- Welcome to Created for the Impossible.
I'm your host Krissy Nelson
and I'm excited to be right here with you again
in my living room where I can remind you
that God sees you, he cares for you
and he has an amazing plan for your life
even if it seems impossible God says you can do it.
We have a wonderful show today.
I have a friend here with me, Vanessa Harnas,
she's pastor and she has a testimony
that's gonna just shake you to your core.
She gave up a child by having an abortion years ago
and she's gonna share how God redeemed her story
and renewed her life and made her brand new.
You don't want to miss it.
(light upbeat music)
Welcome back, I want to read this scripture.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says therefore
if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come,
the old has gone and the new is here.
How many of us find that hard to believe,
how can I become a new creation?
I know often times I'll think back to my past
or I'll reflect on things that I've done or said
or seen or even things that have been done to me
and it often begs the question,
how does God really redeem our past?
How can I truly live this life
on the other side of redemption,
on the other side of what I've done,
what I've said, what I've heard, what I've seen
and truly live as a brand new creation.
You know I think about people who maybe have wondered
if God can truly redeem your past
I want to say to you this show is for you.
If you can't seem to shed the worry or regret
over choices that you've made in your past
this show is for you today
and I'm excited to get going here.
All right you know something that really hits my heart
is the subject of stories.
Each one of us is carrying a story.
We're walking out our story, we're journeying it,
it's this life just keeps us on this forward motion
and yet often our past, what we've done,
like I said what we've heard, what we've experienced,
what we've encountered can cause us to get caught up
and sort of live in this life of regret
wondering you know how to move forward.
The Bible says that in him, in Ephesians 1:7,
in him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins in accordance with riches
of God's grace that he lavished on us
with all wisdom and understanding.
God lavishes his love and his grace
and his redemption on us through the blood of Jesus
and that's where our story really begins
when we're born again we're born into this new family.
The Bible says not of human origin but of God.
Friend when you are born again
the old is truly gone
and the new has truly come,
but how does this happen?
I know so many who it's almost hard for them
to keep moving forward in their journey
because they've had hard lives.
They've had painful things that have happened,
I've had painful things that have happened to me
and I think about how can I truly live a life of freedom
and it's by embracing this truth that
Isaiah says this, Isaiah 43:25,
God is saying this I, even I am he who blots out
your transgressions for my own sake
and I remember your sins no more.
It's for his own sake that he blots out our sins
and so if we can't grab hold of why he would do it for us
friend let's think about why he does it for himself.
God created us, he created you and he created me
for fellowship and for family with him
and when we are away from God we're away from him, right,
and we can't draw near to him.
But when we are born again we become this new creation
where Ephesians says but now in Christ Jesus
you who were once far away have been brought near
by the blood of Christ.
This is for God's good pleasure
that he brings us near.
It is his great desire to wrap us in his arms
like Psalms 91 says that he hides us
under the shadow of his wing.
God is looking at you and he is saying
to you daughter, son,
accept, embrace the truth, the reality
that the blood of Jesus is enough for you,
the blood of Jesus is powerful,
the blood of Jesus truly washes us white as snow.
I think of that song what can wash away my sins,
nothing but the blood of Jesus
and it's as simple as coming to him
and being willing and not afraid
to actually look at the thing that scares us the most
and that is scary.
And that's what I want to address right now is this,
for those of you who you've gone through something painful
in your past, some kind of trauma,
some kind of decision or choice that you made
that you feel is unforgivable, unredeemable,
that totally has caused your story to shift
on a path that you never thought you'd be on
I want to encourage you right now
that the blood of Jesus is powerful enough for you,
even you, I hear it in my spirit right now.
You're saying even me, but you don't know.
God says to you even you,
the blood of Jesus is enough.
That blood shed on the cross of Calvary,
that great eternal covenant that was made
by father God for you his beloved
that your story can be washed
and your life can be made brand new
and now like Hebrews 4:16 says
we all can run and come boldly
before the throne of grace.
And I want to encourage you right now
to take whatever it is, that life, that pain, that trauma
and look at that right now,
God is with you and the Holy Spirit is with you.
He's stirring up a courage, a bravery
right now for you to do that hard thing
and to look at that thing
and take this now before the feet of Jesus
and lay it down.
Lay it down at his feet once and for all,
that choice you made, that trauma that came to you
that happened to you that you didn't ask for,
lay it down at his feet and say here you go Jesus,
here you go, I don't know how my life can ever be enough,
I don't understand how my life can be made brand new
and washed clean, I don't get all of this right now
but I want to, I want to
and lay it down at his feet.
And I just speak over you right now
as you do this brave thing.
Holy Spirit go into the homes, go into the hearts
and release the sons and the daughters
from the pain and the shame and the guilt
right now in the name of Jesus
by the power of the blood of Jesus
shed for them that they are indeed made brand new.
And just repeat this prayer, Jesus
I love you,
I acknowledge your sacrifice on the cross
and once and for all I give you
this hurt, this pain, this shame, this guilt
and I receive your love and your mercy
and your redemption in Jesus' name.
(sighing)
Friend I just feel the peace of God over you right now.
It's still a journey.
Yes this is a journey.
We have more that we're gonna share.
I have a friend that's here with me today, Vanessa Harnas,
and she is gonna share her story
of how God delivered her from her shame
and her guilt of having an abortion
when she was 18 years old,
just the legal age to do that
and how she is now walking out a life of freedom
and victory and actually able to share her testimony
without feeling pain or shame or guilt any longer.
She's got that for you and we've got an exciting
rest of the show so stick around we'll be right back.
Has God been stirring in your heart?
Is there something that's he saying to you
that you'd love to just share?
What is he doing in your life?
What is he saying to you?
We want to hear from you.
The vision for this show is to come alongside you,
journey with you and make sure you know
that you are not alone.
Do you have a prayer need?
That's one of those big things
and we would love to pray with you.
Email us at prayer@createdfortheimpossible..
- [Announcer] Maybe you've heard it a million times,
God has an amazing plan for you.
Jesus himself said that nothing would be impossible
if you believe, but for so many of us
this has not been our experience.
Why, because there is a major hindrance
that keeps us from believing God's promises
and actually walking in the miraculous power
that God has made available.
That hindrance is the thoughts we agree with.
Through this book you will learn how to
identify thoughts of fear, unbelief and shame
and shut down the attacks of the enemy,
exchange wrong thoughts for what God says about you
and you will also learn how to let his promises
supernaturally adjust your thinking.
Watch as your beliefs about God, your identity
and your calling begin to agree
with what God says about you.
Remember you are created for the impossible too.
- Welcome back, we're here talking today
about how God redeems our story,
how he takes even the ugliest things of our past,
the most horrific, the traumatic events of our life
and he takes those from us, upon himself
and then washes us white as snow
making us a brand new creation in Christ Jesus.
It's a beautiful thing and I know
before we went on the break
you were laying what hurts you most before Jesus
and I want you to know that this is a safe place,
that God has healing for you today.
And I'm excited to introduce my friend Vanessa Harnas,
so Vanessa we're gonna high five.
- Okay.
- This is what we do now, 25 episodes in we're high fiving.
(laughing)
- That's awesome.
- I'm glad you're here today
and I'm glad that you're gonna share your story with us.
- Yes.
- [Krissy] But tell us a little bit about yourself first.
- Well me and my past, me and my husband are pastors
at Freedom Church, we're over the youth
and we just love the youth.
We're really used to high fives.
(laughing)
But we just have a passion to see
young people understand who they are in Christ
and really have that as a firm foundation
so that they can go out into the world
and do the things that they were created to do,
the impossible things.
So knowing who they are in Christ
and walking in that freedom
in that power of the Holy Spirit.
Just a passion of ours and we are just surrounded
by amazing people at Freedom Church
and just surrounded by amazing, godly, uplifting
life giving friends so we are just,
we love where we're at.
- Yeah, I love it and you're surrounded in your home
with how many kids do you guys have?
- We have four.
- Four amazing, beautiful little children.
- Yes.
- Yep, and so you know I know your story
of how you and Sean met.
I mean I'll have to have both of you on sometimes as well.
It's so rich and there's such a well within you,
but tell us a little bit about
your story, your journey, your testimony
of having an abortion when you were 18 years old.
- Yeah you know when I look back
I just don't ever remember a time in my life
where I didn't know God.
I grew up in a Christian home.
My dad was a pastor in upstate New York
and we were just one of the very few
Spirit filled churches there
so when I started going to school
in the third grade going to public school
I automatically felt just different you know
just the enemy planted a seed of
wanting to know what people thought of me,
really caring what people thought of me.
And so over the next few years of my life
going in to middle school and high school
that just really consumed my thoughts,
what people thought of me and caring so much.
And so I really got in with the wrong crowd
so to say and got into the partying scene
with drugs and alcohol and
just not knowing really who I was you know
and on into college
I met a guy
and he was an atheist.
You know I was not living for the Lord,
but trying to pretend I was and
a month after dating we found out that I was pregnant.
I had disconnected from all my believing friends,
from the church, really from my family
just caring so much about what these people
in the world thought of me,
being called church girl
I wanted to prove I wasn't you know in a way.
And when this happened I was surrounded by people
that just told me to think about me.
Think about my future, think about
you know I was in college at the time,
think about your education, what's right
and so we were really searching for answers.
Deep down within myself I knew what I should do,
but being surrounded just by people that told me
to think about me and think about my life
we decided to have the abortion.
You know I had what's called a medical abortion
and it makes up a third of all the abortions in the US
and I feel like you don't hear about that much.
And you know going to the doctor's office
and you take a pill and then they tell you to go home
and rest and everything will be fine,
it'll be quick and it might have some discomfort to it,
but no one prepares you for the emotional trauma
that it has in your heart
and how it affects your whole life.
It is not a simple quick fix.
And so I took the pill in the doctor's office
and then went home by myself
in bed alone and take the other pill.
And so for two days it was the deepest,
darkest place I'd ever been in my life,
just darkness consumed me and
it was like I was hiding from God you know.
Like if I could just cover up what was happening,
if I could pretend like it wasn't a big deal
like everyone was telling me, it's not a big deal.
- Right.
- It's nothing, it's not a baby you know.
And if I could just hide and I just found myself
hiding and going inward and just
feeling that shame and that guilt
like just sweep over me and going numb really,
just going numb and trying not to feel
the weight of what I was doing,
the weight of my actions.
- What was some of the thoughts going through your mind
and racing through your spirit in those days?
- I know in those two days I did come to a point
where you know all my friends they were partying
and they had left and so I was left alone
and just in a moment thinking what have I done,
but the fear of what I had done
caused me to not think about it
and to deny it and to just keep going numb
and feel like no one understood.
No one will ever understand
and I don't know if I ever want to tell anyone
you know, just feeling that shame and that guilt.
- And the very people that encouraged you to do that.
- Right.
- Where were they?
- Right.
- In those moments.
I know that you know this is a topic
that is real, you know.
- [Vanessa] Yeah.
- I think you've said one in four women
will have an abortion, right?
- [Vanessa] Yeah.
- So there's bound to be somebody that's watching
right now who's had an abortion.
- [Vanessa] Right.
- Would you look there and just talk to them
and just even pray over them.
What would you say to someone who's had an abortion?
- That has had one, you know you're not alone.
I know how that feels.
I know the shame that tries to grip you,
but you do not have to live with that.
Like Krissy said Jesus died so you could be free from that
so that you can live a life,
it is truly possible for God to heal those wounds,
to heal the pain that you're feeling
even right now as we talk about that.
The shame, the denial, whatever it is
God is enough and he's big enough to take it.
And he wants to.
His love for you has never changed any moment of your life,
when you were in your deepest, darkest moment
he loved you all the same.
So know there is hope
and that God can redeem you,
that you have a redeeming story
that can also help others.
- Yeah, amen.
Vanessa's gonna talk more to you
about how God will redeem your story
and give you keys to freedom today my friends
so stick around, we'll be right back.
Sometimes we just need that reminder
who God says we are and what he thinks we can do.
And I love putting that on a shirt and wearing that
and telling myself and the world
that I'm created for the impossible,
that nothing's impossible for those who believe.
And I love to start my day out drinking coffee,
hot coffee right out of my mug,
getting that Jesus perspective for my day
that God thinks I can do anything
and I'm created for the impossible.
- [Announcer] Get your created for the impossible
apparel and more at krissynelson.com.
- Welcome back we are, this is a powerful episode
of Created for the Impossible.
Today I'm with my friend Vanessa Harnas
who's a pastor and she's telling us her story
about how God has redeemed her story
of having an abortion and being able to walk through that.
And she's just shared with us what occurred
and now we're gonna talk a little bit more
about how God brought her and lead her into healing.
So Vanessa I'm so thankful really even for your bravery.
It's so brave to get up and share,
but I know you have a whole testimony
behind how you're able to share your testimony
which is powerful.
During the break we were talking about people who
might be thinking about having an abortion
and I know you had something on your heart for them.
- Yeah, yeah, if you're in that place
where you are pregnant and you are contemplating
or maybe someone's telling you to get an abortion
or you just don't know I want to tell you
what no one told me is choose life.
You can live a life for yourself
and it can be great and for this baby.
Just choose life.
There is hope in that.
Where you are weak God is strong
and he can give you the strength to do it
so be encouraged.
- Yeah, amen, yep I know that was for somebody today.
- [Vanessa] Yeah.
- And maybe for a lot of somebodys so you know
God was very specific in how he lead you into healing.
What are some of the things that you did
with the Lord that led you to healing?
- Yeah you know for me the first thing
that I had to do was really admit it.
For so many years I wanted, you know I was in that pit,
I was in the darkness and I wanted to hide,
but the Lord he's so good and he exposes things
and he does it to heal us
and so I came to a place where actually my husband
he had been the one that had told our pastor
and I was mortified like no,
our friends, our pastor can't know the truth,
but he welcomed us with open arms
and encouraged us to healing
and wanted to see just life brought into that,
God turning it around for good.
And so for me I really just had to get to a place
where I admitted it, I you know accepted it
and yeah it actually happened.
- Then you allow the Lord to heal you in that.
- [Vanessa] Yeah.
- And then all of a sudden when we admit the thing
we're scared of the most to admit
it takes us out of hiding and into the light, right,
and so you know it's beautiful even just that you
you know you got married you know.
You went through that and then you got out of that,
journeyed through and it was a series of events
of friends right and there was a book that you read.
Tell us a few of the things
that sort of were benchmark moments in your story
that helped bring about your healing.
- Yeah, and you know the guy that I got pregnant with,
the atheist is my husband now
and God totally met him where he was
and he has an amazing testimony
and to see that God took both of us,
redeemed both of our stories and gave us a marriage
and a fruitful marriage and a beautiful one
so that alone is a testimony, but
yeah you know it was realizing that I'm not alone.
I was reading books and I was also,
I listened to a speaker that I just thought
no one understood and she had given her testimony that day
at a conference that she had had an abortion
and that instantly made me feel like I was not alone.
And I just had a group of people that
I was surrounded with that loved the Lord,
that wanted to see me healed and whole,
that wanted, they didn't just want
to see me healed and whole,
they helped me walk through it.
I had two friends that are still some of my best friends
and they pastor with us
and they walked me through this restoring relationships
program, me and my husband,
and you know met with us weekly
and like cried with us and prayed with us
and interceded for our healing
and really were invested in it.
And my other friend who,
she had had an abortion and someone had given her
a book, a workbook that you read,
and she said I want to sit down with you
every week until we're done and just walk through this
and as hard as that was I wanted it so bad,
I wanted the healing and so I sat down with her
and we both got to receive healing together.
Like she had gone through it but it's a process
and I just had people invested in my healing
and that really just was a game changer for me.
- Yeah, yeah and I just feel it right now too
if this is for you find someone.
I hear that blaring in my spirit,
find someone, there is someone, you are not alone.
- [Vanessa] Yes.
- A pastor, somebody that you can talk to.
And you can email us, we've got our contact info as well
and we'll pray with you too,
but do not let yourself go into hiding, you're not alone.
You know the message of redemption is something
that's so powerful in your spirit.
What are some of the key things
in redemption that you like to tell people?
- Oh, God he is just,
he's so much bigger than our issues.
You know like just for me and
being in that dark place, even walking through healing
the lies want to come that you know
because of my past I can never be this
or because of my past I could never be a pastor,
because of my past I could never be an author.
You know like whatever the lie is
like just know that God speaks truth to you,
he speaks truth over your life, over your story
that he can take, you know when I was meeting
with my friends it got said in this way
of a mosaic like he takes all of our shattered pieces
that we look at as broken and ugly
and he picks them up and he puts them all together
and he makes this beautiful mosaic
where light can shine through it and it's beautiful
and he really does turn it all around for good
and not just our good, it's like it's so good
because he allows us to receive healing
and freedom and help us walk in that
so that we can give away the freedom.
- [Krissy] Yes.
- [Vanessa] So that we can let our lives be transformed
so that others' lives can be transformed
and changed and full of life and purpose
so that God can just speak through us,
to us, with us.
- [Krissy] Yeah.
- [Vanessa] He's so good.
- And I just hear this phrase letting go
and I feel that's what people are needing to do.
Let go of the pain, let go of the shame.
We don't have to carry it anymore.
- Yes.
- Will you declare that and decree that
over those watching?
- Yes, I thank you right now that all shame
has to go in Jesus' name.
You were not created to live in shame.
You were not created to live in disappointment
over yourself, over your life or your past
and I declare freedom and life over you
in Jesus' name.
- [Krissy] Yes, amen.
- Yes.
- Vanessa I am so thankful for you.
I know there's such a well inside you
and we'll definitely have to have you back again
to share more about even how to get to a place
of being able to share your testimony.
- [Vanessa] Yes.
- How do we do that with joy and peace.
So that's like a teaser for the next time you're on.
My friends I thank you for watching.
This has been an amazing episode.
Reach out to us, do not let yourself be in hiding.
Contact me, contact Vanessa.
You're not alone.
Hey next week is our season finale.
Oh my goodness I don't know how this happened,
but we're gonna be back reminding you once again
that you are created for the impossible too.
(light upbeat music)
Thank you so much for watching today
and I also want to take time to thank our partners,
those of you who are sowing in financially.
You're supporting the vision and the mission
of Created for the Impossible that's going in
to the homes and the hearts of women all over the world.
Thank you for that and if you'd like to be a part,
if you'd like to give you can go to my website,
krissynelson.com, just look for the donate tab
and you too can be a part of this mission,
the good news of everybody being created for the impossible.
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