TexasScientist said:
RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:
TexasScientist said:
RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:
26 years ago, my daughter was born 10 weeks early and weighed 2.6 lbs. She is perfectly healthy. Next week she will give birth to her own baby.
I'm glad your daughter survived premature birth. Be thankful she was born in a time where medical technology, and skilled professionals could pull her through. In my own family we had a baby girl born at 22 weeks only to live two days at Presbyterian, and another immediate family member who's infant died at 6 months old, after spending 4 months in Children's Hospital. I can promise you they had as many prayers and pleas for their wellbeing as your daughter. Medical technology can't always pull someone through. There is no evidence that there is any supernatural power at play arbitrarily deciding who lives and who dies. I'm glad for you, your daughter, and the opportunity you have to know her children.
I am truly sorry for your losses. I cannot imagine any pain worse than losing a child.
The night before my daughter was born, my wife came running out of HEB with blood running down both legs. She had something that was called a placental abruption. I raced to the hospital in a driving rain. Both survived and thrived. I truly believe God was watching over us.
I understand how grateful you are for how things turned out, and I'm so glad for you and your family. But I have to ask three questions; why do you think God chose to watch over you, and chose not to watch over me and my wife, or chooses not to watch over someone else? Do you think you would have had the same outcome, if you had just gone home trusting God to watch over you? What did God do that doctors did not do?
TS, in my experience, no one gets everything they want. There is always a mix of good and bad news, and sometimes you have to understand that you cannot control what happens, you can only control what you do about it.
For example, I am a cancer survivor. I can choose to be unhappy that I have an incurable cancer that limits my health and strength, or I can choose to be grateful that I am alive and able to be with my family.
I can choose to be bitter that I have been a crime victim several times, having had my car stolen, been robbed at gunpoint, and assaulted, or I can choose to be grateful that I was able to overcome those bad things and did not lose anything permanent in those incidents.
I can choose to be bitter that none of my relationships worked out early in life, so I was lonely while all my friends found their partners and got married, or I can be thankful that when I did get married, I found the right woman at a time when I was ready to take on that responsibility, and in a world where so many marriages end in divorce, my wife and I are in our second quarter-century of contented partnership.
Sometimes a thing happens in such a way, that a believer thinks he or she has seen God intervene to help them. Sometimes a thing happens which causes a person to question why they had to suffer, and why God let it happen.
You may call it rationalization, but at least some of what we call bad news is there to help make us tougher and help us relate to other people in their own difficulties. I mentioned for example that I have cancer - this has allowed me to relate to others going through that trial. The feeling that something is not right, the uncomfortable tests, the solemn discussion with your primary doctor, then your oncologist, when the cancer is confirmed. The shock when you realize that while treatment is available, there is a non-zero chance you will die from your cancer even if you do everything you are supposed to do. The sleepless nights when you try to get things in order so if you die during surgery your family will know what to do next. And so on.
And that, of course, is just one aspect. There are myriad threats and dangers in Life, and sooner or later one will prove fatal. That in no way means God is not there or does not care. It is just a fact that this life is not forever.
Christ promised us an eternal life with Him, but He also called on us to take up our crosses.
To put it another way, I know God has been there for me, because I know His voice. I am not surprised that someone who does not know God, would
not hear HIs call.
I am truly sorry for your pain and loss. I hope you will yet find consolation.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier