Hope

This past weekend we visited two very dear friends, Mary Ellen & Drew McMillin. They are so dear to our hearts and we love them both so much. I got to see their beautiful house for the first time and I was in awe at how beautiful sweet Mary Ellen decorates. They live in Nashville and oh boy do I wish we could move there. There is something about this place that gets me every time. I am not sure if it is the beautiful rolling hills in the background, the civil war built stone walls, or just the feeling of peacefulness I get when I visit BUT something gets me intrigued and keeps me intrigued for weeks after leaving every single time. We had a beautiful weekend! Friday night we went out for Mexican night and stayed in to watch a movie! Saturday we went to the Loveless Cafe (YUMMY!), strolled around downtown Franklin, took naps, then went out to Arrington Vineyards Winery where Mary Ellen works. We enjoyed a nice wine tasting and got to spend time with some of Drew and Mary Ellen's community group. Their community group was just fabulous!

Scott and I started talking to one of the girls in the group named Ruthie. She was so sweet and it was such a joy to get to know her. We talked about her awesome career and got to sharing a little bit of our life stories. Ruthie writes a blog as well and today I was pleasantly surprised to see our story of the miscarriage on her blog. I am including it below because she is such a wonderful writer and it brought me back to a part of a book that helped me heal tremendously.

Here is Ruthie's post: On Saturday night, I went with some friends to Arrington Vineyards — tasted some incredible wine — and met a girl named Lauren. She asked me what I did in Nashville and loving every opportunity to brag about my company {Thomas Nelson}, I started my usual speech, “I work for Thomas Nelson - a book publishing company – our biggest book recently was Heaven is for Real – have you heard of it?”

“Yes.” she said and proceeded to tell me the powerful influence the true account of a boy’s trip to heaven and back had on her. “We had a miscarriage in February...”

She shared with me the deep pain of losing a child. Ecstatic with the news, by the 10th week she had told everyone she knew and even shared her pregnancy on Facebook. Week 12 – for reasons her and her husband still don’t understand – her baby died. Devastating. ( http://bit.ly/pRXEKM Lauren’s post about the miscarriage)

In Heaven is For Real a 4-year-old boy miraculously survives a surgery — or so his parents and doctors think. But after surgery, he casually commented about meeting God and Jesus, his time in heaven, details about heaven matching the book of Revelation, what his parents were doing during his surgery, and encounters with his grandfather and sister.

The most heart-gripping, hope filled scene takes place in the family’s kitchen, in a conversation between Colton and his mom.

“Mommy, I have two sisters.” She corrected him (he only has one). He insisted.

“You had a baby die in your tummy, didn’t you?” Colton matter-of-factly asked his mom.

“Who told you I had a baby die in my tummy?” his mom replied furious. She had never told him about her miscarriage — described as the most painful event in her life.

Colton replied with no hesitation, “She did, Mommy. She said she died in your tummy.” Colton went on to describe MEETING HIS SISTER — a sister his parents had never mentioned, because of Colton’s age and the desire to forget about the miscarriage.

Colton’s mom cried with the news and Colton said to her simply, “It’s okay Mommy. She’s ok. God adopted her.”

For any of you who have ever lost a baby – I do believe what Colton shared it true: you will meet your child again, because God adopts those who don’t make it to this earth. You may not understand the “whys”, and probably never will. I don’t presume to know or understand how losing a child –even if it was your choice — has wrecked you.

But I do know the good news: Because of Jesus we are not without HOPE! Nothing you have done or experienced is too great for Him to heal. And my new friend Lauren has shown me this is true.

“Yeah, she said she just can’t wait for daddy and you to get to heaven.” Colton Burpo

You can find Ruthie's blog at www.ruthiedean.com