For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Rom 12:3)
"They asked God to bless them with as many children as He saw fit in His timing." Jim and Michelle Duggar have 19 children. Michelle's recent pregnancy with number 20 has ended in a miscarriage. My heart goes out the the Duggar Family. "Jubilee" is now in God's hands.
My own personal life was touched by four such events. Two of those four pregnancies ended in abortion. Two of those pregnancies ended in miscarriage. There is not one of those children that I do not think about, wonder about or miss. Time has healed the wounds of their deaths, but the scars remain. I would say that this is probably the hardest "post" I've ever written. We tend to keep our "skeletons" locked away in a closet, far from the eyes and ears of those who would judge us. The only judgement that matters knew long before the events occurred that these four children would never breath the air of this world.
"Why?" you ask. The reasons are no longer relevant (they never really were). The decisions were made with sound and logical deliberation, yet in the grand scheme of things, were not the right decisions to have been made at all. For years after the two miscarriages, I truly believed that God was punishing me by taking away those two children in retaliation for my decision to abort two. He has long since forgiven me for my actions and the price for that also came in the form of a cross on a hill in Calvary.
God has blessed me with four beautiful and healthy children. He has blessed me with a precious granddaughter. Knowing that I also have four beautiful children and another grandchild in heaven gives me pause. Whatever their lives would have been no longer crosses my mind. In the same way that the reality of my friend's death was revealed to me, these children also were never destined to be anyone other than who they were. They, too, were called home in His time. They, too, formed a lasting impression on me. God did not punish me or my daughter-in-law by taking children from us. He blessed us with babies He chose to take home with him, just as He has taken Jubilee Duggar home to be with Him.
Whatever your feelings are about this family, their overwhelming number of children, their life in front of the camera, know that they, too, answer to the same authority that you and I answer to. It is not for us to judge the decision they made to attempt to bring forth another child. God did not (and does not) punish us by taking our loved ones away. Right now they grieve the loss of a baby. They need our prayers, not our arrogance. They need our love. The question as to whether or not Michelle should have considered having another child is a moot point. No debate will change that. They have given their lives to God, and God has blessed them many times over. This child was conceived for His glory, by His command and now resides with Him.
Remember that "children are a blessing from the Lord" (Ps 127)...sometimes He chooses to hold them now!
