A co-worker of mine lost the baby she was carrying yesterday. So very tragic. She's struggled to conceive and lost a newborn a few years ago, so this must be truly heartbreaking for her. So, so sad.

I don't work for a Christian organization. I know of several believers here but certainly not everyone shares my faith. So I was amazed when we gathered around to talk about how we support Cheryl, how we help her, how we love her, how we see her through this great loss in her life. What to say, how to be sensitive, who's bringing her food or doing her laundry, and how we continue to celebrate the other women in the office who are pregnant with their own babies. This isn't necessarily the body of Christ, but this is what it should look like.

I can't imagine going through something like that. I've known several women who have lost children at different ages and I know that it's the most heartbreaking thing for a woman to go through. It just isn't supposed to happen that way. And I have no good thing to say to anyone who has experienced that. There are no good answers to why or how God could let one lose a child.

But God in His goodness has given us something to help in any time of great tragedy or loss or hardships - each other. The precious, precious body of Christ. When we endure trials like these, we wish God was close enough to hold us, to touch us, to comfort us. To literally be able to crawl into His lap and rock us as we cry. He's not physically here on earth with us, but He's given us people who are.

So if you're going through something right now I encourage you to use what God has given you - your sisters in Christ. Let them bring you dinner or drive your kids around or come and clean your bathroom. Let them pray for you, pray with you, cry with you, listen to you, and make you laugh when you need it. Don't shut people out, lean on them, let them help carry you through whatever you're going through. And if you know someone who needs those kind of people in their life - be that person! We are not to go through this life alone, we need each other, God has made us that way.

Because as hard as this life is, it gets a little bit easier when you can share the load with someone else.

Emily

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