The Refiner’s Fire

There are tragedies in this world that nobody ever expects will happen to them.  It’s always someone else that experiences tragedy.  Yesterday, tragedy hit far too close to home.  My sister-in-law, Liz, and her husband, Zac, just experienced one of the most difficult tragedies.  They lost their little baby before they even got to experience the joy of holding it.

Rather than explain things myself, I’ll let you read their own accounts of how their unborn child died.  There accounts show the beauty of the Gospel and the peace that the knowledge of the Atonement brings to our lives.  The Lord has a plan for each of us.

It’s so hard to see the good in such a tragedy, but yet these two brave souls are looking for just that.  They know the Gospel and they know that the Lord watches over them.  And for whatever reason, the Lord determined that it wasn’t time for this little one to come into the world.  And they realize that!  Only through faith in Jesus Christ can this kind of peace surface in such a tragedy.  What a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel this event has brought to those involved.

And of course as a side note (with a little controversy tossed in), my wife and I both (although separately) thought of the greater (although less personal for us) tragedy that is far too accepted in our society.  We see so much pain for this couple, yet there have been between 1 to 1.7 million (yes, that’s million) abortions performed in the United States each year since 1975.

How did we get to this point, where hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of couples each year expirience the pain of loosing an unborn child while 1.7 million abortions are performed in the same time frame.  I just don’t understand.