A picture of comfort

Today I received news that a friend's great grand baby had died inutero.  

She asked me to keep the family in my prayers, as they are, of course, devastated.

Weeping with sorrow, I typed out my prayer:

that they would be comforted in knowing 

their baby is sitting on Jesus' lap, waiting for them in heaven.

For the record:

It is NOT my intention by this post to make their tragedy about ME!

I simply desire to offer comfort to anyone who's lost a child

-for whatever reason- 

by means of the comfort the Lord gave me a long time ago.

Here is my story.

38 years ago, my then-boyfriend [now Dear Husband] and I 

aborted our first child.

We married 6 years later and 2 years after that,

the Lord blessed us with the first of our 3 children.

Just realized that might be better stated like this:

"...the second of our four children."

Slowly, we began to realize, as we never had before, 

the gravity of our decision to abort our first child.

We mourned that baby for 25 years.

Yes, we asked the Lord to forgive us 

and in our heads, we knew He did.

During that time the Lord gave me the mental picture of

Him holding our baby on His lap,

safe and happy, with his/her Savior,

waiting to meet us in heaven.

But we never received that comfort in our hearts 

nor had we lived in the freedom of forgiveness.

Several times over the years we'd shared about our abortion 

with close friends and with various Bible study groups, 

but our sorrow lingered. 

About 6 years ago, on Sanctity of Life Sunday, 

my pastor asked me to share our abortion experience at 3 worship services.  

As a result of that testimony, God brought good out of a bad decision we'd made 

by drawing other hurting hearts to Himself.

What was the result of sharing our story for me?

It was no longer about me.

It was about God

and His grace and forgiveness to me;

His patience and faithfulness in drawing me close to His heart all those years

until I received it.

Today I pray that whoever reads this and needs it, 

 will receive the same comfort the Lord continues to give me:

the knowledge that their baby is loved with His everlasting love, 

is secure in His everlasting arms,

and is sitting in Jesus' lap,

waiting to meet them in heaven.

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 33:27

Love,

Linking with
Ann Voskamp @ A Holy Experience for
"Multitudes on Monday"
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If you'd like to join us for this weekly meme, go to her site above, and link up.
I've been following Ann's blog for a couple of months now and I must say that every time I read it, I am blessed by the depth of her posts.  I look forward to checking out the other participants' links over the next several days.
Ann also hosts Walk with Him Wednesdays.
Tough Cookie Mommy for