My wife, Katie, was three months pregnant when late one evening she quietly took my hand and told me she sensed something was wrong. For a few weeks she had been privately grappling with the probability of a miscarriage, but struggled to say it out loud. My heart immediately hurt for her, and for us.
I prayed several times for Katie throughout the coming days, but I started to slowly accept what was already impressing upon me in small waves: This baby was not coming.
A few days later Katie asked me for a priesthood blessing. I love Katie more powerfully than I ever thought I could love anybody, and I wanted to make all kinds of promises to her. As I put my hands on her head, I could feel how known and loved she was by her Father in Heaven. I felt impressed to assure her that whatever the outcome of this pregnancy, this experience would draw her closer to Him, and she would be at peace in her heart, mind and soul.
The next day at our appointment with our midwife, what we had suspected was confirmed. We spent the next few days just watching and waiting. In these painful moments, it felt like love abounded, as we were there for each other. I also felt Heavenly Father’s awareness of us.
No one is immune to challenging experiences in this life, but no one is left alone or comfortless. In the midst of this particular experience, I came across the Mormon Messages video, “Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time,” featuring the words of Elder Quentin L. Cook. It begins, “Many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe. Experiencing trials and hardships of such intensity that the underlying feeling in [our] hearts as [we] approach [our] Heavenly Father in prayer is, ‘Hope ya know, I’m having a hard time.”
I was grateful for a gentle reminder from Elder Cook that my family was known, loved, and would be healed by a loving Father in Heaven who is with us in our hard times.
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