Over twenty years ago, Ricardo was just a young man studying to be a nurse in North Carolina. He needed a job in the medical field, so when a friend helped him land a position at Planned Parenthood in Chapel Hill, he took it. For three years, he answered phones, screened patients, and held the hands of women during surgical abortions. After the procedures, he helped inspect the remains, confirming that all the baby’s limbs were accounted for so the doctor could know the procedure was completed.
He remembers one Saturday like it was yesterday. The clinic was short staffed, and he was called in to assist with a later term procedure. As he held the woman’s hand, she began to scream and sob. When it was over, Ricardo walked out of the room, numb and emotionally shattered. He made it to the break room and collapsed in tears. Two of his coworkers quietly stepped in, saw his broken state, and stepped right back out.
“They recognized it,” Ricardo said. “I wasn’t the only one. Everyone who works there breaks down at some point.”
While Ricardo was working at the clinic, his mother was praying. His wife started attending church, and soon, so did he. The more he heard the Word, the more convicted he became. He realized what he was participating in wasn’t medicine; it was destruction. He left Planned Parenthood and stepped into a career in real health care, where he served for the next eight years.
But God wasn’t finished with his story.
Today, Ricardo is no longer lost or silent. He’s Pastor Ricardo Correa, leading a congregation in the very city where he once worked at an abortion center. Just a few weeks ago, he led his congregation in a Love Life prayer walk at that same clinic.
As he shared at the prayer walk he pointed to two narrow windows. “That’s the break room,” he said. “That’s where I sat all those years ago, crying. Those workers can see us. I pray they’ll feel the weight of what they are doing, and that God will turn their lives around, like He did mine.”
Ricardo’s story reminds us that no one is too far gone. As the Bible says, “The Lord is… not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
There are Ricardos inside those walls today, men and women who are broken, numb, and wondering if there’s a way out. There is. His name is Jesus. And the church has the keys to bring light to the darkest places.
Let’s keep showing up. Let’s keep praying. Let’s keep believing for more stories like Ricardo’s.
Want to get involved? Join us for a prayer walk near you and be part of the story God is still writing. Visit www.lovelife.org to learn more.