even if you’ve had an abortion. The church is and has to be a place of accountability, honesty, and most of all grace and refuge. I believe if we can see the purpose in ourselves and our situations we have the power to find joy in the most painful places. I’m not here today to prove legislators wrong, or ostracize people for their voting practices, I’m here to help someone see that Jesus forgives sin and that there is grace even after abortion.

Talk to Someone

A lot of our issues would be a lot more palatable if we felt like we had someone to talk to. It would be easier to talk to someone if you saw similar value in me as what David describes in the 139th Psalm. Isolation is the beginning to destruction from Satan. Often times we make some of the most debilitating decisions because of shame or our inability to feel like we have someone to talk to.

Abortion Historically

Psalm 139:13-16

Psalm 139:13–16“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

Historically Abortion is not a new phenomenon. There are consistent historical writings from the Epistle of Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria, Tertulian and Augustine were all united in their condemnation of infanticide and abortion. Even in the year 306 the council of Elvira concluded that abortion was forbidden. The issue of abortion even reaches further than the act itself to historical arguments debating the purpose of parenthood, contraception and the moral obligation we have as it pertains to raising children. The idea of sin as it pertains to sex and the conceiving of children even spilled over into debates about surgical contraception that inhibits people from having children such as birth control, tubual ligation, vasectomies and many other options of contraception were heavily debated at the Lambeth Conference at the expensive of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the disagreements socially and politically arise from the intermingling of legislation and religion. As we maneuver through the the text biblically it’s understood that abortion is a sin, nonetheless the oppressive regulation of marginalized people especially women is the injustice that should be talked about more. As the church we must be the place of refuge, restoration and grace for those who have decided to make such a traumatic decision such as abortion. The same religious organization that has politicized sin and allowed their liberty in Christ to be legislated by the government will always be inconsistent in their acknowledgement of sin.

Inside Out

There’s a animated movie called inside out in which the emotions of many of the characters in the film are animated and it’s quite remarkable because the acting out of those emotions was a display of how they truly feel within ourselves. My point is the fact that it’s imperative that we understand the depth of how God knows us. He formed us, he created us, before we were a thought or a part of today God knows and understand us from the inside out.

“For You formed my inward parts:” Understand that even in the space of time in which we were in our mother’s womb God was piecing us together!

God’s power and grace is shown even in pregnancy. It is a representation of God’s power of creation within the confines of women’s bodies. There’s not a point in time in which we are absent from the protection of God. The root word of covered in this text means to weave or shape, simultaneously being God and protecting the mother and child as a cover or a shield.

This is a praise worthy moment! Childbearing is a blessing from God! Nonetheless regardless of the way a child is conceived every one is fearfully and wonderfully made, because every work of God is marvelous. I am wonderfully made, that baby is wonderfully made because we serve a wonderful and marvelous God. Our God is astounding, our God is amazing, our God is awesome! Understand that no matter what you have been through God is there!

Understand that every work of God is Marvelous! The text says, marvelous, it doesn’t just mean that God is marvelous, this is a verb in the sense that it’s not just describing God as marvelous is that his work is always marvelous because it’s his state of being. No matter the hour, no matter the day or time, God is marvelous and His works are marvelous. In the midst of His greatness, He still takes time to to know each and every one of us. “And that my soul knows very well”.

Understand that even in the midst of someone making such a traumatic decision such as abortion, in the middle of choosing which choice you won’t to make I want us to understand as a church if we show grace, and show support, and people trust that we will be there for them there might be more Godly choices made.

Do you know how many young ladies are traumatized about walking into a church because they’re pregnant and not married and the shame is solidified when we condemn rather than show the grace that God showed to us.

Nothing is Hidden From God

Psalm 139:15 “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”

Understand that nothing in life is by coincidence, if we trust the Lord it can turn into a plan of wisdom from a loving father that knows what is best for us. Part of it is accepting the fact that who we are in all of our flaws is still created by God and regardless of what you been through God can use it to keep someone else from making the wrong decision.

This text is encouraging because it is the cycle of life in a few sentences. Often times when we are met with a challenge at the expense of sin the initial response is lament but because of the grace and forgiveness of God our lament can turn into praise and eventually our praise can be vocalized as wisdom for the people that are struggling with the same decisions that we had to make.

What two people conceived in secret hidden from human eyes, God knows perfectly. He knit us in the image of his embroidering. Isn’t beautiful that God doesn’t even have to wait until we are born in effort to know all about us. He is the master craftsman in forming something that is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 1:5 ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.””

I’ll leave you with this, understand that you are not alone and the same cross that Jesus died on for the sins of the world apply to us. His love is greater than any trauma you have experienced. As a church we have to be ready to show love and kindness to people, not condemnation because they’ve made a choice or committed a sin that you were never faced with. Even beyond our choices, we are still fearfully and wonderfully made.