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Jody
Georgia,
United States
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Good afternoon. I am not a quiet person. Whenever I speak for Silent No More, in my testimony, the first thing that I do is I always thank God for the men and women who serve in our armed forces, who give us the ability to be able to come up here and speak freely about the things that are so close to our heart. Thank you, everyone who serves or who has served in the United States Military.
I am a veteran of the United States Army. I have been a military wife for the last 33 years. I speak because my message needs to get out to those who serve, to those who have served, and to their families. Thirty three years ago, I was a brand new Second Lieutenant in the Army. I went out in a date with another Second Lieutenant who was newly commissioned. It went too far. I went to one duty station, he went to another duty station.
I got out to Arizona and found out that as a result of that date rape, I was pregnant. I didn't know where to go. I did not know what to do. I didn't have any friends out there except for one other First Lieutenant who was out there that befriended me. He suggested and made an appointment, took me to Tucson, where I would have that abortion.
My life would never be the same. I started to become very anxious, depressed, having difficulty concentrating on the tasks at hand. I'm just one of many, many post abortive men and women from the military. Many, many of us are out there. If you think about the men and women who are post abortive and not healed, taking extra risks because of the pain that they're going through, not being able to concentrate on the job of the task at hand, putting themselves and other people's lives at risk need to get the message of healing and hope out to those military members and those veterans.
Later, I met and married my husband. We have three children. On the outside, it looked like I had it all together, but on the inside, I was dying. I was dying. I had three rambunctious sons. We were involved in all kinds of activities; yet, that house full of three boys, I always felt empty and I felt alone and I couldn't figure out why.
About 15 years ago, I was introduced to a ministry in Atlanta, Georgia called Post Abortion Treatment and Healing. In that ministry, I went through a forgiven and set free bible study and I got involved in that ministry and became a bible study facilitator. Then, we found out about Rachel's Vineyard retreats. We all went on a Rachel's Vineyard retreat and we all became part of the Rachel's Vineyard ministry.
The healing was the weight of the world came off my shoulders then and I was able to see what had happened and why my life was like it was because of that abortion. On behalf of all men and women who are post abortive, but particularly on behalf of all of you who are out there serving now or have served or if you are a spouse, a wife, a husband, a child of somebody in the military, please, if you are hurt by a past abortion, please get help. Go on a Rachel's Vineyard retreat, go to a bible study, go to your pastor, go to your minister, go to your priest, but get that healing because there's so much stress on military families as it is because of deployments and because of just everyday life of the military. Having that extra stress of an unhealed abortion is only going to put more pressure on your military family.
On behalf of all of you who have served and are serving currently, I am silent no more. Thank you.
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Silent No More Awareness Campaign: Reach Out - Educate - Share
www.silentnomoreawareness.org |
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