One of the great struggles in post abortion healing is getting past the shame. In our Hope and Healing "Entering Canaan" retreats on eof the talks is titled "Pride/Shame vs. Humility". It takes a look at the difference between humility and the shame those who are post abortive oftenget locked into...here I am sharing a talk by Donna, one of the women in our ministry
But God, who is rich in mercy, was moved by the intense love with which He loved us, and when we were dead by reason of our transgressions, He made us live with the life of Christ. By grace you have been saved.
Dead...exactly how I felt after my abortion. Waves of pain, guilt, shame, disgust, despair. I could go on and on. I was dead by reason of my transgression. Whatever relationship I had with God was now severed beyond repair. Little did I know that my abortion would be the beginning of a very long journey into the arms of Jesus. This was the beginning of my walk of faith.
But at the time, all I could see was what I did. All I could think was how could I? All I could feel was emptiness. All I could think was what would people think if they knew. I killed my unborn child. The worst sin of all, as far as I was concerned. I was supposed to protect my unborn child, not destroy it.
On the outside, I could forget about it and pretend that everything was great. If I could just stuff it way down I could escape all of the pain. I had a life to live after all and when I wasn't thinking about my abortion, I had a good life. Besides, I would not let most people know the truth about what I did so almost no one had any idea. Things were the same as always. But things, as we all know, are not always what they seem.
In private, alone by myself, I could always beat myself up. I could condemn myself and be alone in my shame & misery. The misery that I had created for myself. I could cry all the tears that I couldn't in public. I could hate myself and tell myself that I was no good. Whatever good there was in me didn't matter anymore. I killed my baby. I killed my baby. There was nothing else after that. Everything else was fantasy, everything else was a lie. I knew the truth. I knew what I did even if others didn't.
But so did God. He knew everything and He loved me anyway. That was not something I thought about during the years of my darkness. In the years of my prideful, pitiful self. Yes, I knew in the back of my head that God loves us all. That God forgives us. Yes, God forgives everyone. But not me. Not this time.
Of course, I wanted His forgiveness. I begged for it often. I cried and told Him how sorry I was. And I believe with all my heart that He knew how sorry I was and He wanted me to know His forgiveness. And although I wanted and needed it, I couldn't believe that I was forgiven. I could not and would not forgive myself.
There it is. My pride. My pride held me back. My pride would not let me feel forgiveness from God or from myself. However, I honestly didn't know that it was pride keeping me away from God and His forgiveness. I really had no clue. I never would have thought that I was being prideful but it was brought to my attention one time during confession when my parish priest told me that it was pride that kept me from accepting God's forgiveness.
I was floored. Pride? I wasn't proud of what I did. I was just acknowledging what a horrible sin I committed. My holding onto my sin was my way of paying for what I did. Wallowing in my misery and not letting go of it was my way to remind myself of the terrible thing I did. It was my reality. If I didn't let myself feel the pain of my abortion, wouldn't that mean that I wasn't sorry for it.
He told me that my pride kept me from forgiveness because when I didn't accept God's forgiveness, I was essentially telling Him that Jesus dying on the cross wasn't enough to cover my sin. Everyone else's maybe but not mine because mine was just too horrible to forgive. Oh, was all I could say. I had never thought about it that way. That gave me something to think about but it still didn't sink in.
There is a difference between pride and humility and my first mercy retreat a couple of years ago was when I finally understood it. Mercy retreat...the perfect name because it's why we're all here. To find mercy & forgiveness from God. At that first retreat, I realized God's love for me. That was just one of the graces I received that weekend. God graced me with the knowledge of His love for me. He gave me the grace to understand His perfect & abundant love for me.
In His love, guided by the help of others, I was able to see that my pride was keeping me from Him. I was able to see that my pride made me resist the forgiveness and mercy He wanted to bestow upon me. He wants to bestow it upon all of us. His love is that great for us.
Pride keeps us from really knowing God's love and His mercy for us. God wants to heal us. He wants us to be free from our sins so that we can be the people we were created to be. To be joyful in the knowledge that we are children of God and He only wants what is best for us. We need to let go of our pride and allow Him to heal us. To do that, we have to trust in Him and have faith in Him.
Humility is what we feel when we realize that we need God. That we cannot do anything ourselves and that we need Him for everything. Humility lets us see that we cannot make up for our sins. We cannot make up for our abortions. There is nothing we can do because it's already been done for us. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He paid the price for all of our sins, including our abortions. Mine and yours. There is no sin that Jesus' blood can't cover. We need to understand that and we need to be humble enough to accept the graces that God gives us. Especially the grace of allowing God to heal us.
I have known that all my life and yet, after my abortion, I disregarded it. I wouldn't let it apply to me because my sin was unforgivable. Without knowing it, I clung to my pride and let God's mercy allude me for years. It seems such a shame as I look back now. It's been 20 years since my abortion and I clung to it for 17 of those years.
Fortunately, God can take our sins and do good with them. He certainly didn't want me to have an abortion and He didn't want me to suffer from it either. However, God took my abortion and suffering and used it to turn my life around. Actually, to turn my life toward Him. Like I said earlier, little did I know that my abortion would bring me to Jesus.
Through God's patience and unlimited and intense love, I finally accepted His mercy. Not because of what I did but because of what He did. It was through His graces that my pride and shame turned into humility. It is because of His graces that I have accepted His healing as a gift.
I will always feel sorrow for my abortion and I will always regret it. That will never go away and that's ok. The difference now is that I don't feel the shame and despair of my abortion. My shame has been dissolved and it is with humility that I can fully acknowledge that I've been forgiven and that my healing is a gift from God. The inner peace I now have and my strong love for God are 2 of the greatest gifts He has ever given me. I pray that you will all find healing & peace in the Lord because that is truly what He wants for you.
