Portia was single, pregnant and scared. Now years later, she recalls what motivated her to

terminate her own pregnancy. I had convinced myself this is a decision that I have to make.

There's no way forward. Her message is ultimately a positive one.

She offers this counsel to anyone who feels like she has no alternative other than abortion.

That is a lie from the enemy.

You don't have to take the shame surrounding your pregnancy and take away your child's life because you feel like that's the only

option that you have. There is a way forward.

We want to bring you hope today on Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Walgamuth, author of Lies Women Believe for Wednesday, January 21st. I'm Dana Gresh.

Today and tomorrow, we're going to be touching on the difficult subject of abortion. It's a sad reality here in the United States and in many parts of the

world. It's a dark scene in my dear friend Portia's story and maybe it's part of your story too.

But as you listen, I hope you'll hear more than sadness in Portia's testimony. Yes, there was

fear and shame and hiding. But the Lord transformed

her so that now her story also shows us courage and freedom and transparency. To set the stage,

let's listen to an illustration Nancy once gave regarding shame.

Hester Prynne is the main character in a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne set in 17th century

Puritan Massachusetts. In the story, Hester has an affair. She conceives and gives birth to a baby girl. And then, scandalous as this is,

she's brought before a crowd to receive her punishment. The punishment is that whenever she's in

public, she's required to wear a scarlet letter A on her dress. It's never said what the A stands for,

but it's assumed that it stands for

adultery. And so Hester lives for years as her little girl grows up with public humiliation and shame.

Now, the father of the child, as it turns out, is also the minister of Hester's church.

His name is Arthur Dimmesdale.

...