How God Turned My Darkest Moment into Redemption
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Hi there, welcome to Christianity.com. I'm Steve Arterburn. I'm an author and founder of New Life Ministries. I'm a Christian, and here's why and why that will never change.
When I was nine, my father led me to the Lord. I accepted Jesus as my Savior, and then the older I got, the more I rebelled and the more I turned away from the teachings of God that I found in the Bible. It was a bad time, a dark time, so dark that I ended up getting a girl pregnant, and I pressured her and paid for an abortion.
When you do something like that, it impacts your life. I had about 80 ulcers eating at me, nothing more than just the physiological effects of the horrible, horrible guilt and shame that I was living. Well, I would say that was the bottom, and it was at that time, somebody helped me see there was a way out, and I can never ever thank that person enough, so I did find that way.
Many people thought that for the rest of my life, I'd be punished for paying for that abortion because that's the way they thought God worked. I ended up getting married. We were an infertile couple, and yes, they suggested that's the consequence of the abortion. Still, seven years of dealing with infertility resulted in the adoption of my daughter Madeline, who was born on Christmas Eve, to a woman and a 16-year-old boy who decided to do what I didn't dare to do: bring a baby, their baby, into the world. When we flew into Atlanta and went to the hospital, they, for some reason, didn't put the baby in my wife's arms.
They gave her to me, God giving me what I had destroyed earlier. That is the kind of grace that God has for every person. You know, it's tough whether you're a believer or not.
Sometimes, I look back and wonder how I got through that time. I believe God had his hand on me as God has his hand on you. James 1:12 became one of the most reassuring verses in Scripture because I was anything but doing a great job at living the Christian life, and simply this, for those who persevere will receive the crown of life.
If you're struggling, the goal isn't perfection; it's progress. If you can get through it, never give up; persevere, and God will give you blessings on the other side. I hope and pray that you will either find Jesus or find your way back to Christ.
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