(This article originally appeared at Bridgehaven Pregnancy Support Center, here.)

Take Courage is an eternal value to any post-abortive woman or man who will answer, with the blind man in Mark 10:51, “Lord, I want to see.” (CSB)[i] Their plea may be, “Lord, I want to see how (or “if”) You still love me,” or, “Lord, I want to be free to live for You!” Many carry their layered scars alone for decades while the Lord is asking His wounded, “What do you want me to do for you?” Their healing may lie in saying, “Yes, Lord, I’ll attend.”

The healing value for many begins as they prayerfully consider what is involved in saying, “Yes,” to a Take Courage weekend. For many, their “yes” begins with a conversation with a spouse or another loved one, already employing the courage needed to answer, “Lord, I want to see,” as they describe their desire and reason for wanting to take a weekend away for prayer and healing. It takes incredible courage to attend a weekend with several others one has never met. This is an invaluable trust!

The Take Courage curriculum helps Scripture come off the page to participants and leaders alike. It is an aid to the work of the Holy Spirit, an expression of love, never seeking to replace the Spirit’s leading, but serving those who come alongside of participants by saying with their life, “[We praise our] God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”[ii]

Like many wonderful works of the Lord, it is impossible to know the myriad of ways Take Courage impacts those who attend, their families, or other friendships. Everyone who lives with the layered pain of past choices also realizes how one decision affects many others—negatively…and now, positively. God uses Take Courage for good and His glory as participants, now friends, leave with a renewed relationship with the Lord, a firm resolve to have life-changing conversations with loved ones, a newfound confidence in Christ to allow their life story—now renewed by God’s grace—to serve others who are hurting with the comfort they have now personally received in Christ.

Learn more about the ministry of Bridgehaven Pregnancy Support Center or Contact Us to schedule a time to talk.

[i] Here, “post-abortive” describes women who have had abortions and men who fathered the aborted child.

[ii] 2 Corinthians 1:3b-4, ESV, emphasis added.