{"id":37130,"date":"2013-06-24T19:51:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T23:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=37130"},"modified":"2013-06-25T12:48:26","modified_gmt":"2013-06-25T16:48:26","slug":"peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace in the midst of miscarriage"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I was ly\u00ading on the exam\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion table in shock. I was at my first mid\u00adwife appoint\u00adment, and because of my\u00a0symp\u00adtoms, the mid\u00adwife wanted to do an ultra\u00adsound. There, on the screen, as plain as day, life and death were co-existing. I saw Faith\u2019s tiny lit\u00adtle 7-week-old heart beat\u00ading furi\u00adously and strong. And next to her was the evi\u00addence that was left from her\u00a0twin.<\/p>\n

I was rejoic\u00ading and griev\u00ading in the same breath. I had been bleed\u00ading. I was incred\u00adi\u00adbly nau\u00adseous. And now I knew\u00a0why.<\/p>\n

I stum\u00adbled to the park\u00ading lot, still unsure about how I was sup\u00adposed to feel. I always rejoice at see\u00ading my babies in their ultra\u00adsounds. But I also found out in that one moment that I had been car\u00adry\u00ading twins, and that one had died. This was my first miscarriage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A precious unborn child at a very early stage of pregnancy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fast-for\u00adward a few years, and we rejoiced at the dis\u00adcov\u00adery that after 4 years unable to con\u00adceive, we were once again preg\u00adnant. A few days later we were dev\u00adas\u00adtated to learn that this new life, with all our hopes and dreams for his life, was dying. Oh, how I grieved.<\/p>\n

And then the fol\u00adlow\u00ading year, it hap\u00adpened again. This time, I car\u00adried the baby to 7 weeks. Mike was out of town on a busi\u00adness trip when I mis\u00adcar\u00adried. That was hard. But God sus\u00adtained me through it. Late one night, I went into the bathroom and prayed that the Lord would allow me to see the baby and not inad\u00adver\u00adtently\u00a0flush it with\u00adout know\u00ading. Right then, He plopped my per\u00adfectly formed baby onto a clean tis\u00adsue. I could see the spinal cord, the spots where the brain and heart and eyes were, the arms and fin\u00adger buds. The baby was about the size of a grape. I was only 7 weeks preg\u00adnant, which means the baby was only about 5 weeks old. I was so amazed at how formed this lit\u00adtle life was already. I called my old\u00adest son upstairs to share this moment with me, to see his lit\u00adtle sib\u00adling. We buried the baby in a hand\u00admade paper box under the crooked tree in our back yard. I put a piece of flan\u00adnel in the box beneath and over the baby. We read some scrip\u00adture, sang a hymn, and prayed together as a fam\u00adily, thank\u00ading God for the time we had had with this baby, and ask\u00ading for peace and comfort.<\/p>\n

I have strug\u00adgled with the whys of mis\u00adcar\u00adriage. Why would God allow me to get preg\u00adnant after pray\u00ading for all these years, only to take away this bless\u00ading from me? I really can\u2019t grasp it. But I do know that my life has been made richer and fuller by going through this heartache. I have learned to lean more on God for com\u00adfort and care. I have felt His hand sus\u00adtain me through these deaths.<\/p>\n

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013Romans 12:15<\/p>\n

Also, it has allowed me to have greater sym\u00adpa\u00adthy and com\u00adpas\u00adsion for other moth\u00aders who are suf\u00adfer\u00ading such loss. Had I not expe\u00adri\u00adenced this grief, I would not quite be able to under\u00adstand what a body goes through phys\u00adi\u00adcally and emo\u00adtionally dur\u00ading a mis\u00adcar\u00adriage. I am thank\u00adful for these things in my life. I wouldn\u2019t sign up for them, but obvi\u00adously God felt I needed it for my sanctification.<\/p>\n

I know that God is sov\u00ader\u00adeign. I know that He ordains what\u00adso\u00adever comes to pass. He has num\u00adbered our days before there was one of them. This is true for you. It is true for me. It is true for our chil\u00addren. Even the ones in our wombs. We can\u00adnot add or take away a sin\u00adgle day that has been ordained for us. And it is so hard to wrap our heads around that one. I believe that God uses means to work out His sov\u00ader\u00adeign plan, but we can\u00adnot orches\u00adtrate it or force our will upon Him. We must always sub\u00admit to His will, whether we like it or\u00a0not.<\/p>\n

Another thing that I hold onto is that each one of these babies is an eter\u00adnal being. My few weeks of preg\u00adnancy weren\u2019t for noth\u00ading. God ordained that their souls should be ush\u00adered into eter\u00adnity from the womb. And I was hon\u00adored to be the ves\u00adsel He chose to bring them into eter\u00adnal exis\u00adtence. How hum\u00adbling. And how glo\u00adri\u00adous. My heart aches with the desire to hold them and watch them grow up. But God had some\u00adthing bet\u00adter in mind for them. I believe that they are at the feet of Jesus, wor\u00adship\u00ading and glo\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading Him. How thank\u00adful I am for that\u00a0hope.<\/p>\n

If you have suf\u00adfered a mis\u00adcar\u00adriage, I am so sorry. I under\u00adstand your heartache. I want to encour\u00adage you to name your babies, even if they passed years ago. They are eter\u00adnal, and they deserve a name. They are real. Even if nobody else knew about\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

The other night, as we sat at the table for din\u00adner, my heart remem\u00adbered my babies. I noticed that we have three chil\u00addren miss\u00ading from our table. I thought for a moment how sweet it would be to have Faith\u2019s twin along with two more little ones sit\u00adting there with us. The baby would be turn\u00ading one this week. Delight. But I quickly remem\u00adbered that we do have delight with those the Lord has allowed us to raise, and that I can have delight in the knowl\u00adedge that I am a priv\u00adi\u00adleged mother to have ush\u00adered three souls into eter\u00adnity through the ves\u00adsel of my body, by the Lord\u2019s choos\u00ading. Thank you, Lord, for this honor. I pray that I will never dis\u00addain the gifts that He has given me. Nine chil\u00addren, six on earth; the under\u00adstand\u00ading of being com\u00adforted by His hand through the heartache and pain; the hope of being able to com\u00adfort other women in their sor\u00adrow; and a knowl\u00adedge of His per\u00adfect sov\u00ader\u00adeignty in our\u00a0lives.<\/p>\n

I pray my words give you hope. May the Lord bless you in your strug\u00adgles. And may He give you\u00a0peace.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was first printed at The Virtuous Wife blog<\/a> on May 22, 2013. It is reprinted with permission. Live Action realizes that not all of our readers are Christians, but we believe that this article provides a valuable perspective on the issues of human life and loss.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On life and loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":348,"featured_media":12394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPeace in the midst of miscarriage - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peace in the midst of miscarriage - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On life and loss.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-24T23:51:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-25T16:48:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/sad.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"565\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"504\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tonya Chapa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tonya Chapa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tonya Chapa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/66f7c18d0693b6fc5e400d4a506bd10d\"},\"headline\":\"Peace in the midst of miscarriage\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-24T23:51:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-25T16:48:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/\"},\"wordCount\":1234,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/peace-in-the-midst-of-miscarriage\/\",\"name\":\"Peace in the midst of miscarriage - 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