Into the loving arms of God

Our friends were expecting another grandchild. They are with their daughter and her husband and family, not celebrating a new life but planning a funeral. This was a baby who was diagnosed with trisome 18 early on in the pregnancy, a condition that is fatal for the baby.

The question put to me was how could a loving God allow this to happen. God did not do this. We are not perfect...not internally nor externally. Our genes are not perfect....a healthy baby is not always the outcome of a pregnancy. What has been amazing is the response of the mother, knowing she was carrying a baby she would never see live through his infancy. The father, a Navy man, was at sea for most of the pregnancy and only returned in the last few weeks. Though it is his loss too, he has not had the priviledge and the burden of carrying this child, has not dealt with it daily as she has.

This mother knew from early on in the pregnancy that her baby would probably not survive to term and if he did, he could not survive outside the womb. The only thing keeping him alive was her body and her heart, beating for his damaged one. She was offered the option of termination.

She decided to love him every moment she could, to do everything in her power to give him a chance, however slim, at life. She carried him under her heart until he was nearly full term. Two days before she was to be induced, his heart, which had developed normally on only one side, stopped. She still had to endure labor and delivery. When Andre was delivered his family was there to hold him and to say goodbye to him. To cuddle him and to kiss him. The only time they will ever have to touch him.

How did she do this? How could she deal with this and not become bitter or angry ? This woman is a Christian Catholic... a woman who knows that her son now rests in the loving arms of Jesus. She has turned her son over to God knowing she did the best she could while she was blessed to be carrying him. And she did see it as a blessing. She is grieving and torn, her heart is still broken, still shattered. Yet God in His goodness and grace will heal this because she has done what she knew was asked of her. Love this child, honor life and have faith.

I pray for His mercy and peace for this family, especially this mother, and I ask you to do the same.