Surrendering The SecretSample

The Healing Journey

Without question, abortion can be one of the most traumatic experiences in a person’s life. Over the years post-abortive women learn to live in silence and secrecy, stockpiling hurts they’ve buried deep inside. Many struggle for years with repressed memories, guilt, shame, and depression. Most women feel they aren’t allowed to talk about their abortion experiences because it was their “choice.” They carry a great burden of shame and failure, afraid to reveal their hidden pain. Secrecy and shame are a destructive combination as women are forced to endure long-lasting destructive effects in isolation.

As with any traumatic experience, many post-abortive women experience physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms related to Post-Abortion Trauma. They may not even realize that their symptoms are directly related to a past abortion. 

Almost everybody has experienced past trouble or trauma that has left deep heart wounds. Trouble and wounds are inevitable, but we have the power to choose how we’ll deal with them.

We hide our pain in many ways as we try to escape our heartache or seek pleasure in a harsh world. Some think God couldn’t care less about our pain or that He condemns us for past mistakes, but the Book of Jeremiah gives us a glimpse into God’s real heart.

God was clearly critical of the religious leaders He was addressing. God was criticizing how flippantly the leaders were handling the people’s pain.

When God looks at the messes in our lives, how does He feel about us and about our past wounds?

Rather than trying to ignore issues from our past, what might happen if we choose to intentionally remember the past and understand more about that day, that choice, when life changed forever?

How do you think this approach of remembering might be a more effective approach to finding inner healing and a richer life? In what ways would it be more difficult?

God knows superficial healing is no healing at all. True peace will not come until we experience true healing. 

This healing journey through Surrendering the Secret will help you to get to the place where the stigma of abortion is gone, we can experience personal healing, we can enjoy reconcilia­tion with God and our unborn children, and we can find a life of secrets, shame, and shadows completely redeemed!

For more of this study including video teaching by author Pat Layton, visit the Surrendering the Secret website at LifeWay.com/SurrenderingTheSecret.