What I witnessed in a New Orleans courtroom challenged me to look beyond the arguments and ask a much deeper question.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how quick we are to have an opinion about something we’ve never personally walked through, especially when it comes to abortion. It seems like in this day and age, everybody’s got something to say about it. Politicians, pastors, activists, lawmakers, and folks on social media who have apparently appointed themselves experts on everybody else’s life. I just wonder how many of them have ever sat across from a woman who still cries over a decision she made twenty years ago? How many have listened to a mother explain why she struggles to celebrate someone else’s pregnancy announcement, even though she genuinely wants to be happy for them? How many have considered the woman sitting quietly in the church pew, loving Jesus with everything she’s got, while secretly wondering if He still looks at her the same way?
I was not prepared for what I would encounter when I went down to New Orleans last month on a prayer assignment regarding a major abortion case being argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. I went there on an intercessory assignment, thinking I knew exactly what I needed to pray. Somewhere along the way, the Lord challenged me to see something from a perspective I hadn’t considered. This caught me completely off guard, and it changed the way I approached Him in prayer at that moment and from every moment moving forward.
What if we’ve been so busy telling God what we want Him to do that we’ve forgotten to ask Him what’s on His heart?
What About the Woman Who Still Carries the Pain?
Here’s what I really want you to consider. Maybe you’ve never been inside a courtroom like the one I visited, but you’ve been living under a verdict of your own for years. You know what the Bible says about forgiveness and you have genuinley repented before the Lord for your decision. You have tried your best to move forward, but somehow, when the house gets quiet and you’re left alone with your thoughts, that old accusation comes creeping back.
“You should have known better. You made your choice. God might forgive you, but things will never be the same.” Thoughts like this bombard your thoughts when everything else fades away….
I know what it’s like to love Jesus and still carry shame that makes you question your place in His heart. I also know how exhausting it can be to spend your life trying to prove that you’re worthy of the very love He has already offered you. Everything can look perfectly fine to everybody around you while inside you are still carrying beliefs about yourself that were formed in one of the most painful seasons of your life. That’s the part we don’t talk about nearly enough.
We talk about the decision, the consequences, and the laws, but what about the woman who is still trying to figure out who she is after everything that happened? What about her marriage, her relationships, her ability to receive love, or the way she sees herself when she looks in the mirror? What about her relationship with the Father?
When you think about God looking at the most painful chapter of your life, whose voice do you hear?
Is it His? Or is it the voice of somebody who hurt you, judged you, abandoned you, or made you believe that one chapter of your story would define the rest of your life? Maybe it’s your own voice you’ve been listening to all these years.
In this week’s podcast, I’m taking you behind the doors of two very different rooms in New Orleans and sharing something deeply personal about what the Lord brought to my attention while I was praying. We’re also going into a biblical account that challenged me to consider what righteous judgment looks like when human lives are at stake.
Join me on The Worthy Womb, where I’m sharing a powerful encounter that challenged the way I pray and revealed something about the Father’s heart concerning abortion, grief, and redemption.
Pull up a chair and hit play. This is a conversation I don’t want you to miss.
If something in this episode stirred up memories or emotions from your own abortion experience, I want to talk to you for a minute, sister. Maybe you’ve spent years trying to put that part of your life behind you. You love Jesus, you know what His Word says about forgiveness, but deep down, you’re still struggling to believe that those promises apply to you.
I know that road because I’ve walked it myself, and I spent far too many years believing the lies that kept me bound to my past. That’s why I do what I do today.
If you’re tired of going around that same mountain, wondering why you still struggle with shame, guilt, or regret after all these years, I’d love to invite you to a FREE Identity Restoration Consultation. We’ll sit down, have a real conversation about what’s been keeping you stuck, and see if working together is a good fit. You’ve spent enough years letting your past tell you who you are. It’s time to find out what your Father has to say about that.
Amy Dial
Christian Author | Identity Restoration Coach | Host of The Worthy Womb Podcast
Helping women come out of hiding and remember who they are in Christ.
