How many of these tragic deaths could be averted if churches made it clear what abortion really was? How many men and women would gather the courage and hope they need to choose life if they knew their fellow congregants were on their side, ready to embrace and uplift them and their child?
And how many men and women wait silently next to us, desperate to know God’s love and healing but convinced they are unable to speak safely, or to speak about their suffering while remaining welcome in their church?
We think the answer to all these questions is: A lot. But we won’t know until we bring God’s light to the issue.
That’s part of why we wrote “Beauty from Ashes.” We want to share the grief and loneliness of our own choice to abort our first child so that others might avoid the same fate. We want to share the joy, hope and forgiveness that God has brought into our lives in the hope that others might share that fate.
God knows all of us, and sees us all better than we see ourselves. Yet we try to hide from him. We act like he doesn’t know what we’ve done, or what we’re thinking. But he does. And yet he still loves us, more tenderly and completely and perfectly than any person ever will.
God wants to protect children in the womb, yes—and he wants to heal those who’ve suffered at the hands of the abortion industry. God wants every one of us to know the love, freedom and hope of life in him. It’s time for us to build a church where that’s possible.
