Forgiveness – Receiving vs Giving
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The recent changes in abortion law in many states such as Alabama and Louisiana is something kept fervently in prayer for many years.
As Director and Assistant Director of Rachel’s Hope Healing ministry, we facilitate healing retreats for women who have had abortions. For two days, we witness the excruciating emotional suffering abortion inflicts on vulnerable and frightened women. Thanks to Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities, these women had the procedure, not knowing or being advised of the devastating psychological, spiritual, and physical trauma waiting to attack them years afterward. Trauma waiting to destroy every aspect of their lives … their self-esteem, self-worth, relationships, faith, employment, parenting, etc.
The process of healing is emotional and painful but the result is worth it, but as these courageous and injured women started the process, they could not yet feel the love, forgiveness and hope to come from God’s infinite mercy. While listening to their stories and watching the tears flow down their cheeks, our minds wander back to the time we too fell victim to the misleading rhetoric. Our hearts threaten to break into tiny little pieces but, praise God, through the healing received; we have the tools to avert a complete melt-down.
After each retreat, our commitment to pro-life grows tenfold. Planned Parenthood and their counterparts should be more than willing to advise their clients of the potential side effects of abortion. They claim to be the major defender and caring (?) provider of women’s healthcare, after all. But then, if the truth was known, women would think twice about abortion, and clinics would no longer rake in the millions of dollars, forcing them to close their doors (what a wonderful thought) thus saving the lives of our precious unborn and the hearts and souls of the mothers and others involved in the abortion decision.
Abortion providers not only profit from the deaths of innocent lives, but they also take advantage of the frightened, the poor, the coerced, the vulnerable, and the misinformed. They must be stopped. How? By each parishioner getting involved in pro-life activities and voting only for pro-life candidates. Remember ... silence is consent.
“America, your very future as a nation depends on your
willingness to protect the Right to Life of the
most of the most defenseless in your society.” –Pope John Paul II
Leslie Brunolli, Director
Patti J. Smith, Assistant Director
Rachel’s Hope Healing Ministry
www.rachelshopehealingministry.com
Patti J. Mitchell (formerly Smith) is a devoted Catholic and pro-life advocate. She shares her journey from a life of sinful excess to redemption across the country, including pro-life conferences, to members of Congress, at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., and the Walks for Life in San Diego and San Francisco. She has been a guest on several radio shows, including Immaculate Heart Radio and Radio Maria. She also appears in two documentaries, "The Sidewalk Chronicles" and "Hush."
Patti writes Christian devotionals. One of them, "Redeemed – Rosary Meditations for Post-Abortive Women," is used at healing retreats and written in a way to be used by all denominations. Her most recent release is "And God Still Loves Me – A Story of Hope and Healing." She has also had articles published in the National Catholic Register, Life News, and the Southern Cross.
She is a retired background investigator, married and lives in Puyallup, Washington.
