Forgiven and Set Free: A Bible Study for Women Seeking Healing after Abortion

By Linda Cochrane

No matter what influences a woman to end a pregnancy, the physical, psychological, and spiritual side effects are real and not always anticipated. Feelings of guilt, shame, and grief become a heavy burden, and many women feel that they will never be free, that no one understands, that God will never forgive them. But there is hope.

Linda Cochrane has been there. With an understanding spirit and a gentle hand, she guides hurting women to bring their emotional scars "out of the dark past and into his holy light" where true and lasting healing can take place. Cochrane delves into the Scriptures to offer help with issues such as relief, denial, anger, forgiveness, depression, letting go, and acceptance.

For every woman yearning for the peace of God's forgiveness, this study can be the first step to healing and wholeness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781493439294

Linda Cochrane

Linda Cochrane is the executive director of Hopeline Women's Center in Monroe, Connecticut, and is cofounder of PACE (Post-Abortion Counseling and Education). She is the author of Forgiven and Set Free, Healing a Father's Heart, and The Path to Sexual Healing. Cochrane resides in New York.

Book preview

Other Books by Linda Cochrane

The Path to Sexual Healing

Healing a Father’s Heart

© 1986, 1991, 1996, 2015, 2022 by Care Net

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-3929-4

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations labeled TLB are from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

This publication is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed. Readers should consult their personal health professionals before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from the use or application of the information contained in this book.

Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.

What a wonderful God we have—he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does he do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 TLB

Contents

Cover

Half Title Page    1

Other Books by Linda Cochrane    2

Title Page    3

Copyright Page    4

Epigraph    5

Preface    9

Introduction: A Message from Linda    11

How to Use This Book    13

Acknowledgments    17

1. How Do I Know Where I Need Healing?    19

2. The Character of God    29

3. Relief and Denial    45

4. Anger    63

5. Depression    77

6. The Need to Forgive    93

7. Steps to Freedom    105

8. Child of My Heart    117

9. Acceptance    123

Looking Forward    133

Notes    135

About the Author    137

Back Ads    139

Back Cover    142

Preface

God bless you on your journey of hope and healing in Jesus’s name.

Linda Cochrane

Forgiven and Set Free was first published in 1986, a little more than a decade after Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal in the United States. Linda knew from her own abortion experience that what was heralded as a win for women’s empowerment was really a lie with lifelong consequences.

If abortion is part of your story and you are dealing with feelings of guilt and shame, this book is for you. If you are suffering from an internal ache and sadness that you can’t name, this book is for you. If you don’t feel like anyone will understand the conflict you feel between relief and regret over having chosen abortion, this book is for you.

Maybe you are a Christian, maybe you’re not.

Maybe you had an abortion last week, maybe you had one twenty years ago.

Either way, your pain and your questions are real, and you are worthy of healing. Maybe you picked up this book because you’re searching for something, just like Linda was. Just like the thousands of other women who’ve picked up this book over the years.

Linda’s search for healing led her to the foot of the cross and, as a fairly new Christian, she birthed this study out of her own pain. Because of her deep desire to understand who God is and how he viewed her in light of her choice to abort her child, she sought answers in Scripture.

This Bible study is the result of her search.

If you’re searching for relief from a nebulous pain you can’t quite name, join us on this journey. We’ll walk with you.

Jill Marquis, Director of Abortion Recovery and Care at Care Net

Introduction

A Message from Linda

This Bible study is the result of a personal desire to see women freed from the bondage of guilt and grief that follows an abortion. I realize there are women who seemingly have no regrets and who have no apparent signs of physical or psychological side effects after choosing abortion. Not all women are affected in the same manner. This Bible study was prepared for women who have experienced some degree of remorse or regret for their abortion decision. Having worked in pregnancy care ministry since 1984, I have seen women healed from guilt, shame, grief, and unforgiveness. It has been an honor to watch God slowly and gently heal those who have been suffering for many years. I hope you will join this group of courageous women who have chosen to face the pain of their past.

A woman who hurts after an abortion is not always understood. The intensity of her emotional reaction may be a shock to her as well as to those from whom she seeks counsel. They might ask, "How does something that is a woman’s right