Deeper Still

Even though Sheila has not had an abortion in her past, she understands how easily she could have had one when she was a pregnant teenager, because she did not know where to find help. This compassion has led her to not only help women who are in a crisis pregnancy, but also have compassion for those who have had an abortion and to help bring healing.

Sheila got pregnant as a teen, and although she did not have an abortion, she knew that one day she would be helping those with a past abortion. She relates with how easy it could have been to be pushed in the direction of abortion. Fortunately, her parents and the baby's father were supportive of her pregnancy and she chose life.

Pastor Mick Duffy from The Pasture, a church in Hudson, Illinois, talks about his experience with helping hurting people and the need for the church to address the specific needs of the abortion wounded heart. He has observed lasting healing among the several women in his church. He also discusses the need for men and those in ministry leadership to receive healing for their own abortion wounded heart.

Annette drew closer to God after years of destructive living and an abortion. She wanted to help others not to make the same decision she did, so she became a sidewalk counselor outside of an abortion clinic. She realized that she was doing the sidewalk counseling for the wrong reasons- as a form of penance.

Even though Annette grew up in a Christian family, she drifted from God and made increasingly poor choices until she ended up in a bad marriage and pregnant. She hid her pregnancy from her parents and her abusive husband by having an abortion, but then immediately regretted it. Her abortion led her farther away from God and into more destructive choices.

Priscilla Coleman has been published in a multitude of research journals, studying the impact of abortion. In this podcast, she addresses her meta-analysis published in the 2011 British Journal of Psychiatry, the pushback against it, and the way that some research on abortion is flawed, leading to misleading outcomes.

After her abortion, Alison ended up marrying the father of the baby. Her early years of marriage and parenting were full of over-protective parenting, anger, guilt, and shame. After she started attending church, she was saved and felt ashamed to share her story at church. After her retreat, that all changed.

Alison grew up in a home that wasn't safe. Her school life was also full of bullying. She had no place where she felt she belonged and was loved. She did what many girls do when they feel unloved: she looked for love in all the wrong places. Barhopping and promiscuity in her early 20s led to a pregnancy, and she listened to the culture telling her it was insignificant and that abortion would help her get on with her life.

Mike and Lisa talk with Brian about his experience at the retreat and how it has impacted his life. Even though the retreat was a challenge, it was worth it, completely.

April attended her a Deeper Still Retreat with the intent of helping others but was also open to more healing for herself. She discusses her experience in this podcast.