Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

At Lumina we have been addressing the far reaching implications of abortion for years. we recognize it is not just the mother and father who are impacted, but the grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, everyone!

Our "Morning of Prayerful Remembrance" addresses the feelings of the many people who deal with the aftermath of an abortion, and we encourage people to bring it to their churches so that those suffering silence will can come forward for help in anominity. All materials to conduct the day are available from us.

Lumina has been having days specifically designed for men and siblings for the past several years, giving them a safe place to address the dynamics they are experiencing on particpating or learning about the abortion of a family memember.

One of th e most profound experiences I had was when my mom and I sat down and spoke of the abortion I had had at 17. from the day my parents kicked me out of the house until that day over 15 years tranpired. It was the elephant in the room of our house that everyone saw but no one spoke of. It was so healing for both of us to finally speak.

I want to thank Kelly and her mom for sharing their hearts. I also pray for their healing and so want to tell her mom she is already helping other grandparents!!! Thank you!

Abortion Through a Grandmother’s Eyes: Forgiveness, Healing

by Kelly Clinger | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 11/7/11 7:19 PM

Since going incredibly public with my abortions, my parents have been so supportive. They have prayed for me, watched my kids while I travel, and loved me through the tough days. In many ways, however, they have been silent about their feelings.

I knew they needed time to process, grieve, and go through all of the emotions that abortion brings. Last night, I received a letter from my Mom…and I want to share it. It’s an honest look at how it feels to be the mother of a girl who’s had an abortion and the grandmother of aborted grandchildren…and it’s a reminder that abortion affects so many more people than we even realize.

Dear Kelly,

This morning, a series of events led me to go to your website. I have spent the last several hours reading your blogs and the comments that follow. I am asking the Holy Spirit to guide my mind and hands as I write this letter to you. I am writing this with a heart filled with love and admiration. My heart aches for the pain you have endured and it yearns for the clock that I wish I could turn back and change the mistakes your father and I made in raising our daughters. It is not fair that hindsight is so clear!

It would be very easy for me to defend every decision your dad and I made as you were growing up. I could say, “We did the best we could”, or “You have no idea what we were going through”, or how about this one…“We were young and stupid and no one taught us how to be parents!” We made a conscience effort to protect our daughters from every hurtful, damaging, and unsafe situation that came along. Because we both grew up in very “unsafe” families, we thought that was the answer to raising happy, healthy daughters. Every decision we made was with that goal in mind. I think that was a noble goal…but, with unintended consequences.

As I have learned more and more about the struggles that you have overcome, I keep asking myself the same question. “Why didn’t Kelly come to me and let me help her through this time in her life?”; “Why did she feel she could not trust that I would walk with her through her pain?”. What you don’t know is that I WAS struggling with you through this time…I just did not know WHY. I was not strong enough to ask you for the truth because I was afraid of the answer. In my heart, I knew the truth…but I was so afraid of losing you and my grandaughter, I stepped into the shadow and prayed that God would protect you both.

As you are learning each day, parenting is like shooting at a target. Sometimes you hit a bulls eye, but most of the time, you are just lucky to hit the target! If your dad and I could look at your “growing-up” target, we would see a few bulls eyes, but I know there were far too many near misses and, Lord knows, there were too many complete misses! My heart aches for another shot at it, knowing what I know now!

here is the rest: http://www.lifenews.com/2011/11/07/abortion-through-a-grandmothers-eyes-forgiveness-healing/