It's Not a Coincidence

I had a working lunch yesterday with my friend Leslie, who is the Director of Rachel's Hope - Escondido.  It was our 2014 brainstorming/goal-setting/scheduling session for our healing retreats.  We accomplished a great deal and are "ready to roll".  This year we are changing it up a little by using "Redeemed", the devotional I wrote for post-abortive women, as part of the program. What a wonderful endorsement!


While we were eating, shuffling papers and talking non-stop (now THAT is multi-tasking), I drifted back in time to when Leslie came into my life.  I wrote about it in "And God Still Loves Me", which will be released next week:

It wasn’t until I had sobered up and joined the Catholic Church that the true affects of the abortions were realized. I attended a Faith in the Spirit Seminar at my parish. There was no reason I would go to something like that, but on that weekend I walked into the seminar alone. One of the speakers was talking about her abortion and how it had such an impact on her emotionally. She spoke about Rachel’s Hope which does healing retreats for post-abortive women. The more she spoke, the more my tears flowed. She was talking directly to me! After the session, I walked up to Rosemary Benefield, Executive Director of Rachel’s Hope, who was also at the seminar, and said, “I need you”. She gave me a pamphlet that outlined her program and I signed up for her weekend retreat.

The woman speaking at the seminar was Leslie and I didn't even get the chance to meet her that day.  Rosemary invited me to a fund-raising dinner a few months after going through her retreat and Leslie was part of the group seated at our table.  After introductions, she asked me how I heard about Rachel's Hope. I told her about the seminar I attended and how the woman speaking inspired me to reach out for healing.  She looked at me and said, "I'm getting goosebumps, that was me!" The rest, they say, is history.  She invited me to co-lead one of her retreats in Escondido and I continue working with her to this day.

God spoke to me through Leslie at that seminar. I believe it was His plan for me to join her and Rosemary in sharing the healing touch of God's love and mercy to women who are living with the shame, regret and pain of abortion. I am blessed beyond measure.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  (Jeremiah 29:11)

 Have a Blessed Day!