Omono grew up in a loving home
with two parents. People who knew her would have said she was an overachiever,
one of those "Most Likely to Succeed" types. She was one of the many
Nigerians in her school to receive scholarships to attend the University. Then
she met a man---an older man who stole her heart and her virginity.
Pregnant at 18, she made the
choice to have an abortion. Unfortunately, Omono remained in sin, and by the
time she was in her mid-20s, had four more abortions. Now 30 years old with two
kids, Omono lives with an ache in her heart at the unnecessary loss of the
other children by her choice to abort them.
"Having children made me
realize the ultimate value of life beyond my selfish motivations of what I felt
life was about," Omono told me. "After having my first child I
realized or began to feel the other children I once had the opportunity to have
were still my children. I have dealt with a greater sense of regret and
conviction after having children. I have realized the gift it is to be chosen
by God to nurture and raise the seeds he plants, his children, whether
they were conceived by sin and lust or by love."
She made the decisions to abort
to "save a relationship [with her boyfriend] for four of them and the
fifth due to finances and fear." Omono now believes that abortion is
wrong. She shared through tears:
"It is a weird thing,
abortion. It is wrong in the sense that someone would even have the idea to
create such a procedure to begin with. It is wrong to think that someone
wouldn't take responsibility for their actions. It is wrong that young men don't
understand the effect it has on the young woman or girl who lies in the cold,
cold, cold room with a group of other woman to ultimately remove a child as if
it is a parasite. It's heavy."
Omono is now on a journey
to understand God's forgiveness of sins through Christ's sacrificial death on
the Cross.
"I repeatedly decided to
have abortions because I wasn't serving the good will of my Lord, I was blindly
living in the world and serving people and relationships, dreams that
weren't ever fully met anyway due to conviction and self doubt. I still
have a looming feeling of guilt from time to time and am still on a journey to
understand God's love for me so that I understand Christ's sacrifice for these
sins I have committed."
No Sin Too Great
If you are among the thousands
of women who have chosen to abort your child, I want to share God's grace with
you. John Piper has helpfully and powerfully addressed the topic of race and abortion.
Hear this word for you:
And lest anyone think that you
are simply too sinful---that there have been too many sins for too
long---listen to the way the great sinner, the apostle Paul, speaks to
you---directly to you. This is 1 Timothy
1:15-16: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as
the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to
those who were to believe in him for eternal life." In other words, if God
can save me, the foremost (he was a murdering Christian-hater), then he can
save anyone who comes to him. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved" (Romans 10:13).
There is forgiveness in Christ.
If you are convicted of your sin, confess it and ask God to forgive you. Then
walk in that forgiveness in the light (Ephesians
5:8-11) and speak with a pastor or Christian counselor to assist you
further.
* * * * *
*Omono is not the interviewee's
real name. Her first and last name has been concealed to protect the identity
of her children and the men involved in the circumstances above.
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