By Beth Meverden
Not too long ago, our youngest child (with us on earth) wrestled again with why God took our littlest one earlier than any of us wanted. His tenderness toward his younger sibling amazes me. It’s been nearly eight years and he was very young when we lost our fourth to miscarriage. Sometimes he still feels the loss like it happened this week.
I’m so grateful that he expresses his sadness so we can help him process what he’s thinking and feeling. These conversations often lead to talking through other things he’s struggling with, to sweet cuddle times together, and to relief and peace as we move forward together with the lives we have been given.
But I often wonder, How do we support our children when we’re dealing with our own deep sadness?
Initially, after losing a child in miscarriage, we must deal with our own grieving, sadness, and confusion, but like everything in family life, we do it together. Letting our children see us grieve teaches them how to grieve in God-honoring ways.
When we lost our baby, we had just told our extended family and announced the baby at church. At first, I was frustrated that we hadn’t waited to announce the baby so I didn’t have to talk about our loss with so many people. Then I realized the gift it was that we had celebrated the life of our preborn child with our loved ones. We got to continue talking about our little one, about trusting God, and about being grateful we had even the short amount of time we did with this baby.
Through the loss of our child, I have learned some important lessons about helping children process their sadness and confusion about miscarriage.
To read the remainder of this article, visit the Celebrate Life Magazine website at clmagazine.org/topic/human-dignity/teaching-our-children-to-trust-god-even-through-miscarriage.
To read additional pro-life articles that will both educate and inspire, visit clmagazine.org.