I'm 17 years old.
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And not only that,
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I flunked out of my
first year of college,
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and I'm pregnant.
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You wanna hear
how I've been restored
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on Life After Choice.
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Welcome to Life After Choice.
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I'm Danny and I'm
with my wife, Emily.
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And she's here to share
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something that I
just found out recently,
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and I'm so proud of you
for sharing your story today.
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Can we just kind
of get us started
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on your journey in this process?
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Sure.
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Well, I was 17 years old,
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just newly accepted
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into a
predominantly white university
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in the state of
Georgia in the early '70s.
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And I started to date this guy,
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really nice guy.
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And we've been
dating the whole time
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that I was in school.
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And at the end of the semester,
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I knew I hadn't
been doing well in class.
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And I discovered
that I was pregnant.
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So I just acted as
if everything was okay,
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and I left school, went home.
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And I immediately
told my two siblings
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that I was pregnant
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and they made arrangements
for me to have an abortion.
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So your siblings did this?
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My siblings had the
answer, so I thought.
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And I went along with it
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because I didn't have
the heart to tell my parents
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that I was pregnant.
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That would be hard. Yeah.
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So we made these arrangements
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and I went to have the abortion.
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I don't even remember
having a counseling session.
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I don't even remember
whether there was anesthesia.
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But I do remember
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the aftermath.
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I was in bed in my room at home.
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And just as I was
when I was a teenager,
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fighting back menstrual cramps.
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My parents knew,
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no different,
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you know,
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they knew that was
a habit that I had,
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so they didn't suspect anything.
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So it's like you had a trauma.
It's like you had a daze.
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I was in a daze
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and I was embarrassed,
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but I was determined
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that I was going
to resolve this issue,
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so I told my parents
that I would get a job.
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And I enrolled in
this modeling school
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because the job that I had
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was with this fashion boutique.
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So it was a perfect
complement to what I was doing.
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And I told them
that I would work
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to pay my student loans.
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So they agreed
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that it was a good
plan for me to move out.
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And I recall just thinking,
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well, you know,
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I just
suppressed all the motions,
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and all the
emotions, and thoughts,
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and feelings about the abortion
as if it had never happened.
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So did your parents
ever learn anything about it?
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Never.
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Never? Never.
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So you carry all
that with you as well?
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I did.
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To make matters worse,
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I was involved in
another relationship
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and pregnant again.
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And I'm thinking,
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okay, I already know what to do,
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so I made the
arrangements myself
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and had a second abortion.
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And I was
suppressing all these feelings
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that I had about it,
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so busy trying to
make my life perfect
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after I'd destroyed it
with these bad choices.
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So let me ask you, why did
you choose the second abortion?
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Why this time?
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Because I
already knew what to do,
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and I didn't see the
point in trying to have a child
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and I wasn't in a position.
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I wasn't married.
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I wasn't in a position
to take care of a child.
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I was barely surviving myself.
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Did the father know?
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He knew. Okay.
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And he paid for the abortion.
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He was adamant
about not having a child.
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So they really made it
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a little easier for
me to choose to do it.
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But years later,
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I started to believe that
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you know,
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I had to really
resolve within myself
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that I had destroyed the
lives of two innocent children.
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I had made that choice
and it began to haunt me.
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So what made you
think about the innocence
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after so long a time?
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What brought that up?
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Well, I was really on a path
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searching for
truth in my life for...
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I guess, I was
looking for Christ.
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I was looking for
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that acceptance from my Creator
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and I was out on my own
trying to put my life together
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and trying to figure out,
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you know, why I was
making all these bad choices.
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And so I had in my mind
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that God could not
forgive me for what I had done,
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because I wouldn't let Him.
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So let me ask you this.
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You're searching for God,
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but you don't feel
like He can forgive you.
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So what made the difference?
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What made the change
that gave you some hope
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that He would accept you?
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Well, I was on this
path for finding out
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who God really was.
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Okay.
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I had grown up in
the Baptist Church,
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and I went through the motions.
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I even recited
Scripture as a child,
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but I didn't
really know who God was
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until I got involved in
some serious Bible studies.
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So you're saying,
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at first you
saw God as a poster,
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somebody that you can
just look at on the wall,
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but then you
started looking for Him
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as a relationship?
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That pretty much wraps it up.
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I would see all these
pictures of Christ on the cross,
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but I didn't see
Christ as the Savior.
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I didn't understand
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why He was on the cross
until I really began to study.
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So I was on
this path looking for
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who God really was.
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And it's interesting.
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When I found him,
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I had already been
married three times,
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had two children,
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and I was pregnant
with my third child,
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and I realized
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that God had a solution
for every problem for my life.
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I learned to trust
God when I realized
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that He wanted to be
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a part of every facet
of my life and my being.
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And I accepted that,
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and I accepted His forgiveness.
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But I hadn't
really forgiven myself.
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But it sounds like
you're beginning to accept
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that Christ
could be your friend,
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not just some
God way out in space,
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but somebody that's
right here with you right now?
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Right.
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I had to come to that resolution
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before I realized that,
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I was still trying
to control my life,
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and I was not doing
a very good job of it.
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So I learned to
search the scriptures
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when I joined the
Seventh-day Adventist Church,
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and I received
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that God wanted to
be totally involved
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in all of my life,
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in my children's
lives, in our health,
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in our mental,
physical and spiritual health.
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So when I accepted that,
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I realized that
He could restore me,
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and I found in the scriptures,
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when I read the text that says
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that He could restore the years
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that the cankerworm destroyed.
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So what did He
really do to restore you?
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I mean,
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what's practically
different about you
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then when you had all
these experiences before?
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Well, it's interesting
that you ask that question.
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He showed me that when
we met, when you and I met,
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He let me know
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that no matter what
you've done, I love you.
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So I'm learning
something new again today.
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Yes, He let me know that
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"I can restore all those
years of guilt that you've had."
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He knew that I
wanted to be married,
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and some of my
friends would ask me,
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"Why did you remarry?"
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I said, "Because I
love being married."
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I watched my parents
and their relationship.
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They had a
beautiful relationship.
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I know they were disappointed
in each other sometimes.
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I even knew when they were upset
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with each other, but
they loved each other.
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And I learned to value
the institution of marriage
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through my parents.
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And when God sent you
to me on my 50th birthday,
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I said, "This is wonderful."
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And that's when I
realized, I can be in love,
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and I can be in a
wonderful marriage
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without premarital sex...
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Right.
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That's something
that I'm really proud of
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that we did
together before we married.
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We agreed that
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we weren't going
to do things our way,
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we were gonna do
things God's way.
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And He's blessed us for that,
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and I'm so thrilled
to have you in my life.
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And I was...
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It wasn't keeping the
abortions away from you
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was not something I
really even entertained.
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I just felt like
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it wasn't a time
to talk about it.
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I never really felt
like it was something
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that I needed to
share with you until now,
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and I'm just so grateful
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that you have proven
to be the love of my life.
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Praise the Lord.
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And that we are
both restored together.
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And I just praise God for that,
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and I look forward
to our future together.
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And I just want to say
to any young person or old,
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if you've done
things in your life,
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if you've had an abortion
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that God can heal that pain
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that you're carrying
and you're suppressing,
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and chasing after false
hopes is not the answer.
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God is the only answer.
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If you just
allow Him to love you,
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and stop looking for
love in all the wrong places.
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That's something
that I had to learn
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that I've been looking
for love in all these people
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who didn't even know God.
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And, of course, they
weren't going to draw me
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close to Him.
00:11:22.84\00:11:24.18
But I remembered the years
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that I suffered
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because I chose
to go my own way.
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Let God have your
life. Let Him use you.
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Let Him be a
blessing in your life
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so that you can be a
blessing to those around you.
00:11:39.79\00:11:42.73
And I'm just so grateful
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to have this
opportunity to share.
00:11:44.73\00:11:47.54
I'm so grateful that
my husband understands
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and that he's willing
to be right here with me
00:11:50.37\00:11:54.01
sharing this message of hope,
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of restoration,
of a brighter future.
00:11:57.48\00:12:02.82
I look forward to many
years with this blessing
00:12:02.85\00:12:05.62
that God has
given me in Danny Wells.
00:12:05.65\00:12:09.12
And I'm praying
that whatever it is
00:12:09.16\00:12:11.43
that you're
holding on to in your life
00:12:11.46\00:12:13.23
that's not a blessing to you,
00:12:13.26\00:12:15.06
that you will let it
go and let God have it
00:12:15.10\00:12:18.43
and be a blessing to
someone else, to yourself.
00:12:18.47\00:12:22.64
I've learned it,
00:12:22.67\00:12:24.01
I cannot help anyone
if I'm not helping myself.
00:12:24.04\00:12:28.04
You know the story
about the oxygen mask
00:12:28.08\00:12:32.01
on the plane.
00:12:32.05\00:12:33.68
If I don't inhale
that oxygen, I will die.
00:12:33.72\00:12:38.69
And if we don't
inhale the blessings
00:12:38.72\00:12:41.19
that God has for us,
00:12:41.22\00:12:43.26
we will die spiritually,
physically, and emotionally,
00:12:43.29\00:12:47.93
and we can't give
that to anyone else.
00:12:47.96\00:12:50.57
You can't be in a
healthy relationship
00:12:50.60\00:12:53.47
if you're not
healthy in a relationship
00:12:53.50\00:12:56.00
with yourself.
00:12:56.04\00:12:57.41
You have to take
care of yourself.
00:12:57.44\00:13:00.21
And I just praise God
00:13:00.24\00:13:01.58
that He's given me
this life partner to do that
00:13:01.61\00:13:05.55
and to share this story,
00:13:05.58\00:13:07.02
to give me the courage
00:13:07.05\00:13:08.55
to share this
story with you today.
00:13:08.58\00:13:12.15
Sweetie, I just want you to know
00:13:12.19\00:13:13.66
how proud I am of you.
00:13:13.69\00:13:15.89
I know, I was upset a little bit
00:13:15.92\00:13:17.99
when you first told me
00:13:18.03\00:13:19.36
and I had to think
about it and realize
00:13:19.39\00:13:21.96
how difficult it must have
been to have those feelings
00:13:22.00\00:13:26.07
and have those experiences
and try to understand
00:13:26.10\00:13:28.10
how to share that
with somebody else.
00:13:28.14\00:13:30.81
I know my life
hadn't always been perfect,
00:13:30.84\00:13:33.17
never has been really
but Christ made me complete.
00:13:33.21\00:13:38.51
And He made me the person
00:13:38.55\00:13:40.08
that can love
you unconditionally.
00:13:40.12\00:13:42.48
That could take
time to understand
00:13:42.52\00:13:45.09
the importance of
just sharing your life
00:13:45.12\00:13:50.73
with someone unconditionally.
00:13:50.76\00:13:52.46
And I want people out
there listening to know
00:13:52.49\00:13:55.33
that there's
always going to be times
00:13:55.36\00:13:57.37
when you will have things
00:13:57.40\00:13:58.93
that you want to
share with someone else
00:13:58.97\00:14:01.24
and may not be able to say it
00:14:01.27\00:14:03.00
in a way that you want to say it
00:14:03.04\00:14:04.37
or have the
words that will explain
00:14:04.41\00:14:07.74
how you want them
to know how you feel.
00:14:07.78\00:14:11.01
But there is a person
00:14:11.05\00:14:13.48
that who made my life complete
and my wife's life complete
00:14:13.52\00:14:17.55
that can give you that hope,
00:14:17.59\00:14:19.45
that will give you the peace
00:14:19.49\00:14:21.86
and the
contentment to move forward,
00:14:21.89\00:14:25.46
to be restored.
00:14:25.49\00:14:27.26
And I thank God
00:14:27.30\00:14:28.63
that we had this opportunity
to be on this program
00:14:28.66\00:14:32.80
to share Emily's
story and my story,
00:14:32.83\00:14:36.00
so you can know that
there is Life After Choice.
00:14:36.04\00:14:41.01