“Rachel’s Vineyard Retreats, what do I say about this experience?  My experience, the retreat house, the environment, the facilitators, the volunteers, my fellow retreatants, and all the LOVE I felt that weekend will be with me forever.  The Holy Spirit was so obvious to me IN EVERYTHING that weekend.  For me, since my Rachel’s Vineyard weekend it has been a journey that in every step of the way and every day since, my faith has been growing and a peace has been within me.  My Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat has been a life changing experience for me!”

“My story begins with losing my virginity when I was thirteen years old.  I was raped.  After this traumatic event, my primary reaction was to pull back and withdraw from everyone, but ultimately that unresolved trauma of rape led me to be very sexually active which resulted in an unplanned crisis pregnancy at the age of sixteen.  It was decided by my parents that I would have an abortion.  I claimed I wanted to keep the child, but I was taken to the abortion clinic against my will.  I asked for help from the staff at Planned Parenthood and stated that I was not there willingly when I sat down to be counseled.  To my surprise, my cries for help fell upon deaf ears.  No one came to save me.  I was degraded by the adults there and was told that I was acting like a child.  During the ultrasound, I heard my baby’s heartbeat loud and clear. That was it for me.  Halfway through my ultrasound I stood up and ran out of the room and found myself up against a door.  That is the last thing I remembered as I struggled to wake up in the recovery room.  I had imagined that I was drugged to keep quiet because I was carrying on quite a bit and very loud.  The staff at Planned Parenthood were concerned that I would scare the other women there preparing for their abortions.  I woke up in the recovery room feeling empty and in a state of total shock.  I was slumped over in a chair in a group with the other girls and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was blood; I knew right then that my baby was gone.  I felt small, weak, powerless, and violated.  The shame, guilt, and pain I felt in the following days left me suicidal.  Everything around me was a reminder of the betrayal and murder of my baby.  So, not much time passed when I found myself turning to opiates to numb the pain.  My boyfriend at the time took advantage of my brokenness and he would physically and emotionally abuse me.  I felt so degraded and worthless that I allowed the abuse to continue.  I felt like garbage and that I deserved it all.  My mother confided in a friend about my abortion and she expressed how it was affecting me.  By the grace of God, she recommended to my mother that she take me on a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat.  During the weekend of my retreat, I was touched by God’s loving embrace and His Mercy and forgiveness.  I was finally able to grieve the loss of my child and entrust his soul to Jesus.  Our Lord showed me that with and through Him I would be healed, and that I was to go forward to live my life in honor of my child.  I believe Rachel’s Vineyard saved my life.  I tell you my story so that you can know what the real impact of abortion is.  I am now happily married to a wonderful man and we are blessed to have a beautiful little boy and girl.  Please consider attending a Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat so that you, too, can heal from the wounds and trauma of abortion.”