The ProLife Team Podcast 166 | Cheryl Flores

Welcome to the Play TV Podcast. I’m Jacob Barr, and I’m here with Cheryl Flores. And today, we’re going to be hearing Cheryl’s story. Cheryl, would you start us off by introducing yourself?

Yes. So, my name is Cheryl Flores, and I live in, Casper, Wyoming. I, have been a nurse since 1998. I currently work at a pregnancy resource center in Casper, Wyoming.

Awesome. So, yeah, tell us your story. Tell us, yeah, what you wanted to share today.

So, when I was 15, I had an abortion. It just, led to a series of depression, serious depression, suicidal attempts. I just was in a really, really bad place and, I immediately regretted my abortion. I believe it led to, drug abuse. It led to worsening of my depression and and, I just regret that decision. I went to nursing school a few years later, and I really didn’t think about it that much. I never dealt with the depression.

I never dealt with the abortion. And finally, later in life, maybe about 13, 14 years ago, I attended an abortion recovery group, and I received a lot of healing from that. I entered treatment for my drug addiction and got counseling for my depression, and then it led me to this job as a resource coordinator, here at a pregnancy resource center. And I’m able to share my story with my patients. I help them with resources. I, I tell them what, you know, the things that I suffered for in my life, because of my abortion and try to help them not make that same decision to get her the resources so she can choose life, but also to point her in, a recovery an abortion recovery group in in case she has an abortion in her past that she can get the same healing that I did.

Wow. As part of this journey defining healing, which passage in the Bible would you say has been one of your most instrumental, you know, yes, something that you would you would you would think about often and it really helped.

So well, one is Revelation 1211 that says you overcome the devil by the the love of the lamb by the blood of the lamb and by the word of your testimony. I believe every time you share your testimony, it it is overcoming the devil, and it is, restoring what what was lost, you know, beauty from ashes and, the other, bible verse, I hope I get it right, is, confess your sins to one another so that you may be healed.

I believe it’s James 5 16. I I didn’t when I had my abortion as a teenager, I didn’t freely share this with everybody, but I and I wasn’t a Christian at the time, and I didn’t understand this bible verse. When we have something that we stuff in our life or we ignore or we bury or we pretend it doesn’t exist, you know, Jeremiah says you can’t heal a wound by saying it’s not there. And I had this, desire to share my story. I had I had this just kind of innate feeling that I needed to share this with somebody, and luckily, the person I chose to share my abortion story with invited me to church. So, literally, the day I would have delivered that aborted child is when I accept Jesus Christ as my savior. So I believe that most important part of that verse is so that you may be healed.

Confessing and getting it out into the open and allowing healing to happen is how you become healed. So so those two verses are very important to me. Like, I share my testimony all the time. Every opportunity I I get, I’m invited to share a lot a lot of times to embrace grace groups and, you know, just just a speaker at events and and so I those are the 2 verses that really sealed it for me. And and I’d like to share, I had a I’ve been at this pregnancy resource center for 12 years now and I did have a full circle moment where I had a a 15 year old and her mom in my office. And she said the mom was just kind of incredulous, and she said, she talking about her 15 year old daughter. She doesn’t have a job.

She doesn’t have a car. She she’s not she hasn’t finished high school. You know? Of course, she can’t keep this baby. You know? Like, what was what was I thinking? Of course, I had to agree with her.

There’s this there’s no way this 15 year old should have a baby. And so I just shared with her, shared with the mom about what I experienced, my depression, my suicide attempts, my drug addiction, you know, losing everything and that I directly attribute all of this to my abortion. And the mom just said, oh, well, I don’t want her to experience this. Of course, we can’t do that. And so it was a really full circle moment. I understood at that moment really kind of on a deep level that, God didn’t cause all these things to happen to me. They were the result of poor choices, but he definitely was able to take the mess of it and turn it into a message, to to turn it into a testimony to it says in Genesis that god can take anything meant for evil and turn it into good.

And, that was my full circle moment at my at my current job.

Wow. So I’ve got a couple of follow-up questions or thoughts. 1, I wanna slow down for a moment and, ask you about the statement you made, which is you got saved on your potential delivery date. Yeah.

Yeah.

I just wanna slow down and have you, an you know, maybe to sort of share share more about that? Because that seems like a really, interesting I I don’t understand. I mean, I’m I’m still trying to comprehend, like, what that would what that represents.

Sure. Sure. Well, so when I had my abortion, it was, I think I was about 10 between 10 12 weeks pregnant and, it was over the Christmas break that I had my abortion. And when I came back to school, I was a junior in high school at the time, and when I came back to school, I had new classes. And I just had this abortion in January, you know, it’s very recent and I was kind of reeling from it, reeling from the decision feeling very guilty. And, one of my friends I was in a brand new class, you know, it was a new new semester at school, so I had new classes and I and I my friend Amy was sitting next to me in this computer class and I just told her, you know, what happened over Christmas break that I had had an abortion. And her first response was, you should go to church with me.

And at the time, their family was seeking a new church. So I actually went to I just went with them and we tried a bunch of different churches. And and, the weird thing is the very first church we went to, I cannot remember the denomination, but, the pastor started his sermon with, a couple that had lost their baby, and he said that they, they were being punished for their sins, that God was, you know, getting back to them and took their baby because of punishment of her sins. And and I just remember my friend’s mom said, this is terrible. She literally, like, yanked us up, and we walked out of the church, and she said, this is not true, you know. But we eventually landed on on this Baptist church and, that became my my first regular church I attended, you know, about 15 years old. And, they had, you know, altar call where you come up and if you wanna be baptized, you know, they, you can do that and confess your sins, you know, accept Jesus as your savior.

And I did that and then scheduled, you know, a baptism. And and that day that I had my baptism was my original due date that would have been the due date of my aborted child. So instead of, having a baby, that day, I got a different new life. Right? I, it was it was a pivotal moment in my life, so I, you know, went in a different direction. And that and that was something that correlation, was something I didn’t, realize until many, many years later. Does that make I hope that makes sense.

That yeah. It’s it’s beautiful how Jesus is weaved into your story. Yes. And and and and really, you know, the day you got saved, traditionally, would have been the day you would have seen your baby in person. But now when it comes to eternity, you’ll be able to see your baby in heaven because of that same exact day, which is just Yeah. Phenomenal to think about.

Like, there’s so many that’s just so amazing. Yeah. Honestly, it’s just amazing.

I really think God weaves a a tapestry. I mean, it’s just amazing how he he weaves things together. We see it in the bible, right, all the time.

Yeah. So, so there’s something interesting about yeah. Your story just is yeah. It’s beautiful because it connects your pregnancy, your connection with Jesus, and your child. Like, it’s just like so there’s a a a suite of things I wanna respond with or share with. So one of the, in James 5 16 was my favorite verse 2 or 3 years ago. Today, I I just keep thinking about and echoing Psalms 23.

And I wanna go through the first few verses with you, which is, you know, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, which is just amazing. And then he guides me along still waters. And then the next verse, which I think often gets skipped over is, he restores my soul. And so I feel like, I feel like you’ve experienced your soul being restored. Can you think about where God has made you lie down in green pastures? Things that are really good.

And then where has he guided you that you may have, you know, followed to go to a place of, you know, restoring, you know, still waters that are safe and delicious?

Sure. Those are good great questions. So I I re specifically remember, how persistent god has been with me. I’d like to address the how he’s got me through some things and then, maybe talk about the rest and restoration. But when, when I was going through recovery for my, addiction and depression and and, you know, kinda just analyzing my life and getting tons of healing, god has had to be very persistent with me. You know? I I think of, you know, Elijah and the and the tree in the shade, but but I I was very reluctant a lot of times because, when you stuff something for so long, it’s painful.

It’s painful to get it out. It’s painful to to receive the healing. And I dragged my feet, and god gave me so many outs that I didn’t take. But one particular moment though, when I learned about this abortion recovery group or class, I was like, yes. This sounds great. I should do it, you know, and, but I tend to be one of those people at the time that said yes to everything but then backed out of everything. And and, I was like, I don’t think so.

And the leader called me, and and she said, you know, we’re starting the class. You know, I have the book. And I said, you know, I I don’t think so. I just I don’t have time right now, you know. And she said, well, where are you? And I said, I’m at Walgreens. And so she literally got in her car and drove to Walgreens and handed me the book and for that class.

And I and I just remember saying, alright, god. Fine. I’ll go. If you’re making it, like, this easy, I really shouldn’t back out. You know? And and so that led to just amazing healing for me. During that class, there was an exercise where you sat across from yourself.

You had empty chair, and you and it’s just you in this chair and the facilitator. And she said things like, imagine god talking to your 15 year old self.

What would he say? What would you say? What would, you know, what would you tell her, thinking about what she’s going through after the abortion? And it was really impactful and powerful and, of course, very emotional because it was at that moment I realized god is not mad at me. He’s not disappointed in me. He’s not surprised by the the mistakes I had made. He just wanted me to be healed and restored.

And my every year, I have a I have a word. It’s funny that you mentioned that because, you know, I just, in my bible reading and my bible study, every year, God just gives me a word, a word to work on. Sometimes it’s faith, sometimes it’s grace, sometimes forgiveness, love, joy, peace, patience. You know, there’s many, many words every year. But this year, it’s been slow down and rest. And and I don’t feel that we rest like God wants us to rest. I don’t think like, you’re talking about I don’t think we always take that moment to to just be abide in Christ, to just refuel. And and God has really been showing me that sitting and and watching TV and and, you know, kinda zoning out or playing games on your phone or whatever is is not rest.

It’s not restoration. It’s it’s not, really getting that that deep by still waters, experience. I used to pray all the time. God, just help me, to be safe in the boat with Christ. Help me to let him, keep me secure while the winds and the waves and the storms are are around me, and that’s okay. There are moments when we have to do that. That’s all we can do is be in that calm place that’s in the center of the storm.

But then I heard some teenagers say one time up on stage that we have to have the faith, like Peter to walk out on the water, even with the waves and all that going, that we have to have the faith to step out on the water. And that was really a mind shift for me that, yes, you should rest and and there are moments in your life when you have to just be in that boat with and be safe with Christ. But there is a moment where we do have to walk out on the water. We do have to walk towards Jesus even when the wind and the rain and the storms are going around. So I don’t know if that really answered your your your question, but that’s that’s kind of what I think about in resting. It’s not vegging out watching Netflix. Right? It’s not restoring restorative.

Yeah. I think I think what yeah. It seems like you’re you’re experiencing, like, the rest of the Psalms 23 goes into, he he guides me along righteous pathways for his name’s sake alone. And then it goes into, yea, though I go through the darkest valleys, I will fear no evil. And then it switches from talking about Jesus or God in the 3rd person to talking about to praying to Jesus saying, you are with me. And then and and then it goes into, like, he set the table before me in the presence of my enemies. And I feel like that’s sorta like that, you know, that that storm that’s surrounding that peaceful boat or maybe not so peaceful, but yet you have Jesus there with you.

Right.

Right. And and, it also

the wind in the waves, but it doesn’t always happen. Right?

Well but he might he also might be enjoying you and you enjoying him in the midst of being surrounded by scary things. Yeah. Yeah. And, and because he’s with us, that’s why we don’t need to fear.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And so wow. This is a really your story is remarkable because it it it talks about healing, restoration, it provides hope, and and and and then here you are working more than a decade later helping women. You know, you feel like you’ve been equipped to to really, have a great deal of passion and empathy and compassion for where people are coming from, and then the desire to help them Yeah. You know, to to avoid, you know, har you know, harm and hardships and really harm. It really talk about that. Yeah. Go ahead.

Yeah. It it really, it is a a unique position. Not all pregnancy resource centers have a resource coordinator, somebody who just helps patients find, resources. I’ve done 1,000, literally, of Medicaid applications or food stamp or housing or WIC, whatever it may be. That’s that’s my my job here, but I have a kind of a I we we like to joke I’m the unicorn in the midst because not only do I have, you know, a good knowledge of what’s available in our community and the resources that can help her, but I also can, relate to her, whether she’s had an abortion or was thinking about having an abortion and also depression and also, drug addiction. You know, I can I can really speak to that on a personal level, which is is kind of a rare a rare thing? You know, you don’t have a have that type of situation show up very much.

So it’s very rewarding in a sense that I think I can connect on a deeper level. It’s not just sometimes when when women come to pregnancy resource centers, they think we’re holier than thou or that we’re judging them or, you know, the the negative community or political, if you will, community might, on the other side of you know, on the pro choice side, would say that we threaten them, and we tell them we’re going to hell and, you know, which is not at all what we do. We do we want her to have all the information. We want her to know all of the the risks that could be if she chooses abortion, but it’s it’s ultimately still up to her. We just want her to have all the information. And and to be able to, if they’re willing to introduce them to Christ is an amazing thing, but sometimes just being able to tell them I’ve been there. I’ve been I’ve been an addict who, an IV drug addict and been so depressed that I didn’t, you know, I stayed in bed for days and that type of thing.

We I would say we see I would I would probably guess about 80% of my patients have some experience with drugs. We see a lot of marijuana because it’s legal in Colorado and they come up to Wyoming. So we see a lot of marijuana use in pregnancy and we see a lot of depression. I would say 80 to to 90% of my patients have experienced depression as well. We’re excited here at TrueCare because we’re going to, add to our services, add a mental health component, add counseling to to our center so that, if they need counseling, they can get into somebody right away. So so not to toot my own horn, but I I just am so uniquely equipped, like you said, for this job that it’s amazing. It’s really a perfect example of beauty from ashes.

Can you speak more about this new desire and work to implement a mental health, service or a wing to the your your pregnancy center or pregnancy clinic?

So we, I do a a depression screening, as a nurse. I I do some testing with them when I meet with them to to see if they do, in fact, have depression and, recently, our state had has expanded Medicaid coverage to postpartum women. So after they deliver, a few years ago, they, would their their, health insurance would end 2 months after they delivered. Well, now they’ve expanded that to a year after they deliver. Women can experience postpartum depression for sometimes up to to 2 years or more after they have, their baby. And when they lose their insurance, they really have no opportunity to get help. These are usually low income women.

We also noticed in our town that it was taking over 6 months to actually get into some kind of mental health provider, And then there’s also, maybe not as many Christian counselors that we would like to, send our patients to so they can get that component of the of of that, counseling. So we we actually just, our CEO had ran into somebody at a conference in in, a pregnancy resource conference, and there was a a group in Corsicana, Texas that, they do this. They have had a a counselor there for a long time, and they were looking actively looking for some kind of facility that they could, teach, that they could, do some training. In fact, we have that training today with them. And, so it it yeah. It just god I could tell you story after story how god has moved in this facility in the last couple years.

It’s been absolutely amazing. But, yeah, they they just connected and and, they said, we’re looking for a guinea pig, and our CEO was like, we’ll be a guinea pig. We wanna do this. So we had a a social worker that worked here, just got her social work license. And so we’re just doing all the things, to get ready to provide this resource.

Wow. And I feel like you’ve already shared several of where God is you know, you can see God’s fingerprints or his his, you know, his, you know, his work or his presence. So this podcast has has 3, legs or or, things I like to include. 1 is sharing God’s fingerprints where where it shows up in someone’s story, And and then also sharing encouraging stories to executive directors and then sharing things that are new. I feel like we’ve already, you know, touched on all 3 of those which is great. Yeah. So go ahead and share.

If you if if what’s what’s the story of where you’ve seen God, you know, answer prayer or where God you you feel like God’s fingerprints were evident in something that took place based on your your work or your experience Sure. There at the Pringsty clinics. Yeah.

It’s kind of a funny thing, but there’s literally, and in fact, I you should probably talk to our CEO because she could tell you. She’s very outgoing and and you would like her a lot. She’d be great. But, one thing in specific that just happened recently is, we had an abortion clinic open in Casper, a couple years ago. It was right after Roe v Wade was overturned, and I don’t know if people understand, but when that was overturned, it triggered laws in our in our country where, just because it was overturned didn’t mean that it made it illegal. Right? It’s all in courts right now being, hashed out.

And so this abortion clinic came. Wyoming is a very republican state. It’s a very red state, but, obviously, there are people on on the other side of of the of the fence. So this abortion clinic opened, and we, did some strategic planning. And we we said, you know, what can we do to respond to this? How how can we respond to this this really spiritual warfare that has been brought on our doorstep? We’ve enjoyed, we’ve enjoyed a long time here in Wyoming, of not having access to abortion in in our state, let alone our our city.

And so we had this opportunity, this building became available. It was literally a block down the street from from the abortion clinic and then we we have partnered with Sidewalk Advocates For Life and, so those advocates are are outside the abortion clinic and offering women gifts and offering them prayer and and telling them, you know, there is a a free walk in pregnancy resource clinic. You can have a you don’t have to schedule an appointment. You can walk right down there and get a free ultrasound and and get all the information before you make this decision. And, this year, we, we had we did not realize that we hadn’t re signed our lease with with this walk in clinic. It expired, and it’s just funny things happened around that. I won’t I won’t, get it too complicated.

But, anyways, we we lost that lease. We did not we did not renew our lease. So we were basically doing month to month, not even realizing we were doing month month to month. So they said, okay. You have, like, 2 weeks to get out or whatever the time frame was. I can’t remember. You need to be out.

Maybe it was the end of September. Yeah. We had till the end of the month to get out, and we’re like, oh my gosh. What are we gonna do? Because the where where I work, it’s you call and you make an appointment. They’re scheduled appointments. We don’t take walk in off the street.

But we really wanted to continue to offer a a walk in clinic. So we we scrambled and we found a place and, you know, we moved out of that clinic and, we put stuff in storage, and then we were like, now what?

What do we do? Because we need a new place. Do we do we bring him all over here, which is which is, you know, quite a far, distance away from this abortion clinic, or do we try to find something near the abortion clinic? What do we do? And literally, the day we moved out, we found out the building right next door to our former walk in clinic is an OB office, and they were moving. And they were leaving this OB office. And we have about, I think, 5 22 to 5000 square feet that we use here, and this was, you know, almost double that.

It’s it’s multiple levels. And so and, I mean, that can’t be anything but god. I mean, if you just realize all the coincidences that had to happen for that, to me, it’s just evident that god is opening doors that, we didn’t even know this building was, up for sale. You know? I mean, it just it just fell literally fell on our lap just like the walk in clinic less than a block away, was available. I just feel like it’s it can’t be anything but god. I mean, you just you couldn’t make it up if you tried.

It would make no sense, just the divine intervention that happened for and there’s just more to it. I mean, just you know, it it reminds me of all the prophecies that Jesus gave during his 3 years. You know? I mean, if you just really looked at the math alone, the odds of the those things happening are, you know, infinite infinite. And so, yeah, so we we are moving in shortly in a few months into a a new building where everybody will be in one building. We won’t have to be in a whole bunch of different places, and, it just everything just worked out perfectly.

Wow. And I think if you

even closer to the abortion clinic now. And they thought they ran us out of business. They thought we were closing now because of yeah. So surprise. We we’re not leaving.

And if you would have had your lease renewed, you wouldn’t have been able to even consider that slightly closer place.

Right. And and one that our building that we’re in right now is not really a medical clinic. We’ve kind of made it into a medical clinic, but this is an actual medical clinic, you know, with all the bells and whistles that we need. So it’s amazing. It’s a it’s a a wonderful gift. I get a bigger offer. I’m happy.

That’s that’s awesome. Well, this has been I’ve really enjoyed you being on here and sharing your stories and just, you know, reflecting on where God has well, has shown had you know, were you seeing God in these in these in these places? And just I know it’s only a fraction of what you’ve experienced.

Yeah. Yeah.

As we wrap up, would you would you mind closing us in a prayer with the Oh, yeah. The hope that those who are listening will will join in the prayer that you that you lead. Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. I love to pray. God, I I’m just amazed. You know, Jacob and I had a hard time connecting with our schedules. And whenever something happens like that, I feel I feel it really is, because we’re doing good. We’re doing good for you and, you know, there are things in the heavenly realms that that happen.

This this spiritual warfare that happens around us. And and, there are things that try to throw us off course. There are things that that make us, afraid to move, afraid to make a step. And I just pray for boldness for every person listening to this prayer, that they will have the boldness to step out in faith and and to just walk out a life that is pleasing to you, that is not a comfortable life, but maybe something that, is daring and, adventurous and, as my pastor likes to say, you may not be experiencing miracles in your life because you’re not putting yourself in a position to need them, which sounds kind of scary. But, I just pray for every person listening to this prayer, every person that listens to to the podcast and and are are trying to be fully equipped to put on that full armor of god and fight this spiritual battle. I pray that you will give them courage, that you will give them, the willingness to to step out of their comfort zone and to, put your plan in motion, that you will open doors, you will tear down walls, you will, you will we we can push back the enemy. We can reclaim, land for for the kingdom of God and that we should be seeking first the kingdom of God in everything that we do.

And even if you feel that you have such a small part, everyone works together as one body of Christ. So I pray for the pregnancy resource centers out there. I pray for people like like Jacob that are, expanding the kingdom, and giving people hope that they are not alone, that, that the the world is not winning. The devil is not winning. We are claiming land. We are, introducing souls to Christ. We are spreading the kingdom of God and it’s not easy and it’s not pretty and, sometimes it takes a wreckage of a past, to be restored so that we can move move on and move forward, and that I can overcome the devil by the word of of our testimony, that we can, represent Christ well in everything that we do.

So so I just pray for for people that are listening right now that are struggling, that are feeling like, maybe their life or their job or whatever is mundane, or maybe there are thorns in the flesh like addiction or depression or maybe an abortion in your past. God can take, what was meant for evil and turn it into good, but he can’t do that unless you unless you voice it, unless you find someone you trust and and, really begin to, be a disciple of Christ and and just watch your life change and watch god use you in magnificent ways. So I just I just ask this all in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Come away. This day with Christ, come away.

With the spirit powerful.