My name is Robin and I'm from Ohio. My husband and I just celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary last month. We have four adult children and nine grandchildren. We raised our children on a dairy farm in NY and just recently moved to Ohio, after losing the farm through a very difficult family situation.
I have been a teacher and middle school/high school principal for almost 30 years. When we came to Ohio, I didn't really want to look for a position in a school and the only person I knew here told me about a position in a pregnancy center near my house.
For years, I'd been asking the Lord to give me an opportunity to volunteer at a pregnancy resource center, but we didn't have any near where I lived in upstate New York. I applied for the job and didn't get it but a few weeks later, the executive director called to say that she'd like to meet with me to discuss another position. It was for the director of education. I was hired and began to design a brand-new abstinence program for our organization.
I love God's sense of humor, placing me back in the schools in the Dayton area, teaching abstinence. All along though, I felt the pull to work with women who have had an abortion because of my own past. I had three abortions in less than two years, before the age of 20. My childhood was a loveless one with lots of divorce and trauma and I rebelled big time during my teenaged years by partying and drinking with older kids.
I was gang-raped by some older basketball stars from our town at a party when I was not quite 15 years old. That began a spiral of feeling totally ashamed of myself and even less loved, that led to more and more partying and getting drunk. 85% of all teenaged sexual activity occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
That described the next 4-5 years of my life, that also led to three unexpected pregnancies. I never knew anyone else who had three abortions (or at least admitted that they did). I began to do everything I could to make up for those abortions by "doing good" and "being good" after I became a Jesus follower more than 25 years ago.
I finally attended an abortion recovery retreat in upstate NY and when I heard the women say, "Jesus has forgiven you, as far as the east is from the west", with her hands stretched out to her sides, a light bulb went off and I knew that I couldn't forgive myself, only He could, and He had! In April of this year, our organization decided that we needed to design a new abortion recovery program, and I was hired for the position.
God has brought me full circle and that's why I am silent no more! Our new program is called, "Restoring Hope" and I want to help others to also find their healing and have restored hope in their future.