March 18, 2010

Dear Joseph,

My precious child, I have loved you all of my adult life, and yet, I have never seen your face or held you in my arms. For that, I am very sorry. You were a gift from God, and I threw you away. I am so sorry for ending your life. God showed me what you look like. I saw a young man in his 30’s on an airplane, and he had brown curly hair and blue eyes. I felt my Spirit quicken. I whispered to the Lord, “Is that what my Son looks like?” I felt the confirmation in my Spirit.

I named you Joseph because what the enemy meant for evil God turned around for my good and for His glory. He exchanged my ashes into something beautiful. Joseph, you inspired a ministry called My Ashes to Beauty to help other moms heal from their past abortions.

I know you are in heaven with Jesus—a place where there is no sadness, pain or sorrow. I can’t wait for the day that I can see you face to face in heaven where we will be together forever. I have pictured that scene over and over in my mind. I see you greeting me in heaven. I know you and you know me. We hug. With tears of joy streaming down my cheek, you kiss me and I say, “I have waited for this moment for so long. Now we will never be parted again. I love you Joseph.” You respond, “I love you Mom.” Then, I will look to Jesus and thank Him for this precious gift of being reunited with my child in heaven and for the gift of salvation He gave me.

I will see you soon.
Love always,
Mom

THEN FACE TO FACE

I didn’t want to feel it
I didn’t want to know
Instead I pushed the pain away
So deeply pushed below.

Years gone by and still I feel
The pain so fresh and new
Coping, crushing sadness yet
But I cannot forget you.

No identifying noun or name
Still so deeply hidden
Yet in God’s arms you safely live
Alive and up in heaven.

Can I tell you about my story?
Will you understand?
If I could go back there again
How I would change my mind!

Today I try to open up
Trapped in the devil’s snare
My heart still doubts you’ll want to meet me
My heart still bears a tear.

I simply want to say now
As the pain comes gushing out
You’re real, you’re mine, my Savior heals
My sin has been wiped out!

Can I tell you about my story?
Will you understand?
If I could go back there again
How I would change my mind!

Love is above all other things
How long it took to see
That God loves me despite this sin
And perhaps you will love me.

Love,
Mommy

Dear Mitchell,

I am so sorry, son, that I loved you too late. I never acknowledged you. You were my secret, my shame, my abortion. But the truth is that is not who you are. You are God’s precious child. You were always dearly loved by your heavenly Father, and you are the apple of His eye. Your plan and purpose didn’t stop when I chose to take your life and decided to forget about you. Your spirit returned to the God who gave you life as it says in Ecclesiastes 12:7. Now you have a perfect heavenly body, not the one I destroyed by my selfish choice. I see now that my sinful nature to have sex outside of marriage led me to cover up my sin and take your precious life.

I know now that my age and circumstances did not change who you were—you were one of ours like Kyle, Taylor and Jessica. My heart grieves having to face this truth, but our gracious loving heavenly Father brought this truth to light so He could begin to heal me. He came to the depths of my soul where there was so much pain that no one else knew. I was able to receive His forgiveness. Now I have a new life in Him, and my chains of secrecy have been broken. I will forever praise God for this miracle in my heart. I can’t wait until we are reunited, and I see you for the first time. I will rejoice that glorious day. But until then, I pray I can continue doing our Father’s work here on earth sharing truth with grace and love to those He places in my path.

Forever in my heart,
Mom

Dear Sweet Baby Caroline,

You are brilliant. You are precious. You are a masterpiece designed by the Creator of the universe. I was blessed to have you in my life for 7 settimane. Although at that time I did not treasure your existence nor did I know the depths of the love that ran through your little veins, I have come to recognize the magnitude of pleasure that God, our Heavenly Father, took in knitting each and every ounce of your tiny body in my womb.

I, your mother, hold you in my arms today in a way I could not 10 years ago because I feared to look into your eyes and to hear God’s voice speak through the gentle grasp of your fingers saying “choose life.” In the light of my mind, I now behold you, my first child—the first of three girls. Do you know that you have two sisters? Do you know that your life has given great meaning to their lives? Because of you, I cherish the very breath of life God has gifted me and those who I hold close to my heart.

As I embrace you today and always, I let go of shame, colpa, humiliation, rejection, abandonment, pride and pain. I reject the lies that once kept your memory hidden in darkness far from the light of truth. My love, my beautiful baby girl, you were never forgotten. While your spirit rested in the everlasting arms of God, my spirit journeyed toward healing and restoration led by the secure hand of the Almighty.

Living in a world that so easily rushes past the memories of the unborn, I never paused to honor your life and celebrate you. This day, this hour, this minute, this moment is yours to be embraced, wanted, loved and valued by me, your mother.

Heaven has documented each moment of your existence in the book of life. Adesso, it is time for me to write your page into the story of my life.

My beloved daughter, I pray that God prepares my heart while I am here on earth to joyfully receive you into my open arms when I enter into eternal life in Heaven. I know that you wait for me in the peaceful presence of God. Looking ahead into eternity, I long to hold your hands, kiss your cheeks and wrap you tightly in my arms as we redeem a lifetime of relationship once lost.

In the years to come, when we find ourselves reunited in the spirit, I will delight in the unfolding of your unique personality woven together with the experience of your brief, yet significant life. For now, sweetheart, I entrust your care and protection to the Father whose plans for you are greater than either you or I can imagine. Rest in God’s light and in the truth that you are and always were profoundly loved.

Eternally yours,
Your Mother

My Dear Gabriella,

When I think of you, I wonder if you have dark brown eyes like your father or hazel green eyes like mine. Either way, I know you are beautiful, and your joy is evident to all—made in God’s image and so precious. I gave you this name because it has significant meaning, “God is My Strength”. Your natural birth would have taken place in 1982. Così, if I still had you here with me, you would be 39 years old this year! How I would love to celebrate your special day with you and pour out all my love on you! But soon, knowing you are with the Lord, we will be celebrating together in His presence. I so look forward to seeing your radiant smile!

I know and am eternally grateful that my Savior and you have forgiven me for robbing you of your earthly life. I am so thankful for forgiveness and the future opportunity to be with you in eternity. I look forward to embracing you and getting to know all about you!

Although your earthly life was so short, you impacted mine for eternity because precisely nine months after I allowed that abortion clinic to strip you away from my womb, Sono nato di nuovo! And on that amazing day, my heart, soul and spirit were transformed from darkness and condemnation into the forgiving and precious light of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit! God took our pain and ashes and turned them into eternal beauty!

I am pouring much of my life into other women who have experienced the pain and grief of abortion by helping them to acknowledge and heal from this event. I love you with all my heart, my precious little one, and I will see you soon!

Your forgiven Mom

Beloved Son,

Sweet baby Jake, I want you to know first and foremost that I love you very much. I am truly heartbroken and sorry for the many bad decisions that led to my selfish choice. If I were able to go back in time with what I now know, my choice, my decision would be DIFFERENT. You see God showed me that He was the Creator of Life and it was a gift. A beautiful gift. But the enemy wants to destroy life and I believed the lies that were told to me by my close friends and even society. I was told my life would be harder financial and that my dream of graduation college would be compromised. Being unmarried and pregnant at 19 would bring shame to my family. And the big lie I told myself, that no one would know. The law supports this decision, so it must be okay. My Choice My Body.

Beloved, God knows your life was not a mistake. Your life spurred me to a deeper faith and a passion for Christ. God showed me grace, love and healing in ways that I can’t describe. He used all these things for good (Rom 8:28). Your life allowed me to defend the defenseless, to value life in the womb and to have compassion for the hurting moms who fell into the same trap as I did.

God numbers our days and although yours were few, it continues to fuel my passion. I will never forget you and can’t wait to meet you and hold you in my arms for the first time. Jake your family knows of you and you are no longer a secret and even adopted by my husband. A gardenia tree has been planted in your remembrance. I await our reunion when God brings me home and I am comforted knowing you are with our Savior Jesus.

Love,
Your Mommy

Dear David, Daisy, and my other precious children,

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knit you together in my womb. Your frame was not hidden from Him who made you. When He wove you together in the depths of the earth, in the secret places, His eyes saw your unformed body. He ordained and wrote all your days in His book. His thoughts of you are precious, oh and so many of them, more than the grains of sand.

No more pain, no more sorrow, God wiped away your tears. In spite of the pain I caused you, the decisions I made, your life on this earth that I cut short, I love you. Do you know? Or is being in the presence of Jesus enough?

David, with your beautiful black hair and your green-blue eyes, you look just like your big brother

Eric, oh, how you would have loved each other. All of you.

Why should I weep or continue in the destructive behavior that caused me to choose death over life? Can I bring you back again? I will come to you one day, but you cannot come back to me. I rejoice in this! You are with the same God who formed you in my womb, who formed me in my mother’s womb. You are looking into the eyes of Jesus; His love for you is far greater than mine.

One day I will look into your eyes; I couldn’t in this world, but I will when we are both in Heaven. In the meantime, know how much I love you. You will forever be a part of me.

All My Love,
Mimi