Linda was a "good girl"…at least on the outside. As the oldest of five in a Christian family, she accepted Jesus as a child. But in high school she began to have sex with her boyfriend, and as a college honor student freshman she was faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Her boyfriend wanted to get married, but she wanted a career first and was too ashamed to admit to her sin. In her indecision and confusion, she finally went to an abortion clinic. It was too late for a "normal" abortion, and she had to wait two more weeks until she was far enough along to have a second trimester saline abortion in the hospital. When she asked the nurse if it was a baby, the nurse replied, "No honey, and you want to finish college don't you?" She chose to believe those words, repeated them to herself over and over, even though her heart knew different. After the traumatic experience of abortion, she went back to her normal life at college, but it was anything but normal. Guilt and nightmares haunted her no matter how busy she tried to keep. She turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. As her self-worth plummeted, she dropped out of school and made bad relationship choices. After a year of running from God, He very clearly called her in the midst of a drug party, and she surrendered her life back to Him. That began a journey of learning to face her sin and accept His forgiveness. The next milestone on her healing journey came several years later. Linda was already working with a pregnancy center helping other women make better choices. Then she participated in the post-abortion support group and found a missing piece that gave her peace. She was given the opportunity to acknowledge the eternal, unique existence of her son and grieve for him. The hope and closure this brought was powerful and dramatic. As director of a pregnancy center for the decade of the 90’s, she reached out to others traveling the same road of abortion recovery. God blessed and many others found freedom in Jesus. Linda’s pregnancy center was across the street from the city’s abortion clinic. God miraculously closed this clinic down and gave the building to the prolife community. He redeemed and transformed this ground. This spot became the National Memorial for the Unborn which Linda was a co-founder. The memorial seeks to honor the lives of children lost to abortion. At 40-years-old, God brought Linda a loving, godly husband and they have raised two sons. She has served on various non-profit boards and continues to lead abortion recovery groups. She has enjoyed taking that ministry virtual under An Even Place.

John 10:10a says, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” Overtime, my life would become deceived by this thief until my eyes were opened and I saw the truth. Events that surrounded my two abortions included lying, leaving the church, moving in with the boyfriend, drinking, and not honoring my parents. I just wanted to be accepted, loved and to fit in with the world. During my first abortion, I felt lost and alone. During the second, I tried to stop them, but they told me it was too late. A part of me died with each abortion. I felt dirty and worthless among a list of other feelings. Additionally, I felt like a hypocrite for choosing “pro-life,” another evil deception. John 10:10b says, “I come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Spring of 2023 I learned there was such a thing as abortion recovery. I never thought that was even an option. At that moment, I had to learn more. Later that year I went through the Forgiven and Set Free Bible study. God’s healing brought me peace, closure, and joy for the first time in my life. I lived 28 years with a secret that was eating me from the inside out these years were filled with deceit and hiding from the truth. After going through the Bible study, I was finally able to accept the forgiveness waiting for me. I am a mother of two beautiful children that are in the Lord’s arms waiting for me to join them in heaven. I can testify to His greatness in my life. The Lord has placed a burden on my heart to reach those women like me who need the healing hand of the Lord to embrace them and bring them back home to Him.

I am the mother of 5, four are in heaven and one is 35. Before joining a PRC, I was led by the Holy Spirit to share part of my abortion story with a group of center Executive Directors and thank them for the work they do. At the time of my unplanned pregnancies, I never considered I had a choice and that the baby I carried was just a blob of cells. From that meeting, I was introduced to Deeper Still. Initially, I thought it was in the past and I am a Christian, so I was good. But God knew better……..I attended my retreat in Oct 2021 and found forgiveness and freedom that I have never had. I took ownership of my sins, laid them at the cross and received His full forgiveness. This healing started my passion to help others find Christ’s love and mercy. I had led a Forgiven and Set Free group and wanted to research how others led the group and signed up for the intensive study through An Even Place. Little did I know that I would continue my healing journey. I knew I had three abortions, but some details weren’t clear surrounding my second abortion. Just weeks before my first session, I reached out to my former husband (the father of the baby) and asked him about the details of the day I had my second abortion. I remembered I came home from the abortion center, but was having some complications. I knew things just weren’t right, and I was told to return to the clinic. My memory stopped there. My former husband told me that there was a second baby that had not been aborted during the initial procedure. He must have thought I knew because his manner was casual and nonchalant as he told me that I aborted twins. It was hard enough to accept I had three children lost to abortion, but now I needed to reconcile the fact that there was a fourth baby. An Even Place tenderly walked me through my sin, grieving process and reconciliation with the Lord with tenderness, love and grace. This revelation and tender love prompted me to join AN Even Place as a leader. Mindy has invested so much time in me that even though we never met in person, she has become a mentor to me. I am happy to be part of this God-honoring ministry.