IF YOU'VE HAD AN ABORTION... By Charles K. Swindoll For those who've had an abortion: God understands and is willing to forgive your sins. What is needed to go on with one's life after gross failure before God and other? Let me list a four-step process that will help you get back on your feet. 1. A FULL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE WRONG THAT WAS DONE. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Have you fully acknowledge the wrong of your past? If not, take care of that now. No more defensiveness. No more excuses. No more human reasoning or logic, trying to convince yourself otherwise. 2. GENUINE REPENTANCE FOLLOWING THE CONFESSION. Not much is said or heard these days about repentance. Too bad. It is a necessary part of finding full relief from guilt's bondage. Genuine repentance follows confession. Proverbs 28:13 states: "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." This refers to a full and complete forsaking of the act, a turning around in the mind, a reversal of emotions. REPENTANCE is a change of reaction from defense to a full acknowledgment. From an attempt to excuse one's sin to an absolute and unguarded realization and admission that the whole of it was wrong, accompanied with a desire never to repeat it. Psalm 51 is of great help in this context because it has to do with sexual failure: "Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy loving- kindness; according to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me form my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou are justified when Thou dost speak, and blameless when Thou dost judge" (Psalm 51:1-4). There is a difference between remorse and repentance. Remorse is sorrow over being caught, sadness brought on by the pain of the consequences, the humiliation of the loss of image and the feeling "What will people say?" Remorseful feelings include knowing that you have brought reproach on the name of a family or on a church, or on your own life. But in genuine repentance, we lose all concern for ourselves, we accept the humiliation that we deserve and we acknowledge the grief we have caused others. The tell-tale signs? A broken spirit and a contrite heart. 3. IN THE PROCESS, WE CLAIM THE CLEANSING GOD OFFERS. We've seen it again and again through this passage in Psalm 51. As we work through the process, we can lay claim to the cleansing God offers. The references are numerous: * "Wash me thoroughly..cleanse me.."(v.2). * "Purify me...and I shall be clean;wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (v.7). * "Create in me a clean heart, O God.." (v.10). * "Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit" (v.12). * "Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be (65 min left), (H)elp, More? converted to Thee" (v.13). I've found that God often uses forgiven individuals to assist others. It is called here "teaching transgressors Thy ways." I ask you: Who is better able to minster to those who are tempted to get an abortion than those who have had one? Who is better able to describe the CONSEQUENCES than those who have suffered through them> These dreadful experiences, in the words of Scripture, enable you to teach others God's way. What a great opportunity to minister to people when we work our way through the process of full cleansing which follows full forgiveness! Maybe you've never thought of it before, but those who have gone through an abortion and found forgiveness and cleansing might be on the verge of a ministry never dreamed possible. 4. DELIBERATELY REFUSE TO ALLOW THE ADVERSARY OR ANYONE ELSE TO HOLD YOU IN BONDAGE TO FORMER SINS. I need to be painfully honest here. Some need help to work through this process. Yes, some need a paid, professional Christian counselor to assist them through the therapy of recovery. Others may need a pastor. Most certainly a support group is needed. And who can deny the need for a friend to help us talk and walk our way through so that we sense God's full cleansing and full forgiveness? Once relief comes, no one has a right to hold a woman back and put her on a guilt trip. My point is clear: It isn't uncommon to need direct assistance to get beyond nightmares and shadows of past wrongs. Ultimately, it may alter the direction of your future, but it doesn't mean you are finished, washed up, and shelved. And don't let anyone hold you under the bondage of forgiven sins from which you have repented. God's desire is that you go on with the rest of your life.