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Looking Beyond the Pain

ByRuth Schwenk

Looking Beyond the pain: God WILL rescue you!

Hopes crushed not for the second or even third time but for the fifth time, I cried out to the nurse, “I don’t get it! Why does this keep happening?!”

All blood vials, needle pokes, doctor visits, weigh-ins and vital signs indicated that this time – at twenty weeks along – I should be seeing a beautifully strong heartbeat from my sweet child.  Instead, I sullenly and sorrowfully stared at my perfectly healthy baby whose heart had stopped beating for no apparent reason.

Why God? Why does this keep happening? WHY??

I have shared this other side of me on my site The Better Mom and also recently when speaking at a conference.  One conversation sticks with me.

A woman excitedly approached me asking, “So you never shared the rest of the story. What happened after that last miscarriage?”

My reply? “That’s it. That IS the story.”

I am sure this well-meaning mom hoped to hear that I had finally given birth to a healthy baby after that last miscarriage. I am sure she was searching for “the happy ending” – the “and they lived happily ever after” fairy tale resolution.

But sometimes a story just is. A heartache happens.  Years pass.  Grief grips hard.  Memories repeat and replay.

We seem to think that every tragic story or disappointment will eventually end in roses and rainbows.  While God did bless me with four children who are alive and well, I will never ever be the same after walking through the anguish of losing five babies.

The truth is our stories in this life will not always end happily.  Jesus promises that here in this world we will have many trials and sorrows, but He also promises that we should take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

Whatever you have faced – or whatever you are now currently facing – be reminded of this: God WILL rescue you. God will one day redeem what is broken and make it new.

Whether your rescue comes here on this earth and in this time, or later and for all of eternity, God will use it (and is even now using it!) to mold and shape you into the woman He wants you to become.

Pastor Rick Warren says it like this:

God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections.  The things you wish were most removed from your life are often the very things that God is using to shape you and make you into the believer of character He wants you to be… What’s our response?  Our response is to look past the pain.

Life is hard. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my babies gone from here but waiting for me in Heaven.  But I know that in God’s economy, no tear is wasted; no pain is unseen; no heartache goes unnoticed; no agony is unobserved.

Looking beyond the pain, I can walk with Jesus through afflictions and into the arms of the Father, all the while trusting that the woman I am now is not the same woman I will be at the end of my journey.

Thank God.

Blessings,

Ruth Schwenk

Ruth is the wife of a pastor, who is her best friend and the love of her life. She is a blessed homeschooling mother to her four beautiful children, and she eagerly awaits meeting her five others in heaven. Ruth is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  She has a passion for following God, leading worship, rescuing orphans, and inspiring others to create a God honoring family.

She thoroughly enjoys warm spring breezes, blooming lilacs, tall skim mochas with whipped cream, root-lifter, eye cream, gel polish, laughing (lots of it), venti iced teas, exclamation points!!, family worship time, and snuggling up to read a good book with her family.

Ruth is a speaker, writer, and creator of The Better Mom. She can also be found at For the Family, a site just recently launched by her and her husband, Patrick.

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15 Comments

  1. Pingback: Looking Beyond the Pain - The Better Mom

  2. Thank you for sharing. I am blessed with four healthy, beautiful children, but I ache for the two I have lost in the past 13 months. As you well know, at twenty weeks you expect to see a healthy growing baby, so I was devastated when my precious Molly died. God is working in me and I am learning and growing and looking forward to Heaven, but I am forever changed. Sometimes there is no fairytale ending, at least not in this life. I am so grateful that all will be right when we reach the land of our true citizenship!

  3. Although I have never dealt with the loss of losing a child in the womb, my heart has broken several times over the ones that I will never carry for circumstances outside of my control. I hold newborns, or see women with full pregnant bellies, and my heart aches, and my stomach turns. Thank you for sharing that it isn’t always a happy ending. There is so much truth that resonates in my soul with that. You are a blessing to me Ruth!

    1. Mandy thank you so much. You are right…we all face different experiences in our trials, but ultimately there is only one answer.. God.

  4. Amen! Thank you for sharing, for being real. I have three babies in heaven, and my story “ends” much the same. Yet, I know this is not the end…I have great Hope in the Giver of all Hope!

  7. Ruth It is an honor to know you. I have never lost a child but watched as my youngest daughter gifted her child my first grandchild for adoption. Your writing speaks to each of us doing life with God as our Lord. He can make EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL!! I needed reminded of that today. God’s Girl, Amy L

  8. Thank you for sharing this post. I am blessed beyond measure with a wonderful husband and healthy 3 year old boy. But, my heart still aches for the six angel babies awaiting me in heaven. I’ve learned and am still learning that to look to anything other than God to ease the pain of losing them is futile. Thank you for your honest and authentic post – and most of all, the reminder that in Him we are forever rescued. God Bless

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