Beauty From Ashes: How One Woman’s Pregnancy From Rape Healed Her
Jennifer Christie woke up to a rush of cold air and a woman’s scream. She was nearly naked lying by a dumpster at the back of a hotel. She’d been brutally raped. She would soon find out that she conceived that day. But the child would bring her healing, peace and joy.
‘Nothing Extraordinary’
In 2014 Christie had been married for 20 years. She and her husband had four children. She describes her life as pretty average. “Nothing extraordinary,” she said in an interview with The Stream. At that time Christie was a sign language interpreter, spending a lot of time traveling for jobs. In January of that year, Christie accepted a two-week gig several hours away from her home. For the first few days, she drove back and forth. Her husband told her it was ridiculous, that she should get a hotel rather than drive the roads each day.
The last day of the job it snowed. Her job ended early, so she made her way back to the hotel. The place was a “ghost town,” she recalled. Christie prepared to load up her car for the trip home. She wrapped a scarf around her face and walked toward her room. She fumbled with the room key and finally opened the door. When she turned around, a man stood in her doorway. “He was young,” she said. “I didn’t feel worried. He didn’t look menacing.” She thought perhaps he’d broken down and needed to make a phone call. But he didn’t. He gave her a strange smile and, without warning, he punched Christie in the head.
‘He Can’t Touch My Soul’
Christie fought hard. She sustained broken ribs and fingers in the fight. Then she realized her struggling was only making the attack worse. “I disappeared inside myself,” she said. She thought of Matthew 10:28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”
“He can’t touch my soul,” she remembered thinking. Then she passed out.
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Besides the broken bones, Christie also had bleeding in the brain and internal injuries. She had four surgeries to repair the damage. The days and weeks following the rape were difficult. A devout Christian, Christie said she didn’t blame God. “I wasn’t angry with God. Just being a believer doesn’t make you immune” to terrible things happening. “I just couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t the same person. I didn’t know how to mother my children or be a wife.” She stopped eating and couldn’t sleep.
‘That Was My Baby’
After a few weeks, her husband encouraged her to return to work. Maybe the routine would help. She accepted a job on a cruise, but by the second day, she was sick. Christie was quarantined and given antibiotics, but nothing worked. As the medical staff aboard the ship prepared to give her a strong cocktail of medicine, they asked her if she could be pregnant. She told them about the rape.
The pregnancy test came back positive. The medical staff, concerned that she may have a tubal pregnancy, requested an emergency stop in Colombia. When she went to the hospital for an ultrasound, Christie felt alone. But when she saw the “little pea” she immediately felt a connection. “I never felt that [the baby] belonged to a rapist. I felt a rush of protectiveness. Contrary to what the world wants you to feel, rage, et cetera, it was the first time since the attack that I felt something come alive inside me. That was my baby.”
She called her husband to tell him the news. “Are you sitting down?” she asked him. “I’m pregnant.” After a split second, he answered her. “Okay.” She questioned him. “Okay? How is this okay?”
“Sweetheart, this baby is a gift. Something beautiful. We love babies. We can do this — you and me.”
Jennifer's husband with their new baby boy.
He was the first to see the baby boy arrive by c-section. “He was so perfect,” said Christie of her new baby. “He had dark curly hair.” Her husband and other children have a distinct dimple on their cheeks. “The baby has that dimple! It was God [saying] ‘Here you go.'”
‘My God Was Everywhere’
Christie said she sees God through all of the difficulties and pain. “My God was everywhere,” she explained. “We were leaning on God second by second. The only constant was God.” She said that the cold probably saved her life. “The cold kept my brain from swelling. You don’t always come back from that.” Her rapist went on to rape and murder other women, but she was spared. “That’s where my God was.” After some time, Christie prayed about whether to speak publicly about her ordeal. “We put it out there and God opened doors.” She said she began to see God work in a real and powerful way.
‘Beauty From Ashes’
Now she speaks to crowds about her experience and the gift of her son. She said it is “such a lie” that pro-abortionists claim pro-lifers are “forcing women to carry a rapist’s baby.” Christie strongly disagrees. “This is mine,” she said of the child. “I was healing. I felt like I was reclaiming myself. It helped me make sense of something — seeing beauty from ashes. We know God’s plans are for our good. He’s there and He’s doing it. Seeing it work out in your life is tremendous. Going through something horrific, then given something so pure is overwhelming.”
For women who are raped and become pregnant, it’s important to connect with women who have been there. Christie said people will say that a baby will be a terrible reminder of the rape. “People tell you that there can be healing with an abortion. That’s a lie. Nothing will help you forget the rape. The child is nothing but pure light and love.” The key thing for these women to remember is that they’re not alone. “It’s okay to feel scared. You’re not the same person and never will be. Reach out and find other women who have been there. Healing does not lie in destroying another life.”
Christie said God is using her and her son to help others through her public speaking. “If one woman is impacted to have her baby, then it’s worth it. For right now I’m willing to do whatever He wants.”
The Biggest Gift
Christie said the blessings they’ve been given through her son radically outweigh the difficulties and the pain. And the baby has changed their lives in beautiful ways. “I cannot imagine the last few years without his sweet love. … He changed our whole world. Who he is is ours and a child of God. He gave us a life back and a family. He’s the biggest gift to all of us.”
She wouldn’t change the past even if she could. “I couldn’t ever change it because I wouldn’t have my son.” https://stream.org/how-one-womans-pregnancy-from-rape-healed/
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“She said it is “such a lie” that pro-abortionists claim pro-lifers are “forcing women to carry a rapist’s baby.” Christie strongly disagrees. “This is mine,” she said of the child. “I was healing. I felt like I was reclaiming myself. It helped me make sense of something — seeing beauty from ashes. We know God’s plans are for our good. He’s there and He’s doing it. Seeing it work out in your life is tremendous. Going through something horrific, then given something so pure is overwhelming.”
For women who are raped and become pregnant, it’s important to connect with women who have been there. Christie said people will say that a baby will be a terrible reminder of the rape. “People tell you that there can be healing with an abortion. That’s a lie. Nothing will help you forget the rape. The child is nothing but pure light and love.” The key thing for these women to remember is that they’re not alone. “It’s okay to feel scared. You’re not the same person and never will be. Reach out and find other women who have been there. Healing does not lie in destroying another life.”
Christie said God is using her and her son to help others through her public speaking. “If one woman is impacted to have her baby, then it’s worth it. For right now I’m willing to do whatever He wants.”
What an inspiring and beautiful story of love and committment. About how something good can come about even in the face of an evil act a wicked man chose to do. I wish her well in helping others who also have undergone what she had to go through.
Why does it not surprise me that you can spin violent rape into being a good thing?
An article grying spin rape into a good thing? A new low for NT. Truly sick and disgusting.
*trying*
“he punched Christie in the head.
‘He Can’t Touch My Soul’
Christie fought hard. She sustained broken ribs and fingers in the fight. Then she realized her struggling was only making the attack worse. “I disappeared inside myself,” she said. She thought of Matthew 10:28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”
“He can’t touch my soul,” she remembered thinking. Then she passed out.
Besides the broken bones, Christie also had bleeding in the brain and internal injuries. She had four surgeries to repair the damage. The days and weeks following the rape were difficult. A devout Christian, Christie said she didn’t blame God. “I wasn’t angry with God. Just being a believer doesn’t make you immune” to terrible things happening. “I just couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t the same person. I didn’t know how to mother my children or be a wife.” She stopped eating and couldn’t sleep.”
That doesn’t sound like a good thing to any objective observer.
Did she thank God for those injuries?
Read the rest of the article and find out for yourself.
You're missing the key reason the victim is grateful and happy she was raped.
Of course this doesn't explain why others would be happy she was raped unless they too had bleeding in the brain.
Fertility clinic? Husband? Hell, cheating on her spouse would have been FAR better than being raped. I bet if you surveyed 1000 women, you would find DAMN few, (if any), that would say they would be happy to be violently raped.
Maybe God gave her a defective brain so she wouldn't have a kid? Ever think of that?
You cannot give God all credit and no blame, the universe is not that poorly designed. Sorry.
I'm agreeing with you. Go back and read my post. It was meant to be facetious.
<bows> I stand corrected. Apologies.
No apologies necessary. I thought you had just misread my comment and wanted to make sure you didn't think me misguided. lol
Off Topic "BF"
"Mommy...who is my daddy??"
"Oh sweetie, you are special, you are a rape baby!!!!"
because she mentioned God?
You, also, know that there are many females raped who carried their baby to term. If this had been one of those females you, probably, would have praised her for her courage......but, maybe not.
I do praise her for her courage. But the article is clearly trying to spin rape into something good. I am all about silver linings and all that, but there are some things that have NO good in them...rape is one of those things.
No one but you claim that the article said that her rape itself was a good thing.
Removed Off Topic "BF"
In a two parent home that question is unlikely unless the real father was of a different ethnic or racial group than her husband. Besides, the liberal alternative here would be the baby never asking the question because he’d have been dead before being born.
A sweeping generalization that is truly degrading to woman that view themselves as liberal...yet not surprising.
Wait, so you're saying to just lie to the kid about it? Isn't truth and honesty ALWAYS the best choice when talking to your own kids? And is she not using her rape baby to promote an agenda? What happens if the kid grows up and reads that very article? Cat's out of the bag at that point. Does she perpetuate the lie?
This entire situation is a psychologists DREAM. This family, from top to bottom is going to be screwed up for decades because of this. The mother's best choice would have been to get an abortion and seek therapy for her own trauma. But now she has opted to take her trauma and put it on her kid as well.
Because carrying out capital punishment upon the boy for the evil sin of his father would be so therapeutic for the mother/rape victim? Not.
Nobody said to lie to the boy. I simply questioned if the boy would ever ask the question in the first place in a two parent home. The odds are that due to his moms ministry to other women suffering from rape who become pregnant that he will find out. At his present age of 3 or 4 it’s not the right time to have that conversation.
Huh? That doesn't even make sense.
That child will be a constant reminder of her being raped. Not the kids fault, but it will eventually create a toxic relationship between the two unless extensive therapy isn't used.
Last I checked, capital punishment was reserved for adult criminals. I've never heard of capital punishment being advocated for a minor. Was there even a trial for the boy?
There is no trial for kids executed for the crimes of their father. In this case though the mother pardoned her child and let him live.
What kids were executed exactly? If such a thing did occur, I would imagine it would be quite newsworthy.
God is using her? How exactly is She doing this? Is She sending this lady messages through twitter or something? Did God speak to her personally? Did she thank God for being violently raped in an ally?
“For women who are raped and become pregnant, it’s important to connect with women who have been there. Christie said people will say that a baby will be a terrible reminder of the rape. “People tell you that there can be healing with an abortion. That’s a lie. Nothing will help you forget the rape. The child is nothing but pure light and love.” The key thing for these women to remember is that they’re not alone. “It’s okay to feel scared. You’re not the same person and never will be. Reach out and find other women who have been there. Healing does not lie in destroying another life.”
Christie said God is using her and her son to help others through her public speaking. “If one woman is impacted to have her baby, then it’s worth it. For right now I’m willing to do whatever He wants.”
Christie said the blessings they’ve been given through her son radically outweigh the difficulties and the pain.”
You certainly know the answer to that. The girl needs something to hang on to. Rape is never good and may be the reason, when caught, are imprisoned for life. If this helps settle her mind after that cruel attack, then, good.
I do not, that's why I asked.
We all do, but hanging on to a child that is the product of a violent rape is not healthy.
On this we agree.
Are you now trying to say that she should not have the choice to keep that baby? Is her freedom of choice only valid if you agree with her choice?
The abortion industry does not want others like her to make the same choice so they belittle her and mock her choice in hopes of luring other rape victims who become pregnant as a result to get an abortion and render capital punishment upon the child to get revenge upon the the rapist who likely never knew he caused a pregnancy via his heinous violent crime.
That is not what I said at all. Not even close.
"Pro-Choice".... Not sure how you can read that any other way. If she made the choice to keep the baby, that is her CHOICE. You are aware that there are those on the right that would have FORCED her to keep the baby, correct? In some states, (red states of course), a woman who is raped cannot get an abortion unless the man that raped her, gives consent? Do you have any idea how sick that is?
Who is belittling her? And, "abortion industry"? You do love your hyperbole don't you? Hey, I will play along. The rightist pro-woman slavery types don't want women to make choices about their own bodies yet are thrilled at the idea of handing out guns to women who buy two gallons of milk at Safeway when using the club card.
If you actually believed that, why criticize her choice to have and raise her baby?
I wasn't. I was pointing out that it will cause problems in the long run.
you don't know that and by bringing it up as her making a bad choice and unhealthy choice you are criticizing her actions.
Again, I am not criticizing her choice.
Pretty much everything after "The" is utter nonsense (if not outright lying) and not worthy of any serious consideration.
When I look into my son's eyes I see the man who raped me
"Catherine, who lives in the UK, became pregnant after being raped by a man she had considered her friend. She explains here why she decided to give birth to the child - and why the hardest thing for her is looking into her son's eyes."
"When I first held him the thing that was striking and the thing that's remained the biggest issue for me personally with him since is that he has absolutely got his father's eyes. And when I first saw his eyes, that was the only moment that I really had when it was quite chilling and the absolute reality hit.
As he's grown, those eyes have become even more [like his father's]. And one of the things that I remember most about the rape - and I don't think this is uncommon - is the eyes. He has got very, very striking eyes, they both have. They are very distinctive.
I can put my hand on my heart and say I don't think there was ever any effect on my bond with him due to how he was conceived, certainly not consciously. The only thing I've had to tell myself was, that if I caught his eye - and even now if I catch the odd mannerism, because certain mannerisms seem to be hereditary - that it's not to do with him. If I get a flashback, I react physically, but it's to do with the reminder, like you might get a trigger."
Regardless of some Christians trying to spin a woman's horror story into an imagined "divine" experience in an effort to shame women who were raped and chose abortion, it doesn't always work out like they fantasize. Any time something so violent and horrific happens to a woman she has some very hard choices to make, but the WORST thing you could do would be to take away her choice. That would be tantamount to the woman being raped a second time, this time by the self-righteous religious extremists who think they should have control over her body just like the rapists did.
No one is suggesting taking any choice away. One of the handful of situations where I do not oppose abortion is as a result of rape. I would never judge a woman who did so after an event that is rape. I would be understanding of that choice. Same with involuntary incest. No judgement, no opposition. Tough call. I just really respect the courage and love of the woman in the seed. I support abortion in the event of a life threatening complication of a pregnancy and when the baby has no chance at survival post birth. I don’t oppose it for rape and involuntary incest.
You say no one, yet there are many who suggest just that. You go on to say you don't, and I commend you if that is true, but at least be honest and admit you're an exception, not a standard representation of the anti-abortion crowd.
There are very few pro life people who oppose abortion in the case of rape. Some, but not that many. I believe that most pro life people are accepting of the rape, incest, and life of the mother exceptions.
In my experience, there are very few pro-life people who wouldn't force their young daughter or try to persuade the woman that they are cheating on their wife with to get an abortion.
You just don’t like it that the brave woman in the seeded article is relying on God for strength to survive her terrible ordeal inflicted upon her by an evil man and that she is drawing strength to carry on from her love for her new son that came out of that terrible event.