Writing

Be Bold, Tell Your Story

For years I hesitated to tell how I sat on a doctors table waiting to have an abortion. How I felt like God came in the room and urged me to leave. How it felt as though He said, “Ellen, I promise, if walk out everything would be ok.” How I got dressed and left.

I hesitated because I never wanted a woman who chose abortion to feel like God treated me differently by speaking into my heart and not theirs. 

But that all changed one weekend when I attended a Care Ministry conference where my roommate was a woman I’d never met. That first night, she shared with me how she came to be a volunteer in our churches Abortion Recovery Ministry. She told me how for years she was depressed and could not figure out why. Then after years of medication and therapy, she found herself sitting in the group she now helps facilitate. And as a part of the group therapy, she named her baby and had a memorial service for her. That’s when the healing began that eventually set her free from her depression. 

Hesitantly, I shared my abortion clinic story with her. And her response was, “I heard that voice too, only I ignored it.” 

That’s when I realized there was nothing special about my encounter with God. That He speaks to all of us in those kinds of situations. Only we tend to chalk it up to conscience, or intuition, or a gut feeling. But God is consistent and He loves us all. But we tend to cover our ears and build walls around our hearts to keep out our creator.

A few years ago, I posted a pro-life message on social media. In it, I declared how grateful I am for that gentle voice that told me to leave that clinic.

Only, that message triggered a few of my pro-abortion followers who then attacked me and called me names. How dare I be insensitive to those who have had abortions. 

But I stuck to my story, and the story told to me by my roommate at the conference. I stuck to what I’ve seen and heard from others who regret their abortions. Because too many women have been deeply wounded by the lie that an abortion affect them for the rest of their lives.

I can’t get in the weeds to defend my pro-life views as well as I can just tell my story. And perhaps that’s the best way to share the gospel.

There we were, two strangers in a hotel telling similar stories with two very different outcomes. Both stories showed that regardless of what choice we have made, God continues to nudge us to invite Him into the discussion. And when we do, He not only changes us, but uses our story to reach others.

If you have a story like this, please put, “God nudged me too and it changed my life” in the comments. I will then pray for God to use your story to share His Gospel.

#abortionhurtswomen #tellyourstory #godisgoodalways #godhealsbrokenhearts #chooselife

Let your life prove God to be true, and men to be liars

By the start of my junior year of high school, I was ready to be done with school. I had no plans for my future, no idea what job I’d do to support myself. I just wanted out. So, I took as few classes as possible so my day would end around noon. 

At the same time, my mother was encouraging me to pursue a career in art. All my life, she had pushed me to develop my artistic abilities. She especially thought I had a bent for design and wanted me to enroll in courses at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC.

So, I listened, and by the end of my junior year, I had a new vision for my life. Inspired by Peter Max and Andy Warhol, I wanted to become a commercial artist. So, I packed my senior courses with electives in art and design with a plan to eventually study art at the Corcoran. 

Then I got pregnant. 

And abortion sounded like the best option. And who would dare to deny a 17-year-old gifted artist the world that laid at her feet? 

Now, if you know a speck of my story, you know I walked out of that abortion clinic. And you know I married that baby’s father, Tim. But you may not know it was 50 years ago today that I gave birth to my daughter Kelly. Then two years later, her brother, Daniel was born. And my only regret? I didn’t have more kids.

The marriage was hard, really hard. But as I became more deeply rooted in my Christian faith, I clung to scripture for direction. I considered divorce many times, but kept coming back to the verse where Jesus said He hated divorce. 

And just when I was ready to quit, Daniel got arrested. And that forced Tim and me to come together and fight for our son. Again, I went back to the scripture where Jesus left the flock to go after the one. Which inspired Tim and me to buck up and stand by Daniel. So for the next 5 ½ years, every weekend, we laid our lives down and visited Daniel in prison. And when he got out, he never looked back.

Then after 38 years of marriage, Tim got cancer. And once again I was faced with a choice. Do I put my life on hold to care for him? I didn’t even wrestle with the decision. Again scripture led me to say, of course I will. Then all my thoughts and actions over the next 2 ½ years, centered on making Tim’s life the best it could be. And in the process, our marriage blossomed as we discovered a deeper love for one another. A love I never thought possible.

Now I wonder why I ever wrestled with God over choosing to lay my life down for others. Because these few crossroads of my life, have produced in me, the greatest satisfaction. 

Maybe that’s why parenting is so essential to our wellbeing. Maybe that’s why God consistently pushes us into situations like caring for the elderly. Maybe it’s the care giver who gets the most out of those situations. As the world tells me all the ways I am entitled to live my BEST LIFE, I think I’ll stick to what the bible says. And I’ll let what Paul said in Romans 3 prove my point:

            …let God be found true, though every man be found a liar…

When have you followed scripture when the world told you to do otherwise?

Be Prepared

I have a precious childhood memory of me in the back seat of my parents VW bug with my nose pressed against the glass as the Washington DC suburb of Arlington Virginia rolls by. My father is driving and my mother is in the front passenger seat. 

My mind is racing over something that happened the day before. And as I process the event, I begin to form sentence after sentence, with all the accompanying dialogue, as I ponder the best way to tell the “story” to my mother. Who at that time was my biggest fan.

Fast forward several years and I’m married to Tim. And one day he brings home our first personal computer, a Commodore 64. As he takes it out of the box and sets it on the table, he says, “Honey, I love all your stories. Please write them down.” Then for the rest of his life, he continues to shove the latest and greatest computer under my dancing fingers. 

I understand I’m a gifted story teller. But you must know, I don’t rest lightly on that gift. I study writing and I listen to critique. When I’m done typing, I read every word out loud, over and over as I pick them apart just like I did when I was a kid. 

What if I told you, as Christians, we are all supposed to be story tellers. Maybe not to the degree I am, but perhaps we shouldn’t rely completely on others to tell the greatest story we carry in our hearts. The one that tells how we came to the decision to follow Jesus.

I believe Peter’s directive in 1 Peter 3:15 commands us to ALWAYS have a story prepared to give a reason for the hope within us. As the world around us falls darker and darker, and Christianity gets attacked on all sides, our hope becomes the greatest tool we have to share the gospel.

I hear your sighs, and all the excuses. I hear you say you don’t know how to tell a compelling story, or you’re not good at it, or…STOP! Think about this, we don’t hesitate today to pull up a YouTube video to learn how to do just about anything we want to. And to our surprise, many of those tasks are often easier than we ever imagined. So why not use the same tools to learn how to tell a great story of hope? 

Do you need to boost your hope? Well, deeply reflecting on what Jesus has done in your life is the best place to start. So, get out your keyboard and write those moments down. Then get on line and learn basic story telling skills. 

Here’s a few of my favorite sites: