Being Loved

A 9year-old boy said to his mum one night at bedtime, "Mommy, do you know what I love?"
"What do you love?" She asked quietly.
"I love being loved," he replied. "Yep, I really love being loved."

Isn't that true for all of us? We want to know that we are loved...not just in our heads; we want it to be obvious. I think that's why a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss shakes us so much; it makes us question if God truly loves us. After all, if He did love us we won't have been put through such loss and grief. But I am convinced that God does love us; He is right there with you when your heart is broken. You can feel safe and content in His love and know that there's nothing you can do to make Him love you more or less than He does right now.

You are loved; look around you and you will see how He has filled your life with love...your partner, friends, parents, pets...love is all around.

So like that 9year old, sit back contentedly and enjoy being loved.

Joyful anticipation

“Hope is like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts to sing while it’s still dark.”

I think that is such a beautiful quote. Hope doesn’t wait for the light in order to sing; it sings because the light is coming. The beauty of hope is in its ability to make you live in joyful anticipation of a brighter day.

Embrace Hope: it makes the night time pass more quickly.

From God’s Perspective

“We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope” (Thessalonians 4:13 JB).

The Thessalonian church had buried her share of loved ones. And the apostle wanted the members who remained to be at peace regarding the ones who had gone ahead. Many of you have buried loved ones as well. And just as God spoke to them, he speaks to you.

If you’ll celebrate a marriage anniversary alone this year, he speaks to you.

If your child made it to heaven before making it to kindergarten, he speaks to you.

If you lost a loved one in violence, if you learned more than you want to know about disease, if your dreams were buried as they lowered the casket, God speaks to you.

He speaks to all of us who have stood or will stand in the soft dirt near an open grave. And to us he gives this confident word: “I want you to know what happens to a Christian when he dies so that when it happens, you will not be full of sorrow, as those who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and then came back to life again, we can also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him all the Christians who have died” (1 Thess. 4:13–14 TLB).

God transforms our hopeless grief into hope-filled grief. How? By telling us that we will see our loved ones again.

Isn’t that what we want to believe? We long to know that our loved ones are safe in death. We long for the reassurance that the soul goes immediately to be with God. But dare we believe it? Can we believe it? According to the Bible we can.

Scripture is surprisingly quiet about this phase of our lives. When speaking about the period between the death of the body and the resurrection of the body, the Bible doesn’t shout; it just whispers. But at the confluence of these whispers, a firm voice is heard. This authoritative voice assures us that at death the Christian immediately enters into the presence of God and enjoys conscious fellowship with the Father and with those who have gone before.

Where do I get such ideas? Listen to some of the whispers:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.
(Phil. 1:21–23 NIV)

We don’t like to say good-bye to those we love. But if what the Bible says about heaven is true, and I believe it is, then the ultimate prayer, the ultimate answered prayer, is heaven.

It is right for us to weep, but there is no need for us to despair. They had pain here. They have no pain there. They struggled here. They have no struggles there. You and I might wonder why God took them home. But they don’t. They understand. They are, at this very moment, at peace in the presence of God.

by Max Lucado

Miscarriage Myths

There are a lot of miscarriage myths and I’d just like to share with you some common ones that DO NOT cause miscarriage.
1. Lifting small children or something heavy. In general, healthy pregnant women may lift 6-10kg in moderation. Chances are that your body would cause you to drop a heavy item before any harm could occur.
2. Stress or working too hard. Many women experience stressful events during pregnancy, and they have perfectly healthy babies in spite of the trauma. However, if you have had recurring miscarriages, talk to your doctor about the recent research that indicates it may be a factor for women who have had multiple miscarriages.
3. Drinking alcohol. Some women agonize over the cocktails or glasses of wine they drank before they knew they were pregnant. A newly forming baby receives so little of its mother’s blood for the first few weeks of pregnancy, that this should not be a cause for concern. To continue drinking throughout the pregnancy however, can cause a serious problem called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
4. Bad eating habits. Forgetting to take your vitamins or failing to eat properly will generally not hurt your baby because your body will rob from you what it needs for the baby (and you will feel the effects).
5. Falling, or getting kicked or hit in the stomach. In most cases, your baby is so well protected in amniotic fluid, that only you would be hurt during a fall or blow to your stomach. You should always seek medical attention if this occurs, but generally these events (especially when they happen in the first trimester) do not cause pregnancy loss.
6. Car accidents. Unless your stomach and uterus become punctured, or you experience a period of time when your heart or breathing stops, it is unlikely that your baby would die.
7. Sex. Lovemaking has no adverse effects on your baby. You may experience spotting after sex, but this is simply because your cervix is very soft and the blood vessels are very prominent and dilated. Unless you have been instructed by your doctor to refrain, there is no reason for concern.
8. Exercise. Working out can actually have benefits for you and your baby if you follow a few, simple rules. Do not raise your heart rate excessively; your doctor can determine your limit. This is not a miscarriage factor, but overdoing it can reduce the amount of oxygen the baby is getting.
Culled from www.hopexchange.com.

A poem I wrote

TRUST
When I look out at the stormy sea
When darkness is all I can see
When the dark clouds gather
Hiding the sunshine from my view

When my friends are not around
When the loneliness compounds
As the dark clouds gather
Hiding the sunshine from my view

I’ll trust in you,
I’ll look to you,
I’ll hope on you,
My Lord.

Hello all

Well, it's been a while since I last posted anything, mainly because my home Internet is acting up plus I'm preparing for some medical board exams in addition to work, my research project and home life (multi-tasking!).

I just want to share something beautiful I read in a devotional called The Word for Today:

"The word for you today is, 'do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced...you will forget the shame of your youth'. You can't go back and make things different...sometimes...we cling to certain things because we fear we'll never be able to replace them. No...you haven't seen your best days yet. There's more ahead of you than behind you."

I think we can all draw some comfort and inspiration from these words.