December 24, 2024 • 13 mins
This episode explores the themes of pain, healing, and forgiveness through the remarkable story of Clara Caldwell, a survivor of a botched abortion. Clara’s journey highlights the power of forgiveness and the grace that can emerge from even the darkest of circumstances, particularly during the Christmas season.
• Clara's miraculous survival from abortion informs her path to forgiveness
• The importance of gratitude and compassion in healing relationships
• Exploring biblical teachings on forgiveness from Matthew 6:14-15
• How Clara’s understanding of her mother’s choices affects her emotional response
• Encouraging listeners to embrace their own paths to forgiveness
• The transformative power of grace and love in overcoming past traumas
• A prayerful reflection on letting go of burdens and seeking freedom
• Discussion on the future direction of the podcast and audience engagement
Forgiveness is a gift, not just for others but for our own healing process.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome to the Words for Changepodcast.
Boy.
It is what?
The 24th of December and theyear is all most over, and you
guys are stuck in here for theentire year.
Man, I hope you guys are readyfor Christmas, as I am Getting
ready, well, just about there.
Well, anyway, if you don't knowme, I'm Lionel, and here on the
(00:20):
Words for Change podcast, weshare stories of redemption and
how words can change.
We share stories of resiliencyand transformation by God's
grace, and today we're going todive into an extraordinary topic
that speaks to the very heartof pain, healing and forgiveness
, particularly as we go forwardto the Christmas season, where
(00:42):
we connect with our family andmaybe some old wounds will arise
.
So let me ask you have you evercarried a heavy heart of
unforgiveness or wondered if itwas even possible to let go of
deep hurt that you haveexperienced?
That may seem unbearable.
If so, I want you to knowyou're not alone in this episode
(01:03):
.
It's for you because there ishope, there is healing and there
is grace.
But what day is it, y'all?
We're here on December 24th.
We want you guys to stayplugged in and we want you to
stay connected to Christ andremember, no matter what's going
(01:25):
on in our world, christ is incharge here on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve, so what's in thenews?
Well, congress has passed 81days of relief from the
government shutdown, so we'reexcited about that.
You guys know that.
I really appreciate that.
On Friday evening, the Housevoted 36634 to approve Speaker
(01:46):
Johnson's third attempt to astopgap funding bill.
After an original bipartisanproposal exploded, the Senate
said that they are just aftermidnight, president Biden
hopefully, to sign it sometime,very, very soon, very, very soon
(02:07):
.
The bill funds the governmentuntil March 14th, providing $100
billion in disaster relief, $10billion in agricultural aid,
reconstruction money for bridges, particularly in Baltimore, and
President-elect Trump on the11th hour request to extend the
debt.
Democrats are embracing thechaos, opinion chaos that we
brought by the coming GOPCongress.
Okay, so it's easy to throwstones, but we know that God is
(02:30):
in charge.
The scripture says, no matterwhere you stand on the aisle,
that we should love one another.
Well, the 2024 college footballplayoffs are kicking off and,
man, I'm telling you, we havealready seen some major, major
upsets.
Number seven Notre Dame cruisepass Indiana.
Number 12, georgia is on.
(02:52):
We'll play Georgia in the SugarBowl.
Number six Penn State dominatedSMU.
To all my Texas folks, thereyou go, number five, texas, go
Texas.
Hey, man, it's going to be abarn burner, ok.
So hey, as we push towardChristmas Eve, just remember
that God is in charge.
It's not about the gift, it'smore so about the thought.
(03:14):
And I had to remind myselfevery day hey, don't get in
trouble with credit cards andall of these things as we
approach the Christmas season,because God commands that we be
(03:56):
good stewards of the thoughtsthat we can reflect on.
First, did you know that somepeople are survivors of abortion
, people who were never meant totake a first breath?
Did you guys know that ClaraCaldwell is one of those
survivors?
Her story is nothing short ofmiraculous.
Secondly, forgiveness isn'tjust an act of kindness, it's an
(04:19):
act of freedom.
It's how God lifts us out ofthe shadow of the pain of our
past and brings us into hislight and the light of our lives
.
So we're going to talk aboutClara's story today and discover
the freedom of forgiveness.
So Clara's story begins withthe truth that she never
(04:41):
expected to learn.
Clara learned that she wasadopted and decided at the age
of 20 to seek out her birthmother.
Her goal was to connect orreconnect with her past and
express her gratitude for thelife that she was given.
But instead she understoodsomething shocking.
(05:02):
Y'all you won't believe this.
She understood and uncovered areality that she, clara, was a
twin, that her birth mother, atthe age of 13 years old, had
undergone a surgical abortion,unaware that she was carrying
twins.
While one of the twins was lost, clara miraculously survived
(05:28):
what I would like to call abotched abortion.
Now, think about that.
She found out that at the ageof 20, that she had a twin and
that her mother had tried anabortion For whatever reasons.
We don't know why, but you canimagine, at the age of 13, she
probably was encouraged, but wedon't know the background.
(05:48):
Ok, so think about finding allof this out at the age of 20,
which was Clara, which was whathappened with her.
Now, listen, we can stay stuckwith the story and end right
there, but I want to push itforward.
The Bible is clear aboutforgiveness.
This is what I say we're goingto talk about In Matthew 6, 14
(06:09):
through 15, it says this if youforgive when people sin against
you, god will forgive you, butif you don't forgive others, god
will not forgive you.
This verse is not just acommand, it's an invitation to
experience freedom, individualfreedom that comes through
forgiveness.
Now, if we were not Christians,really wouldn't matter to bring
(06:35):
a scripture verse up.
We wouldn't have much weight,okay.
But see, that's the problem.
When we, as believers andpeople who believe in Jesus
Christ, we believe in the powerof the gospel, we believe the
transformative power of God,it's true that God invades and
comes into our very humancircumstances, situation every
single day.
Right when we hold that corevalue, we have to let the
(07:01):
scripture speak into and informour lives and our decision
making processes.
It's one thing to go to church,it's another thing to become
the church.
It's one thing to read theBible, it's another thing to try
to live out what it is sayingand what it is asking and
(07:22):
inviting us to participate in.
So Clara's story reflects thistruth that when she met her
birth mother, she gave her agift.
Think about this.
So, going forward, when she mether birth mother, she thanked
her listen to me.
She thanked her for choosinglife for her and said that that
(07:44):
was the greatest gift she hadever received.
That was what Clara wrote in acard when she met her birth
mother.
Her birth mother began tearingup, but then those tears turned
into deep sorrow when sherevealed the truth about the
abortion.
Instead of reacting, though, inanger and resentment, clara
(08:07):
listened to her mother.
See, she listened to her mother.
I don't know how many of youlistening to me could do such a
thing.
She listened to her motherinstead of reacting out of anger
, right.
So she embraced her mother withcompassion and chose to honor
(08:28):
her bravery of sharing the realstory of what she went through.
Now let me ask you how many ofyou could respond like that?
It's one thing to forgive afriend for misunderstanding.
It's one thing to forgivesomeone who's hurt you or
someone who stole from you right, but it's another thing to
forgive someone who tried toabort you when you were younger.
(08:50):
I can say this this is what thepower of God does, this is how
God transforms us, and this ishow God's power can transform
our pain into forgivenessleading to our freedom.
Ephesians 4.32 says be kind andcompassionate and forgiving one
another, just as Christ forgaveus.
So Clara understood thisprinciple and she realized that
(09:13):
her life, though marked by painand a medical challenge,
challenge, was still a gift.
And that story wasn't justabout survival.
It was about showing God'sgrace to other people.
Oh, this is the power offorgiveness.
Okay, so one of the moststriking parts about our story
is how she views her birth ofhonor.
She calls her a hero.
Let that sink in.
(09:34):
A young girl who was coercedinto abortion at 13 goes to
raise Clara for a brief time andlater shares the truth about
her past.
Right, she could have hated hermom for that, she could have
walked away forever, but insteadshe chose to celebrate her
mother's courage and to use herstory to advocate for
(09:55):
forgiveness.
Right, romans 8, 28 says thisUse her story to advocate for
forgiveness.
Romans 8.28 says this For weknow that in all things, god
works for the good to those wholove him and call it according
to his purpose Doesn't mean thatGod calls all things you guys
know this but that means thatGod can cause all things that
are harmful to work out for good, even your darkest moments.
God's grace is at work.
(10:16):
Clara's life is proof of that.
So, whatever pain, right, thinkabout the power of forgiveness
that can perhaps release youfrom that pain.
It's not about saying whathappened is okay.
We're not saying that theunfortunately is okay, but it's
about releasing the burden ofanger and letting God transform
(10:36):
that pain into somethingbeautiful.
When Clara speaks about hermother's her birth mother she's
not just honoring her, she'salso honoring God's word and
demonstrating the strength thatforgiveness can do can do by
bringing freedom in your life,and maybe you're listening today
and you're struggling withforgiveness.
Maybe it's a parent, maybe it'sa friend, maybe it's an
ex-spouse, maybe it's a child,or maybe even yourself.
(11:00):
I want you here on thisChristmas Eve.
I want you to let this storyremind you of the power of
forgiveness.
It's about trusting God tocarry the weight of your pain
and turns that pain intosomething redemptive.
So, god, today I pray that,whatever pain my listeners are
(11:21):
going through, that you wouldhelp them demonstrate the power
of forgiveness, that they wouldsee that their freedom comes
through not holding people totheir past or holding themselves
bondage as a result, butreleasing them in the name of
Jesus.
Freedom is possible through you.
Help them to expressforgiveness, as you have
forgiven us.
During this season of yourgrace, of your forgiveness, let
(11:50):
the gift that we give to eachother be a sign of your mercy
and grace, something that wecan't deserve, but demonstrates
what you've done for us in Jesusname, amen.
So as we close, I want to leaveyou with Colossians 3.13.
Bear one another's burden, itsays.
So fulfill the law of Christ.
Okay, forgive, as the Lord hasforgiven us.
(12:13):
If Clara can forgive her motherof something so profound, you
can't do the same.
What's holding you back?
Nothing, okay.
So let's commit to walking inforgiveness and trusting God as
we push forward to 2025.
Okay, and hey, just pray for usin 2025.
I just want to share this withyou real quick before I let you
go.
We're praying for God'sdirection for the podcast.
(12:34):
I've been thinking aboutstarting a new podcast called
Lord Talks Podcast, but thenwe're praying.
Does it mean we will get rid ofthis?
I don't know, but I ask thatyou pray with me and if you want
to leave a message, just clickthe show notes.
You can leave an audio message.
The link is in the descriptionand I would love to hear from
you.
Hey, do you think we should keepthis podcast or just change it
(12:56):
up or just start a whole new one?
So I'm praying about that.
I'm asking you to pray with meon that as we move forward to
2025.
Either way, god will beglorified in the message of the
gospel, we'll go forward, okay,so don't forget to share this
story if it encouraged you, andremember that forgiveness is a
gift.
It's not just something forothers, but it's also for you.
(13:16):
Okay, at least into yourindividual freedom.
Until next time, may God'sgrace be with you, and I see you
in 2025.
Let's live in freedom.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome to the Words for Changepodcast.
Boy.
It is what?
The 24th of December and theyear is all most over, and you
guys are stuck in here for theentire year.
Man, I hope you guys are readyfor Christmas, as I am Getting
ready, well, just about there.
Well, anyway, if you don't knowme, I'm Lionel, and here on the
(00:20):
Words for Change podcast, weshare stories of redemption and
how words can change.
We share stories of resiliencyand transformation by God's
grace, and today we're going todive into an extraordinary topic
that speaks to the very heartof pain, healing and forgiveness
, particularly as we go forwardto the Christmas season, where
(00:42):
we connect with our family andmaybe some old wounds will arise
.
So let me ask you have you evercarried a heavy heart of
unforgiveness or wondered if itwas even possible to let go of
deep hurt that you haveexperienced?
That may seem unbearable.
If so, I want you to knowyou're not alone in this episode
(01:03):
.
It's for you because there ishope, there is healing and there
is grace.
But what day is it, y'all?
We're here on December 24th.
We want you guys to stayplugged in and we want you to
stay connected to Christ andremember, no matter what's going
(01:25):
on in our world, christ is incharge here on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve, so what's in thenews?
Well, congress has passed 81days of relief from the
government shutdown, so we'reexcited about that.
You guys know that.
I really appreciate that.
On Friday evening, the Housevoted 36634 to approve Speaker
(01:46):
Johnson's third attempt to astopgap funding bill.
After an original bipartisanproposal exploded, the Senate
said that they are just aftermidnight, president Biden
hopefully, to sign it sometime,very, very soon, very, very soon
(02:07):
.
The bill funds the governmentuntil March 14th, providing $100
billion in disaster relief, $10billion in agricultural aid,
reconstruction money for bridges, particularly in Baltimore, and
President-elect Trump on the11th hour request to extend the
debt.
Democrats are embracing thechaos, opinion chaos that we
brought by the coming GOPCongress.
Okay, so it's easy to throwstones, but we know that God is
(02:30):
in charge.
The scripture says, no matterwhere you stand on the aisle,
that we should love one another.
Well, the 2024 college footballplayoffs are kicking off and,
man, I'm telling you, we havealready seen some major, major
upsets.
Number seven Notre Dame cruisepass Indiana.
Number 12, georgia is on.
(02:52):
We'll play Georgia in the SugarBowl.
Number six Penn State dominatedSMU.
To all my Texas folks, thereyou go, number five, texas, go
Texas.
Hey, man, it's going to be abarn burner, ok.
So hey, as we push towardChristmas Eve, just remember
that God is in charge.
It's not about the gift, it'smore so about the thought.
(03:14):
And I had to remind myselfevery day hey, don't get in
trouble with credit cards andall of these things as we
approach the Christmas season,because God commands that we be
(03:56):
good stewards of the thoughtsthat we can reflect on.
First, did you know that somepeople are survivors of abortion
, people who were never meant totake a first breath?
Did you guys know that ClaraCaldwell is one of those
survivors?
Her story is nothing short ofmiraculous.
Secondly, forgiveness isn'tjust an act of kindness, it's an
(04:19):
act of freedom.
It's how God lifts us out ofthe shadow of the pain of our
past and brings us into hislight and the light of our lives
.
So we're going to talk aboutClara's story today and discover
the freedom of forgiveness.
So Clara's story begins withthe truth that she never
(04:41):
expected to learn.
Clara learned that she wasadopted and decided at the age
of 20 to seek out her birthmother.
Her goal was to connect orreconnect with her past and
express her gratitude for thelife that she was given.
But instead she understoodsomething shocking.
(05:02):
Y'all you won't believe this.
She understood and uncovered areality that she, clara, was a
twin, that her birth mother, atthe age of 13 years old, had
undergone a surgical abortion,unaware that she was carrying
twins.
While one of the twins was lost, clara miraculously survived
(05:28):
what I would like to call abotched abortion.
Now, think about that.
She found out that at the ageof 20, that she had a twin and
that her mother had tried anabortion For whatever reasons.
We don't know why, but you canimagine, at the age of 13, she
probably was encouraged, but wedon't know the background.
(05:48):
Ok, so think about finding allof this out at the age of 20,
which was Clara, which was whathappened with her.
Now, listen, we can stay stuckwith the story and end right
there, but I want to push itforward.
The Bible is clear aboutforgiveness.
This is what I say we're goingto talk about In Matthew 6, 14
(06:09):
through 15, it says this if youforgive when people sin against
you, god will forgive you, butif you don't forgive others, god
will not forgive you.
This verse is not just acommand, it's an invitation to
experience freedom, individualfreedom that comes through
forgiveness.
Now, if we were not Christians,really wouldn't matter to bring
(06:35):
a scripture verse up.
We wouldn't have much weight,okay.
But see, that's the problem.
When we, as believers andpeople who believe in Jesus
Christ, we believe in the powerof the gospel, we believe the
transformative power of God,it's true that God invades and
comes into our very humancircumstances, situation every
single day.
Right when we hold that corevalue, we have to let the
(07:01):
scripture speak into and informour lives and our decision
making processes.
It's one thing to go to church,it's another thing to become
the church.
It's one thing to read theBible, it's another thing to try
to live out what it is sayingand what it is asking and
(07:22):
inviting us to participate in.
So Clara's story reflects thistruth that when she met her
birth mother, she gave her agift.
Think about this.
So, going forward, when she mether birth mother, she thanked
her listen to me.
She thanked her for choosinglife for her and said that that
(07:44):
was the greatest gift she hadever received.
That was what Clara wrote in acard when she met her birth
mother.
Her birth mother began tearingup, but then those tears turned
into deep sorrow when sherevealed the truth about the
abortion.
Instead of reacting, though, inanger and resentment, clara
(08:07):
listened to her mother.
See, she listened to her mother.
I don't know how many of youlistening to me could do such a
thing.
She listened to her motherinstead of reacting out of anger
, right.
So she embraced her mother withcompassion and chose to honor
(08:28):
her bravery of sharing the realstory of what she went through.
Now let me ask you how many ofyou could respond like that?
It's one thing to forgive afriend for misunderstanding.
It's one thing to forgivesomeone who's hurt you or
someone who stole from you right, but it's another thing to
forgive someone who tried toabort you when you were younger.
(08:50):
I can say this this is what thepower of God does, this is how
God transforms us, and this ishow God's power can transform
our pain into forgivenessleading to our freedom.
Ephesians 4.32 says be kind andcompassionate and forgiving one
another, just as Christ forgaveus.
So Clara understood thisprinciple and she realized that
(09:13):
her life, though marked by painand a medical challenge,
challenge, was still a gift.
And that story wasn't justabout survival.
It was about showing God'sgrace to other people.
Oh, this is the power offorgiveness.
Okay, so one of the moststriking parts about our story
is how she views her birth ofhonor.
She calls her a hero.
Let that sink in.
(09:34):
A young girl who was coercedinto abortion at 13 goes to
raise Clara for a brief time andlater shares the truth about
her past.
Right, she could have hated hermom for that, she could have
walked away forever, but insteadshe chose to celebrate her
mother's courage and to use herstory to advocate for
(09:55):
forgiveness.
Right, romans 8, 28 says thisUse her story to advocate for
forgiveness.
Romans 8.28 says this For weknow that in all things, god
works for the good to those wholove him and call it according
to his purpose Doesn't mean thatGod calls all things you guys
know this but that means thatGod can cause all things that
are harmful to work out for good, even your darkest moments.
God's grace is at work.
(10:16):
Clara's life is proof of that.
So, whatever pain, right, thinkabout the power of forgiveness
that can perhaps release youfrom that pain.
It's not about saying whathappened is okay.
We're not saying that theunfortunately is okay, but it's
about releasing the burden ofanger and letting God transform
(10:36):
that pain into somethingbeautiful.
When Clara speaks about hermother's her birth mother she's
not just honoring her, she'salso honoring God's word and
demonstrating the strength thatforgiveness can do can do by
bringing freedom in your life,and maybe you're listening today
and you're struggling withforgiveness.
Maybe it's a parent, maybe it'sa friend, maybe it's an
ex-spouse, maybe it's a child,or maybe even yourself.
(11:00):
I want you here on thisChristmas Eve.
I want you to let this storyremind you of the power of
forgiveness.
It's about trusting God tocarry the weight of your pain
and turns that pain intosomething redemptive.
So, god, today I pray that,whatever pain my listeners are
(11:21):
going through, that you wouldhelp them demonstrate the power
of forgiveness, that they wouldsee that their freedom comes
through not holding people totheir past or holding themselves
bondage as a result, butreleasing them in the name of
Jesus.
Freedom is possible through you.
Help them to expressforgiveness, as you have
forgiven us.
During this season of yourgrace, of your forgiveness, let
(11:50):
the gift that we give to eachother be a sign of your mercy
and grace, something that wecan't deserve, but demonstrates
what you've done for us in Jesusname, amen.
So as we close, I want to leaveyou with Colossians 3.13.
Bear one another's burden, itsays.
So fulfill the law of Christ.
Okay, forgive, as the Lord hasforgiven us.
(12:13):
If Clara can forgive her motherof something so profound, you
can't do the same.
What's holding you back?
Nothing, okay.
So let's commit to walking inforgiveness and trusting God as
we push forward to 2025.
Okay, and hey, just pray for usin 2025.
I just want to share this withyou real quick before I let you
go.
We're praying for God'sdirection for the podcast.
(12:34):
I've been thinking aboutstarting a new podcast called
Lord Talks Podcast, but thenwe're praying.
Does it mean we will get rid ofthis?
I don't know, but I ask thatyou pray with me and if you want
to leave a message, just clickthe show notes.
You can leave an audio message.
The link is in the descriptionand I would love to hear from
you.
Hey, do you think we should keepthis podcast or just change it
(12:56):
up or just start a whole new one?
So I'm praying about that.
I'm asking you to pray with meon that as we move forward to
2025.
Either way, god will beglorified in the message of the
gospel, we'll go forward, okay,so don't forget to share this
story if it encouraged you, andremember that forgiveness is a
gift.
It's not just something forothers, but it's also for you.
(13:16):
Okay, at least into yourindividual freedom.
Until next time, may God'sgrace be with you, and I see you
in 2025.
Let's live in freedom.
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