Prolife Kitchen Table
Join us as we share information and answer your questions about life issues from fertilization to natural death.
All of the materials used in this podcast are the product of four decades of work and research by Presbyterians Protecting Life – www.ppl.org. This isn’t just a podcast for Presbyterians – all of our materials are useful for anyone with an interest in protecting human life at every stage from fertilization to natural death.
We’ll use both scientific and philosophical sources, and for our Christian listener, there will be plenty of grounding in Scripture and a Biblical worldview. The show notes in each episode contain links to articles and scripture references. With the average 15 minute podcast length, and the addition of the list of scriptures and articles, each episode can be used for older student and adult Sunday Schools, group studies and personal study.
Most of the weekly topics will be available in hard copy from the PPL.ORG website and will cover a variety of subjects. We’ll talk about what it means to be human and how everyone is human from the moment of fertilization, and that our time in the womb is only a stage of development like being an infant, a toddler, a child, an adolescent, a mature adult and, if we are blessed with a long life, becoming elderly and how all those categories are categories of personhood and deserving of life and human rights.
Prolife Kitchen Table
Episode 28 - Comfort Food - Baby Chris Week 27
Especially in churches, women will often take their abortion secret to the grave, because there are too few opportunities for confession and healing offered. But there are many brave women who have stepped up inside their churches and shared the stories of their abortions, partly as cautionary tales, but more importantly, as testimonies of God's healing and deliverance through their experience. Such women are a gift to the church, and living examples of God's redemptive power.
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
Forgiven and Set Free abortion recovery bible study and workbook for women
Healing the Father's Heart abortion recovery bible study and workbook for men
Light and Life Ministry, First Presbyterian Church, Greenville, SC
Piedmont Women's Center, Greenville, SC
NPR audio plays the sounds of abortion on the air
Scripture references in this episode include:
2 Timothy 1:7 Psalm 139 Matthew 5:14
Psalm 3:5-6; 34:4; 55:22 Isaiah 40:31 Jeremiah 29:11
Deuteronomy 3:22 Matthew 6:28-29 Philippians 4:19
Psalm 145:16 Psalm 23 Psalm 91
Romans 8:38-39 John 1:3 Matthew 10:29
Revelation 1:17 Colossians 1:17 Isaiah 40:31
https://www.ppl.org/baby-chris
Abortion Pill Reversal https://abortionpillreversal.com 24/7 Helpline at 877.558.0333 Email: help@apr.life or Chat at the weblink above
Post abortion recovery for both women and men at https://www.rachelsvineyard.org
Life Training Institute https://www.prolifetraining.com
Charlotte Lozier Institute https://lozierinstitute.org
Guttmacher Institute https://guttmacher.org
Compelled by the gospel, PPL equips Presbyterians to champion human life at every stage. PPL.org
Welcome back to the ProLife Kitchen Table. I'm Deborah Hollifield, and every week I'm your host as we work through the archived resources of Presbyterians Protecting Life to help equip Christians to champion human life from fertilization to natural death. The first half of every episode is an article or editorial by a member of the PPL board or an expert in a field related to some aspect of prolife issues. After a short break midway through the podcast, I return to read from a devotional called Baby Chris that was written by me for PPL that considers each week of development in the womb through a biblical lens. Something that we as prolife advocates can never forget is that there are always several lives that are affected by every abortion. And of course the first life that comes to mind at the same time as the child is the mother's. There is an estimate that one in four women has experienced an abortion herself. The number in the black community is much, much higher because of the decades of the eugenic campaign waged by Planned Parenthood and anti life politicians. That means you undoubtedly won't know more than one woman who has had an abortion. And sadly, as women who were in their childbearing years in the 1970s when abortion became a national right and socially accepted, are now in your church in the same numbers that they are in the wider population. Especially in churches, women will often take their abortions secret to the grave because there are so few opportunities for such confession and healing. But there are many brave women who have stepped up inside their churches and shared the stories of their abortions, partly as cautionary tales, but more importantly as testimonies of God's healing and deliverance through their experience. Such women are a gift to the church and living examples of God's redemptive power. So this week I'm going to share the testimony of PPL Board member Stephanie Johnson, who as the wife of an associate pastor at a large and influential Presbyterian church risked a great deal when she gave her testimony in the midst of the congregation. The article that she wrote about this event is titled Out of the Darkness Into Life. Hear the word of the Lord. "As far as the East is from the West, so far does he remove our sins from us. Thanks be to God. " Scott Klusendorf, president of the Life Training Institute, points out that women aged 18 to 24 are the most vulnerable and most likely to have an abortion. In my life before knowing Christ, I made two of the worst decisions of my life, when at age 18, and again at age 24, I chose abortion over life. I was seventeen when I met my first love, a handsome pastor's son. For my eighteenth birthday, he gave me an engagement ring, and on that same night I gave him my virginity and got pregnant. I felt like I had no voice and no choice, because no other options besides abortion were given. I was told that the baby was just a blob of tissue anyway, and I believed that lie. The abortion was performed in the hospital. Even though it was 1971, and Roe v. Wade would not make abortion legal until January of 1973. Afterwards, my abortion was never talked about by my family or my boyfriend. It was as though it never happened. It caused our relationship to end, which left me heartbroken and my innocence shattered. I stuffed my feelings of anger, guilt, grief, shame, and regret. These deep wounds took my life in an entirely different direction than had I done things God's way. As is typical in women who have had an abortion, I was not aware that I was subconsciously trying to replace the baby I had aborted. At age twenty four, I got pregnant again with my boyfriend of three years. He said marriage was not an option, and angrily insisted that I have an abortion. I was so ashamed to be pregnant again. I couldn't tell anybody, especially my parents, so I agreed to it. My boyfriend dropped me off at the abortion clinic, paid for it, and went to work. I had never felt so alone or so full of despair as that day. That relationship broke up shortly after the abortion as well. Broken and wounded, with no one to share my secret, I stuffed my feelings again. A few years later I met a very nice man who I had a lot in common with. We started dating, fell in love, and then when unbelievably I got pregnant again. At this time I knew without a doubt that I could not have another abortion. He wanted to keep the baby also, so we chose life and marriage. We went on to have three beautiful children together. We were married eleven years when tragically he died of a massive heart attack. This was a devastating and life altering event for my children and me. I was now a single, self employed mother, supporting three young children. It was an extremely difficult time, but God provided for us. During this time I felt the Lord pursuing me as the hound of heaven. Finally I surrendered, accepting Christ and believing that God truly loved me and forgave all of my past sins. He redeemed me, he gave me a brand new life in Christ, and he can do the same for all women and men who like me choose abortion. Many years later, God answered my prayers and brought me the love of my life, my husband Stan, a pastor. When we married in 2003, Stan became a father to the fatherless for my children, the three here on earth and the two in heaven. We have been blessed to serve at First Presbyterian Church now for almost 20 years. One of the most providential blessings for me was when I met the CEO of our local crisis pregnancy center, Lena, at an event in our church in 2005. She told me about their abortion recovery assistance ministry and the forgiven and set free Bible study that they offered. Although it had been almost 35 years since my first abortion, and even though I knew in my heart that I was forgiven, for some reason I still felt stained. Lena helped me realize that I needed to face my abortion wounds and allow God to heal me through his word. During the Bible study I learned so much about who God is, who I was in Christ, and about his unconditional love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. With other women who had been where I had been, I could finally grieve the loss of my two children, acknowledge their humanity and honor their lives by naming them. By the end of the course I was truly healed and set free from the brokenness and wounds I had carried all those years. Even though statistics tell us that more than four in ten women who have had abortions were churchgoers when they ended their pregnancy, I am here to tell you there is hope if you or someone you know has had an abortion. You can experience as I did the miraculous transforming power of God's redeeming love, grace, and forgiveness through the gospel of Jesus Christ. God wants those wounded by abortion to be healed and set free so they can live the abundant life He created them for. I encourage anyone who has lost a child to abortion to pursue post abortion healing. In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren wrote "God never wastes a hurt. In fact, your greatest ministry will most likely come out of your greatest hurt. The very experience that you have resented or regretted the most in life, the ones you have wanted to hide and forget, are the experiences God wants you to use to help others." This is so true.
DeborahHollifield:Shortly after my husband was hired at our church, I realized God had placed me in a unique position. I sensed God wanted me to help others and give Him the glory by sharing my testimony at our church. Unfortunately, I gave into the fear of being judged and gossiped about. This fear is why women who've had an abortion in their past don't feel that the church is a safe place and what keeps them from pursuing healing and sharing their secret with the pastor. They view abortion as an unforgivable sin, and that is a lie from the pit of hell. Many nights my husband listened to me agonizing over why I couldn't find the courage to obey God's calling. But as we know, God's timing is always perfect. A few years ago, our senior pastor included the topic of abortion in his sermon. He showed a powerful video to our congregation called The Sound of Abortion. This was the moment that the Holy Spirit convicted me and said, Now is the time. This began the journey of God using my greatest hurt and turning it into my greatest ministry and calling.
DeborahHollifield:In 2017 I shared my testimony at the annual fundraising banquet for Piedmont Women's Center. What a huge mountaintop experience that was. Afterwards, though, I felt a huge burden, so I prayed, God, where are you calling me now? It soon became evident that God was at work when Lisa Van Riper, a church member, elder, and president of South Carolina Citizens for Life, asked me to help start a pro life ministry at our church. Her request confirmed that this was where God was calling me to serve. As we shared our vision with other church members, the Holy Spirit moved them to support us and join in our efforts.
DeborahHollifield:In July 2017, the first Presbyterian Church Light and Life Ministry was formed, and we became a local chapter of Presbyterians Protecting Life. Our mission statement is to speak truth, change hearts, and save lives. Our vision is to bring the subject of abortion and the sanctity of human life out of the darkness and into the light.
DeborahHollifield:Hear the word of the Lord. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Thanks be to God." I hope Stephanie's testimony touched your heart. And if you are a woman who has experienced abortion, especially a woman who is part of a church family, I hope you also heard how much healing came out of her willingness to share. I know that there are many women like her throughout the world, but especially in the United States, who motivated by their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose experiences could change the hearts and minds of young women everywhere, especially the ones at their kitchen tables. And now let's take our stretch break and maybe get a snack. Because when we come back, we're going to hear about baby Chris's development during week 27 in the womb. And this devotional is entitled Comfort Food.
Announcer:Presented by a five-member ensemble cast, Viable leads the audience through a journey of healing and restoration for post-abortive women and men through the love of Jesus Christ. Viable is endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee. You can find out how to present Viable to your church or pro-life group at ViablePlay.org.
DeborahHollifield:This week's Baby Chris Devotional is entitled Comfort Food.
DeborahHollifield:Hear the Word of the Lord. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Thanks be to God.
DeborahHollifield:A t twenty seven weeks, Baby Chris's retinas are now mature, making him more sensitive to light. His thumb sucking is no longer random, but is intentional self soothing. Young children suck their thumbs if they are tired, bored, hungry, or scared. But why would a baby in the womb need to self soothe? He's not hungry, wet, frightened, or in pain. But thumb sucking is seen in many ultrasound images. It is innate. It's not a learned behavior. By the time we grow to adolescence and adulthood, we continue to self soothe by replacing thumb sucking with other coping mechanisms, ranging from eating comfort food, shopping, overwork or over exercising, gambling, alcohol, and drug abuse. We tend to treat anxiety as a problem, and certainly runaway anxiety can be disabling. But it seems that anxiety is part of the universal human condition. What if anxiety is a gift in the same way that pain is a gift? Pain helps us learn to be careful around real things that will actually harm us if we encounter them, like hot burners and sharp points and street traffic. Pain and suffering also remind us of our weakened humanity. Pain forces us to allow others to minister to us in more intimate ways and allows others to exercise compassion. Both pain and anxiety can be problematic, but they can also be positive and productive.
DeborahHollifield:So if anxiety is a gift, how would it function? Well, similar to pain, anxiety functions as a reminder of what might harm us, but in a way that is different from physical pain. Overwhelming anxiety magnifies not only the possibility, but the expectation of pain that is often, at least in the moment, a non-existent threat. Unlike what we learn from physical pain with anxiety, we can't modify our behavior to protect us from the real thing that could actually harm us, like don't touch or look both ways. Anxiety only allows us to become hypervigilant in anticipation of a pain we can't measure or prevent from an unknown source at a time we can't predict. Physical pain is usually specific, but with anxiety, the possibilities are limitless. No wonder it's so easy for worry to expand into a suffocating blanket of depression. Well, it doesn't seem very gift-like to me.
DeborahHollifield:But more than 500 times, Scripture reminds us to be not afraid. The Psalms, the prophets, all the gospels and the epistles remind us to trust in the Lord. Trust the future to the Lord because God is with us, and the battle is the Lord's. Are you concerned about your family and livelihood? Well, God will provide for all our needs. Do you fear sickness and death? God will never leave you alone. Perhaps the worst worry that assails even the strongest believer from time to time is the fear that we might not, after all, be acceptable in God's sight. The knowledge of our past and current sins can overwhelm our faith and leave us wavering. It may be that it is at this point where the gift of anxiety shines the brightest. In the words of Saint Paul, I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. Romans chapter eight, verses thirty eight and thirty nine. Where we collapse under the weight of anxiety and worry over the people and things we cannot control is where anxiety becomes a gift. For the only place left to turn, our only hope is God. The God who made all things, who is in control of all things, who holds all things together, is the one to whom the gift of anxiety points. A mother's womb should be the safest place we will ever know this side of eternity. Yet in our upside down times, it has become one of the most perilous places where the smallest and weakest among us lie helplessly as their lives are held in the shaky trust of others, anxious and fearful men and women, unwilling parents who may see the child as the source of the anxiety they long to escape.
DeborahHollifield:Thank God the pre-born have no anxious expectation that they might be targeted for elimination. Thank God that he has them in his care. Thank God that he has given human beings anxiety from the womb so that as we go through life we might become conscious of our need for God's grace and mercy.
DeborahHollifield:Hear the word of the Lord. "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. Thanks be to God.
Announcer:We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection. We encourage you to share it and join us next time on Pro Life Kitchen Table. May God bless you.
