A Biblical Perspective on
Post Abortion Healing
 

Healing.  The focus for many years in virtually all post-abortion counseling, Bible studies, and support groups has been on how to “heal” from one’s abortion experience.  It is normal for a person to want to feel good after a bad experience.  The term “healing” in post-abortion outreach often refers to that “feeling good” again.  However, the dictionary definition of healing is “becoming sound, well, or healthy again.”

When God heals you, that is, makes you well or whole again, the good feelings may not immedi­ately accompany the healing.  God’s healing is the forgiveness and restoration to Himself after the sin of abortion (or other sins we may commit) which broke our fellowship with God and with other Christians.

What is it that you desire your healing to accom­plish?  Do you seek forgiveness, peace, freedom from shame and guilt, or something else?  We must be careful in our searching of Scripture that we avoid trying to mold God’s Word to suit our per­ceived needs.  God’s Word is not a magic wand that will supply spiritual satisfaction on demand.  God’s Word is His tool to bring us to obedience and righteousness.  Using principles from God’s Word in an attempt to achieve what we want is closer to witchcraft than to sanctification!!  God does prom­ise to heal us through His Word when we come to Him in repentance (Psalm 107:17-20), but our goal is to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  (Romans 8:28-29)
 

Seeking counseling, participating in a support group or Bible study for the purpose of “being healed” is a common practice.  The question to ask yourself is:  “Am I trying to heal from the pain or the sin?”  The pain doesn’t necessarily go away just because we become right with God.  What should be uppermost in our minds is:  “I will walk in submission and obedience to God in spite of my hurts.”

While those “good feelings” generally referred to as “healing” may be desired, obedience in spite of the hurt is necessary.  Spiritual growth (sanctification) comes only through obedience to the Word of God.  Healing is an outworking of our obedience to God. 

God instructs us to obey Him during the good and bad times (Job 13:15).  A personal involvement with abortion is a bad time, although some of us will not admit it until years later.

God can heal all of our deep pain, but He first wants to cleanse us from our sins.  Throughout the Gospels, whenever Jesus healed someone, that healing was based on their faith.  It was their faith and desire to follow Jesus that made them well.  Kay Arthur says, “[We need] people who don’t love and serve God for what He gives or does but for who He is and nothing else.”[1]

The healing from post-abortion trauma is first a spiritual healing.  Psalm 107:20 tells us, “[God] sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from  their destructions.”  The healing God is speaking of here is healing from sin which was leading us to our own destruction.  That spiritual deadness which abortion causes is healed through God’s Word.

Healing is not an absence of memories.  Although often beneficial, healing is not accomplished through support groups, Bible studies, or counsel­ing.  Neither is healing found in memorial services, grieving, visions, or other acts such as these.  Healing is found in confession and repentance of our sin(s) of abortion and of sinful reactions to the circumstances surrounding the abortion(s).  Jesus was forsaken and tormented on the cross because He became sin for us, and sin is what takes away one’s peace (Matthew 27:45-50).  Only God through Jesus Christ can restore that peace.

We all would like to be “completely” healed from our abortion experience.  However, complete healing will come only when we walk in heaven in sinless perfection, without tears, in complete joy in the presence of our Savior.  Until then, each day brings peace and contentment to us as we seek God for the answers to our problems.  The Great Physi­cian truly heals us, so that only a tiny scar remains.  A sight, a sound, a touch may trigger memories of the abortion(s).  This does not mean we are not healed.  It means we live in mortal bodies that can still occasionally hurt from a healed wound.  Teri Reisser correctly states that our “painful memories cannot ever be fully erased, only fully faced and put into proper perspective.”[2] 

Indications that God’s healing is “complete” are:

* Praising God alone for forgiving you and set­ting you free.  (Psalms 30:11-12; 34:1-2; 108:1-5; 142:7)

* Accepting that the abortion was a terrible sin, but one that is forgiven by God’s grace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  (Psalm 103:12; Hebrews 9:22)

*  Forgiving all who were involved with the abortion(s).  (Ephesians 4:32)

*  Understanding that it is not necessary or possi­ble to forgive oneself for what God has already forgiven.  (Psalm 103:12)

*  Having given the burden of the abortion(s) to Jesus with faith that His shoulders can bear that burden.  (Matthew 11:28-30)

*  Depending upon God alone for answers to life’s problems.  (Proverbs 3:5-6; John 15:5;
1 Peter 3:17)

*  A willingness to tell others about the abor­tion(s).  (Psalm 107:22; 1 Peter 3:15-16)

*  Having renounced things which bring shame.  (2 Corinthians 4:2)

*  The ability to live today to God’s glory without dwelling on the abortion(s).  (Philippians 4:8)

*  Having your broken heart mended.  (Psalm 147:3)

*  Knowing God’s peace.  (Psalms 4:8; 29:11; Proverbs 3:1-2; Jeremiah 33:16)

*  Being filled with joy instead of with sorrow.  (Jeremiah 31:13)

*  Thinking, speaking, and acting like the for­given person you are.  (Romans 12:1-2)

*  No longer thinking of yourself as a “post-abortion” woman or man.  (“Post” means past.  Thank God that He sets us free from our past sin and shame!)  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

*  Understanding that you have strength only in Christ.  (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

A final thought:  Perhaps you are not a Christian, and much of this brochure has been confusing to you.  You can become a Christian by believing that God the Father sent Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin, suffer, die and be buried for the wrongs you have done.  The third day God raised Jesus from the dead.  Because of this you can personally know God the Father through Jesus Christ and live a life pleasing to Him.  “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteous­ness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)

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For information on other post-abortion resources such as Bible studies and books, please see links in category  “Links to Other Post-Abortion Resources.” 

Parts of this brochure are adapted from The Post Abortion Reference Manual, Copyright 1991-2017 Pamela J. Koerbel

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, The Lockman Foundation, LaHabra, California.  Used by permission.

Text and Artwork Copyright  1996, 2000-2017 P J Koerbel
All Rights Reserved  · Reproduction Prohibited

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