
Recently, my heart was wrenched with sorrow for a "mom like me" who has suffered the loss of one of her daughters, and who's daughter has now suffered the loss a precious baby boy born dead.
The baby died on the day he was due, because the umblical cord was wrapped around his neck preventing him from being born alive. This news is such a heartbreaking reality and I know so many young moms who live with the loss of a baby born dead or dying soon after their birth.
This sad news also made me think of how our son, David, who could have been born dead, as his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times. Then comes the question . . ."Why did David live and this other precious child did not?" That could have so easily been us.
I have had these type of questions throughout my life, beginning when we lived in Connecticut and we would experience the surreal waking in the morning after a horrible hurricane to see what damage had been done in the night.
One morning after a very great storm, I walked out with my Dad to see that some houses were damaged or destroyed and others were not . . . "How could that be?" I asked my Dad. "We all went through the same storm, why is our house still here and others are not? Why did the storm "pass over" some and not all?"
I cannot recall my Dad's exact words, as I was only about 5 years old, but I do remember that he helped me understand that God is in control of every aspect of our lives, including the storms, and that we are to be thankful, when we have been "passed over." He also encouraged me to use these times to have compassion for others, caring for and helping those who were not "passed over."
As I consider all the times that my family and I have been "passed over," and those times, when we have not, one thing remains very clear to me; in the times we are passed over there is great relief and gratitude, as we acknowledge that we have been spared and protected, when we are not passed over, I trust God in all circumstances, because I believe in His promises and that though we cannot understand "His ways," His plan for us is always "for good and not for evil." (Jeremiah 29:11).
As my dear brother-in-law once said, "this is a beautiful, but dangerous planet, and we must have the heart of a Lion (the Lion of Judah) to live with faith and courage." And, I would add we must be intentional about "trusting God with all of our heart, soul, mind and body!"
When we are passed over and when we are not, I am humbled and reminded that we are not in control and we cannot take a nano-second of our lives for granted, as we do all too often.
Thinking and praying for the precious mom and her daughter who are suffering in response to the loss of the child they so wanted to love and watch grow up.
With Faith, Hope and Love,
Angie "a mom like you"
www.amotherlikeme.info
amotherlikeme@gmail.com