IMPACT: 2 Lives Transformed After Jail and an Abortion

IMPACT

How God Used NGPC to Change the Lives of Two People After Jail and an Abortion

The North Georgia Pregnancy and Family Resource Center is all about providing counseling for healing and restoration. When a woman goes through an abortion, there’s a lot more going on her life that needs help. We recently had the opportunity to work with a couple who had gone through with an abortion. As we talked to them, it became clear that there was much more going on than just dealing with the abortion. The Lord was working in their hearts and He was showing just how big of an impact we could have on their lives with His grace.

Ryan and Heather had met as teenagers 18 years ago. But they didn’t start dating until their late 20s, when Heather was going through a divorce and had two children. Then things started to move quickly. Heather said:

“I left my husband, who took custody of our two sons, and moved in with Ryan. Within a few weeks, we became pregnant with our son, River. At that time, we were heavily using meth and other drugs together. Ryan was ecstatic about becoming a dad after suffering a miscarriage with a previous girlfriend years prior. But I was a little less excited.

“After the first trimester, I stopped using drugs, and we went on to have a very healthy eight-pound son in January 2011. When our son was four months old, I came home from a trip to the grocery store to find Ryan holding our sleeping baby boy. Sitting on our son’s chest was a ring box. Ryan quietly and sweetly asked if I would marry them. I excitedly said YES!

While both of them wanted to get married, the wedding took a backseat to their drug addictions. Instead of getting married, their relationship would become a roller coaster of turmoil and darkness. Heather said, “Fueled by daily drug use, we fought and fought. We became liars and cheaters and thieves. Most of the terrible things we did, we would do to each other, but we never gave up on our family.”

More Drugs ...

Ryan was devastated and in jail. Heather was devastated and alone. “Life was so hurtful and I was in a very dark place. I was still using meth every day. I was living with a friend and was able to maintain a job somehow even though I was arrested twice and out on bond. I was eventually able to get Ryan out of jail on a $20,000 bond after hiring an attorney with my tax return. Things were looking up, although the drug use never let up.”

More Jail Time ...

One poor decision after another finally landed Heather in jail. This time for three months with no bond. “It seemed that overnight, I was facing multiple felony charges and looking at spending many years in prison. Ryan was out on bond and taking care of our son. It was during this time in jail that I discovered I was once again pregnant. It was also during this time that I began to seek God, as I felt strongly that God’s hand was very much involved with placing me in jail so that another abortion would not be optional. It also forced me to become sober.”

At the beginning of her second trimester, Heather was released from prison and placed on 10 years of felony probation. But their lives continued to be a string of bad choices. Ryan’s two cases were pending court hearings and they did everything possible to escape his inevitable sentencing. They wanted him to be home to see his second child born. So Ryan skipped his court dates and they went on the run.

Any money they made, they quickly spent on drugs. They would commit crimes to help pay for their drugs. It didn’t take long before the law caught up with them. Ryan was arrested. He faced serious charges of burglary and drug possession in two different counties.

After his arrest, Heather learned she was pregnant with their second child. She was homeless, sleeping in their car with their 2-year-old son. That’s when Heather made a decision that would haunt her and Ryan forever. “Not knowing how long Ryan would be sentenced to prison, and facing my own daily struggles trying to survive with one child,” she said, “I made the difficult decision to have an abortion.”

You expect great care. We deliver.

Piedmont Physicians Obstetrics and Gynecology takes care of all of your healthcare needs, from annual checkups to prenatal visits. Come see us at either our Jasper or Ellijay locations, where you can count on the same quality care you’ve come to expect.

Schedule your appointment today at piedmont.org or call 706.249.4357.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Philippians 1:6 – “And I am sure of this, He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” 220 J.L. White Drive Suite 120 Jasper, Georgia 30143 822 Industrial Boulevard Suite 201 Ellijay, Georgia 30540

For several months, they ducked and dodged the law, all the while feeding their growing drug addictions. Then on August 5, 2015, Heather gave birth to a healthy six-pound baby girl – Riley. Heather said, “We were so happy and, at the time, were able to avoid thinking or even talking about the fact that Ryan had been on the run for almost a year. We moved into a nice home and I landed a job at a dental office just down the street from our new home. Ryan was able to avoid his arrest warrants, not only for our daughter’s birth, but he made it to see her turn one.”

Then Their Lives Changed Drastically

The police caught up to them and arrested Ryan. Their run had come to an end. And this date marks the drastic change in his life. It was on that day that he sat, hand cuffed in the back of a cop car, facing charges that would without question send him away from his family for a very long time that he looked up at the sky, meth still surging through his system, that he vocally surrendered his life to Jesus Christ.

Ryan would spend the next many months praying, reading the word, and seeking out God while we waited the sentence for his charges. He received a nine-month sentence to RSAT, a Georgia Department of Corrections prison-based rehab program.

While Ryan’s life was changing for the better, Heather’s was falling apart. She became involved with some terrible people. She started seeing another man who was abusive. His anger was raging and uncontrollable. “Ryan quickly picked up on the dark place I had allowed myself to get into,” said Heather. “Every time we spoke, he continued to maintain his desire to marry me and to become a real family and that he would help me. I would learn much later that he spent his days while incarcerated learning how to maintain his sobriety through a relationship with God and that he labored in prayer constantly for me and the kids.”

Even though Ryan was faithfully praying, Heather continued to spiral out of control. She told Ryan she was through with their relationship. But his love remained steadfast. After his release, Heather was put in jail for a probation violation. She lost everything. Her car, her home, and everything in it.

Prison’s forced sobriety allowed Heather to see God’s hand in all of this. Her children were safe and with their dad. As always, Ryan was there for her. They renewed their commitment to each other and to their children to do things differently once I was released and to never turn to drugs again.

While Heather was in jail, “I saw the power of God in my life. I agreed to find a drug rehab to go into and happily surrendered my life to God. He allowed me to see all the times He was present in the midst of all our destruction over the past eight years.”

During her time in rehab, she was introduced to the North Georgia Pregnancy and Family Resource Center. At a Christian festival in Jasper, Heather introduced Ryan to Pat and Ralph from the Center. Pat set them up with pre-marital counseling and helped them set up and plan a wedding!

The couple remained sexually abstinent from that point forward. They began couple’s addiction counseling with Tim and Kit Brown – who run His Steps, a substance abuse ministry. And Ryan was given an amazing job opportunity. He now works with other men of God who understand his past and who all do a weekly Bible study at work together. He is able to make money to support the family while Heather stays home with the kids.

Heather describes all that the Center did for them: “God has worked through Pat Page by using her to make it possible for us to have a beautiful, REAL wedding ceremony. NGPC paid for our marriage certificate. A wonderful, Godly woman Pat Page knew, Karen Duncan, offered her church for us to have our ceremony for FREE. Tim Brown, who had been seeing us every Saturday morning for addiction counseling performed our ceremony. God even touched people Ryan and I barely knew, such as Madison, an employee at NGPC who made my wedding bouquet, one of the most beautiful bouquets I’ve ever seen ... and it was MINE! Madison’s sister, Miranda, who we had NEVER met, offered her services and time as a professional photographer to photograph the wedding. The entire day was far more perfect that I could have ever imagined. But what is more beautiful than anything is to be able to reflect on a time in our lives, for the first time, and see God’s mighty hand. To see His Grace and His perfect will. To look out into a room and see our family, new and old friends, people like Pat Page organizing an entire day for two people she saw God moving in, and to know that finally, we were living a life for Christ.”

Heather and Ryan see very clearly that they should both be in prison for many years and not have custody of their children. God has protected their family and used the NGPC to help bring their family together. This is the type of impact we see because of the amazing generosity of people in our community.

Heather Sums It Up Beautifully

“It was clear from the drastic changes He was making in us, God was abundantly blessing us. And the sweet feeling of victory ... it’s unexplainable. He’s not done yet, and that’s the best part! Our story is not our story, you see. It is His story! It’s a story of hope and love that never gave up. A story that shows His grace is greater than all of our sins and that He is always victorious over the enemy.”