Pain and suffering

I had a sweet visit with an old friend of mine recently.  She is a dear sister in Christ, a mentor to me in my life and such an amazing example of what a woman of God should be like.  Having recently gone through a miscarriage, she shared with me a story she heard on Focus on the Family.  It was a story about David and Nancy Guthrie who suffered the loss of two of their three children.  You can check out her website here.  They had one child who was healthy and normal.  Their second child was diagnosed with a rare genetic abnormality where the child does not live longer than six months.  They chose to have this child and loved and celebrated this child every single day of her life.  She lived 199 days.  After the painful loss and suffering they endured, they knew they didn't want to go through it again and made sure surgically that pregnancy would not happen.  Only one and a half years later, Nancy found out that she was pregnant.  Tests again showed that this child also carried that same genetic abnormality.  Their son lived 183 days and like their daughter, they loved and celebrated his days on earth as much as they could.  How can a couple who has gone through losing two of their children move on.  Only the Lord Jesus Christ can help us with that pain and with that suffering.  They used it as a way to minister to other couples who have lost children. They have what is called Respite Retreats for couples who have suffered losses, they have written books, their story was shared worldwide even in secular magazines.  The pain is there yet they are still putting their trust in the Lord and continue to put their trust in Him and use their experience to minister to others.  What an amazing story.