Sheila and Jack Harper – "The Jesus Who Forgives the Sin of Abortion" | Unfolding Short Stories
The Unfolding
Northwestern Media
4.9 • 867 Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"We decided that we are two hot messes and we would just be better off if we made one big hot mess."
That is how Jack and Sheila described their marriage in the middle of brokenness, after Sheila carried the weight of abortion for seven years and Jack battled decades of alcoholism.
But God stepped in. A Bible study introduced Sheila to "a Jesus who forgives the sin of abortion." And in church one morning, Jack heard God whisper, "I will take you by the hand and lead you home."
From their ashes, God planted Save One, "helping men, women, and families recover after abortion." Today, what He did for Sheila and Jack is bringing hope to thousands. Visit saveone.org to learn more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And it was a Bible study, and they introduced me to a Jesus who forgives the sin of abortion, |
| 0:06.1 | and I haven't been able to be quiet about it since then because I just refused to allow my |
| 0:11.1 | brothers and sisters to believe the same lie that I believed. |
| 0:15.3 | God's story? |
| 0:17.2 | Your life. |
| 0:20.2 | Unfolding short stories. |
| 0:24.3 | What of your deepest regret could be that very place that God brings healing to the world? |
| 0:30.7 | For Sheila, it was an abortion in the weight that she carried for seven years. |
| 0:35.7 | For Jack, it was more than two decades enslaved to alcohol. |
| 0:40.1 | Together, they called themselves one big hot mess. Their marriage was fragile, their lives crumbling, |
| 0:47.3 | but in the middle of despair, God stepped in. A Bible study revealed to Sheila, a savior who forgives even the deepest wounds. And in church one |
| 0:57.3 | Sunday morning, Jack heard God whisper, I will take you by the hand and lead you home. This is their |
| 1:04.0 | story. When I was 19 years old, I became pregnant. |
| 1:12.0 | And I was with a guy that I knew I did not want to be connected to for the rest of my life through a child. |
| 1:19.2 | And that's what I kept telling myself. |
| 1:22.1 | And I thought, I'm in college. |
| 1:23.9 | I need to, you know, I can't go through with having a child. And so I listened to all of the |
| 1:30.5 | outside voices, the politicians, the celebrities that told me this was my right and my choice to |
| 1:36.5 | have an abortion. And I trusted that the Supreme Court would never make a law that was bad for me. So |
| 1:42.9 | at 19, I just marched forward. I made the |
| 1:47.5 | appointment and I had an abortion. And it was by far the most horrific and regrettable mistake of my |
| 1:54.8 | life. And through that, I spent the next seven years just hating myself. I wanted to die. In fact, two years into it, |
... |
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