The thing he said...without ever opening his mouth

August 24, 2016

He was dad…. 16 years ago

He was silent at the time of the decision and that silence has affected their marriage. Now his wife was venturing out in courage to a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat – alone.

When the retreat ended, there he was holding an arrangement of flowers and balloons. I bristled a bit as I saw him as I could see there was writing on the balloons. I couldn’t think of any reason to have so many balloons. As I headed in his direction, I could see what the balloons said: It is a girl. I stood there and thought about what he was doing. He was acknowledging his wife’s pain in the loss of their little girl to abortion. This would be something you would see done by a father in a hospital celebrating his daughter’s birth. But he was doing the only thing he could think of doing now….acknowledging his daughter and making himself present as her father to stand with his wife at her memorial service.

man with balloon

What seemed like such odd behavior turned out to be the warmest and most tender gift of love I have seen. Secrets and regrets all washed away and turned into a light filled memory.

The door of the retreat center is where God awaits the people. He waits for those who hand Him their fear and along with that, the key to their hearts so that He may have their permission to heal them. I saw the fear in the faces of the people as I mentioned to them that they needed to hand God the key. God is a respectful God and wants to know they truly desire His healing. The keys were handed to Him one by one as they came through that door.

The door is also the place where the world awaiting outside comes to meet them after their hard work that weekend.

In this particular case, a loving husband anxious to be at his wife’s side and let her know how much he regretted their choice of years ago and how ready he was to remember their little girl and give her a permanent place in their lives and in their hearts. For him to make this bold statement and show up with this in hand, was letting her know the baby was his too….and he felt the loss too.

He may not have had the words…but he said so much with being the most bold statement in the building.

--Submitted by Healing after Abortion Ministry Director Eileen Kuhlmann

If you are someone you know is suffering from a past abortion experience, there is hope and healing. We can help. Begin the journey to Christ's mercy today atwww.racheldallas.org.