STILLBORN

"Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and rejoicing may end in grief."  
-Proverbs 14:13

I want to introduce you to Brittni Laughlin. I have asked Brittni to consider guest posting for us on occasion to bring you beautiful words that have been impressed on her heart from the Lord.  I ask you to welcome her into our little family here and show her the love across the internet by sharing what her words have meant to you and by sharing on social media for others who need to hear Jesus loves us and helps us heal the hurts this life brings! - Sheila

Grief is a funny thing that sneaks up on you when you least expect it. There is no respect for time and place. Mourning may overtake you at work or in the middle of the grocery store. It keeps you up all night or invades your dreams. Sorrow has many faces. It's loneliness in a crowded room, unwarranted anger, a roller coaster of emotion, or apathy. Everyone is different, and everyone laments in their own way. Some find an inner drive to reinvent themselves while others drown in hopelessness and succumb to defeat.

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear." 
-C.S. Lewis
 
In research for this blog, I ran across an article about a female chimpanzee whose baby died. That mama chimp carried her dead baby around for three days. One Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church, I saw a vision of myself so clearly, I began to weep.
​ In my grief, I have also been carrying around dead babies. Have you?

"She smiles, but her heart weeps."
 
Think about this. Stillborn is defined as "ineffectual from the beginning; abortive; fruitless.
While I did in recent months have a natural miscarriage that I have truly mourned, the dead babies I saw were disappointments, broken relationships, dreams that did not become reality, miracles that did not take place, and so on. Many were Ishmaels, things of my own doing to create happiness or fulfill my own desires. These were fruitless and ineffectual from the beginning because they were my plans, not God's plan.

In 2 Samuel 12, David fasted and prayed for days on behalf of his son who became ill because David had sinned against the Lord. On the seventh day the baby died as was told to him by the prophet Nathan. The bible says upon hearing the news, he got up from the sackcloth, washed, changed his clothes, and went to the house of the Lord to worship.

I believe as it says in Proverbs that there is a time to mourn. The problem is we can get stuck in our grief. I urge you to today, if you are carrying around past hurts, past failures, or past disappointments, perhaps it is now time to get up from your sackcloth of mourning, wash yourself in the water of the Word, and worship! Thank him for not allowing your attempts to become reality. As we know, anything we build ourselves is never going to compare to what "God has prepared for those who love Him!" Pray earnestly for Him to fill every void and to heal every broken place. He is faithful to do that for you. How do I know? Because He's doing it for me!

Habakkuk 3:17-18
"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

BRITTNI LAUGHLIN
I am so thankful to be the wife of a wonderful man and the mother of two lovely daughters. My husband, Steven, and I have been married for two years and he loves my girls as his own. My daughters, Carlisle, age 11, and Reese, age 10,  are the light of my life!  Writing is a passion I sort of fell into during the time I was a single mother of two kids in diapers. Out of adversity, this blog was born. Since that time, the Lord has restored to me everything that the cankerworm had stolen. The Lord always gives back better! To God be the glory! 
You can find more on her blog: 
​'The Journey' https://brittni-thejourney.blogspot.com/

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you may also enjoy:
12 Things I Learned in a Hard Season​
I'm Drowning...
Storms Will Deepen or Destroy Faith

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