The Great Race: Inspiration for Going through an Abortion Recovery Program
2004, what can I say about the year 2004? What I thought to be yet another typical year turned out to be something altogether not so typical. God knew where I was headed and steered me down a totally different path. a path of joy and comfort, a path of emotional healing, and a path of self worth. Along the way he placed angels to hand out the Gatorade so I could finish the race and not be parched and not drag down to a place in my heart telling me it was an impossible race to finish. You see...I wasn’t in the best shape of my life. I had not practiced for days or months, I had not even known that I was about to join a race against Satan that he was already winning. God said, "Put your running shoes on, you’re going out there, so take your number, put it on, and go. No questions just go." So I went.
When I got to my destination he had two angels waiting for me. One was tall and blond saying to me, "You have so much strength in you just for showing up today. Way to go!"
Another saying, "Praise to you for coming because I too have run this same race and I know you can win it." She was a dark haired angel.
"Now go home and get some rest," they said, "Because it has only just begun."
Upon encountering them the second go round another angel, short in stature and with dark hair said to me. "I’m here to also help you win this race you see... you will need comforting arms and those I definitely have." So I began to run. Some weeks I did not want to but was told by my angels that the more I ran the easier it would get. You see, they encouraged me and stood by me and cried with me when the pain was filling me up. Although some weeks I did not speak of this pain it was as if they knew it was there because they too had experienced it. In my time of need they held out their arms and opened their hearts so I could understand that although this journey was difficult and painful it was not impossible.
Had I known that I had to leap over hurdles such as shame, guilt, anger, and forgiveness I may have never shown up. Had I known I was really going to have to reach deep inside and lay my emotions out there, I probably would have given up. But each week as I approached these hurdles, my angels were there saying, "Leap with all your might because Satan is throwing those hurdles up and he thinks you can’t leap, but you can! You can leap over them just keep going!" See, they were running the race beside me cheering me on with words of encouragement and a hope in their hearts and strength from God and praise and worship. You see...God put them in the race too. God knew I was not strong. God knew I had not been practicing, but He had faith in me and so did His angels.
Toward the end of the race I began to realize what the prize was. The reason I was running the race. The short dark haired angel kept saying, "When you win the race the shackles are removed. You will no longer be bound by things that are not from God. God calls us to live in peace and if we are not living this way it is not his word."
The tall blonde angel kept saying how much I was loved no matter what I thought of myself. They loved me, God loved me, and that’s just the way it was. The taller dark haired angel insisted that I was ahead in the race all along. There was no doubt I was ahead. I was going to win, and that’s how it was. See, I didn’t realize all of this until the last week of the race. I realized I had more strength than I thought. More courage than I thought was possible and, in addition, a love from the creator of all things.
This is the testimony of a graduate of the Save One Healing Program run by Sheila Harper.