Deeper Still

After her abortion, Liz had instances of abusing alcohol and pursuing men. She also had anxiety, depression, and outbursts of anger. Liz was sure God was punishing her ten years after her abortion when she struggled with infertility. Once she started to develop a relationship with Jesus and experience forgiveness, the darkness started lifting. Now Liz is working to be part of helping others heal.

Liz was only five years old when her father died in the Vietnam War. This was to set her life on a trajectory of fear, perfectionism and desperately wanting to be loved by a man. When she got pregnant by a man she had not been with for long, he asked, "What are you going to do?" She didn't want an abortion, but she didn't want to be pregnant. He drove her, and he paid for it. The relationship was...

Because of shame, Shannon kept the secret of her abortion from her church friend Tara and even from her husband. When her pastor mentioned abortion statistics and healing in church, she sought out a Deeper Still retreat and broke the power of shame in her life. She then was able to tell her husband, who responded with love and support. She and Tara now have a mission to share their story and be pa...

Tara's retreat was life-changing. Though she had a lot of healing prior to her retreat and was a ministry leader, she was able to grieve her loss and gain deeper healing. Tara had been working with Shannon through healing, but abortion did not come up in those sessions. When Shannon's pastor mentioned abortion in his sermon, Shannon was soon connected with Deeper Still and attended her own retreat...

Tara grew up in a non-believing home. Alcohol abuse and divorce led to instability as she entered her teen years and young adulthood. A pregnancy in her twenties was not supported by others in her life and ultimately, an abortion was procured. The trauma of abortion led to more problems, but her life stabilized and she married a good man. She experienced infertility and post-partum psychosis and b...

Charlie had an abortion in his past that he kept secret from his wife. At first, he suppressed it, and also became full of rage and shame. Even years of therapy did not help him connect the dots from his abortion history to his emotional and marriage problems. When he finally told his wife, he began to heal and eventually attended at Deeper Still Retreat where he went through a deep healing.

Charlie grew up very self-protective and felt like he was raising himself. He never felt like he had any guidance and saw coping through drinking. So, as he grew into adulthood, he followed that pattern of drinking and looking down on women. When his girlfriend got pregnant- there was only one thing he wanted her to do- get an abortion.

Even though Sheila has not had an abortion in her past, she understands how easily she could have had one when she was a pregnant teenager, because she did not know where to find help. This compassion has led her to not only help women who are in a crisis pregnancy, but also have compassion for those who have had an abortion and to help bring healing.

Sheila got pregnant as a teen, and although she did not have an abortion, she knew that one day she would be helping those with a past abortion. She relates with how easy it could have been to be pushed in the direction of abortion. Fortunately, her parents and the baby's father were supportive of her pregnancy and she chose life.

Pastor Mick Duffy from The Pasture, a church in Hudson, Illinois, talks about his experience with helping hurting people and the need for the church to address the specific needs of the abortion wounded heart. He has observed lasting healing among the several women in his church. He also discusses the need for men and those in ministry leadership to receive healing for their own abortion wounded h...

Annette drew closer to God after years of destructive living and an abortion. She wanted to help others not to make the same decision she did, so she became a sidewalk counselor outside of an abortion clinic. She realized that she was doing the sidewalk counseling for the wrong reasons- as a form of penance.

Even though Annette grew up in a Christian family, she drifted from God and made increasingly poor choices until she ended up in a bad marriage and pregnant. She hid her pregnancy from her parents and her abusive husband by having an abortion, but then immediately regretted it. Her abortion led her farther away from God and into more destructive choices.

Priscilla Coleman has been published in a multitude of research journals, studying the impact of abortion. In this podcast, she addresses her meta-analysis published in the 2011 British Journal of Psychiatry, the pushback against it, and the way that some research on abortion is flawed, leading to misleading outcomes.

After her abortion, Alison ended up marrying the father of the baby. Her early years of marriage and parenting were full of over-protective parenting, anger, guilt, and shame. After she started attending church, she was saved and felt ashamed to share her story at church. After her retreat, that all changed.

Alison grew up in a home that wasn't safe. Her school life was also full of bullying. She had no place where she felt she belonged and was loved. She did what many girls do when they feel unloved: she looked for love in all the wrong places. Barhopping and promiscuity in her early 20s led to a pregnancy, and she listened to the culture telling her it was insignificant and that abortion would help...

Mike and Lisa talk with Brian about his experience at the retreat and how it has impacted his life. Even though the retreat was a challenge, it was worth it, completely.

April attended her a Deeper Still Retreat with the intent of helping others but was also open to more healing for herself. She discusses her experience in this podcast.

April was seeing a counselor during her pregnancy. Her therapist did not recognize the warning signs for mental health risks if April had the abortion her boyfriend wanted her to have. She also had difficulty finding help after abortion.

Trish went from a life of substance abuse, abortion, and promiscuity to a born-again believer and a pastor's wife. She didn't feel like she fit in with church culture. Then God brought her through healing at her Deeper Still Retreat.

Trish's story is all too common. One abortion creates a destructive ripple effect in your life which can easily lead to another pregnancy and another crisis. This then can lead to another abortion...

Trish was raised by her teenage Mom and ended up pregnant as a young teenager, just like her Mom. With little support and guidance, she signed for her own abortion at age 16 with no understanding of how the abortion would deeply impact her life.

April felt lied to by the abortion clinic. Her experience was nothing like what she was told it would be like emotionally.

April experienced three rapes in her teens and twenties. These rapes left her feeling worthless and broken - leading to bad choices in men and ultimately to abortion.

Beth wanted to see her ex-husband come to a Deeper Still retreat, but when he wouldn't come, she found that she received a surprising amount of additional healing.

Beth was the sixth daughter of a missionary family and felt like a disappointment from the beginning because she wasn't a boy. She felt invisible, alone, and rejected. That made fertile soil for unhealthy choices later on.