Sometimes when life is tough, I think it is helpful to realize that we are not alone in grief and hardship. And that others have walked before us and survived.
Watching my child die of Tay Sachs is the hardest thing I have ever gone through. Specifically, the day Carmen was diagnosed was the worst day. Just reading the description of Tay Sachs made me want to throw up.
What is the hardest thing you have ever gone through?
Watching Isaiah lose everything and get sicker every month was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. I agree, the worst day of the whole thing, of my whole life at this point, was the day he was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs. Never have I felt so empty and hopeless. Second to that would be the day he died. For him, it was the best day of his life. He met Jesus a year ago tomorrow. But for me, Matt, and Ethan, we are left on earth for a while until we get our day in the Son! We miss him so much. You have always been a source of inspiration for me! You will survive this. God bless.
We lost a little girl 11 yrs ago. We found out at our 20 week ultrasound that she would not live once born. She had anencephaly. I went on to carry her for 14 more weeks before going into early labor due to a UTI. Knowing all the while, every time she moved that we would nopt get to raise her and spend time with her. Due to my illness and high temp she was delivered by c-section and lived for 1 hr and 53 minutes. I still remember feeling her breath on my cheeks as tears rolled down my face when meeting this precious angel. Then 2 1/2 yrs later we had a son, whom we thought was healthy. Well all hell broke lose when he was born. He had persistent pulmonary hypertension. He was in the NICU at Kosairs Childrens Hospital. He was on ECMO (heart and lung bypass machine) for 10 days and a ventilator for 3 weeks. We watched and spent day and night with him not knowing if he would live trying to soak it all up and rely and God to heal our precious son. He did and he is now almost 9 yrs old. GOD IS GOOD! The hardest thing was losing my daughter, then watching my son fight so very hard and go through so very much to live. God Bless. (sorru this is so long)
Divorce
Compared to losing a child, I don’t feel like I’ve been through anything difficult. At this point in my life though the hardest thing was 1.) Finding out my mom had stage 4 colon cancer at age 55 2.) Watching cancer kill her slowly over a year. The only thing that could be worse than that in my mind is losing a child and I hope I never have to know what that feels like because just watching my mom died felt torturous. All of you who are going through that and have gone through that are miraculous to me.
Lana,
I am so so very sorry. Nothing that I have ever experienced is close to what you are going thru. Nothing. Not even remotely close. Carmen has impacted so many others. It is a big job for such a little girl. Thank you a million times over for sharing your story and changing the way I live and love.
I think the hardest thing I’ve gone thru was realizing that marriage may not be in the cards for me and I would never birth a child. I waited 40 years for a child.
Lonliness is a cruel thing.
That sounds so self absorbed knowing what you live each and every day.
The second hardest thing I’ve been thru was international adoption. It nearly sent me off the deep end.
But so worth it. My girls are my deepest joy. God is good.
Sending you prayers and all my love. Give Carmen a kiss for us, K?
Debbie
I can’t say that I have walked in shoes quite like yours. It was very hard, though, the day that I learned our son had Down syndrome. He was two days old. I grieved for the child I had thought I would have, that was not meant to be. I even went into depression. But, we asked our church to pray for the best prognosis possible under the circumstances. And God has been very faithful. And we realize now that we are blessed.
Thank you for allowing us to share your walk. I pray for your family.
Carolyn
Andrew’s illness and the feeling of helplessness at not being able to DO anything to ‘fix’ him. That is by far the hardest. Yet, he is also one of the most joyous things that has happened to our family and one of the biggest blessings. Sometimes our biggest blessings are also are hardest journeys as our hearts are so tightly entwined.
It’s nothing like what you’re going through, but I would say struggling with depression. I’ve suffered through things that seemed worse at the time, but the long term nature of this is what makes it so hard to cope with. It’s like a deep pit that seems impossible to completely climb out of. Anytime we experience a lack of control over pain and suffering we can feel frustrated beyond belief though, hugh? (Especially if it is our children that are suffering. That is probably the worst.) But I think that anything that increases our faith and causes us to become more dependent on the Lord can be used for good in ours lives, no matter how hard it is at the present moment. God is most interested in growing our faith and our character. As my mom always said: “whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger”! I hated hearing that!
and learning life’s hard lessons the hard way.