Your Questions...His Word (post 3) AND a Giveaway!

In answering the overarching question of "Will I see my baby again?" we are tackling three sub-questions. The first being "What happens after we die?" was answered in the previous post, which you can read here. Today we will zero in on the question of "Will my baby go to heaven?" and tomorrow we will look inward, asking ourselves the question of "Will I go to heaven?"

Remember, any comments throughout this series are included in a drawing for a "Mommy Shower" goodie basket! Details can be found in the first post of the Your Questions...His Word series.

With regard to the eternal state of our babies upon death, we know and trust in a loving a merciful God who cherishes children. For the purposes of this post, I will point you to just a few Scriptures that support the claim that our babies are, in fact, residing in their heavenly home with God. I do, however, highly recommend an amazing book titled "Safe in the Arms of God" written by John MacArthur. This book provides a thorough biblical rationale as to why babies who die are in heaven!

Let's dig into God's Word, shall we? Call to mind the story of David and Bathsheba, found in 2 Samuel 11-12. In this old testament story, David committed adultery and bore a child with Bathsheba as a result. The baby, however, died seven days after birth. In 2 Samuel 12:22 David says, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me." In other words, the child could not come back to life, but David would go to him upon his own earthly death. To understand the context more fully, you should note that David was considered "righteous" before the Lord, only because of his faith in Him. By all accounts, David was a sinner, just like each and every one of us, but He trusted in the Lord's salvation, making heaven his future home. It was his faith that counted as righteousness. His faith, and the faith of many others is recognized in Hebrews 11.

Another verse, this time from the New Testament, which has been of great comfort to me shows Jesus' kind regard for little ones. It is recorded in three out of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). The Matthew account (chapter 19, verse 14) reads: "Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" Jesus loves children. He opened his arms to them and He calls each of us to possess a child-like faith. I can only imagine what the Kingdom of heaven looks like with all those children at His feet!

I want to close by sharing with you a precious story about my own babies in heaven...

The other day, I had lunch with a great friend. God brought her into my life in the most unexpected way and quite frankly, our friendship itself seemed unlikely. While that's a story for another time, all I can say (with a smile on my face) is "...with God, all things are possible" (Mark 10:27).

As we sat and talked about life, about ministry, about hopes and dreams and the like, she had the courage to dare to ask me about my babies who died. She does this often. I love her for that! I think this is just one tiny part of what makes her such a special friend. As I shared some of my heart with her, I made some sort of comment about how I'm at peace, but it hurts and I just wish I had them here. Perhaps you can relate? Then, I went on to say something to the effect of how that would not be possible, however, because the baby we miscarried last summer would have overlapped with my next pregnancy with Riyah, whom we subsequently miscarried at 14 weeks along in November. In other words, if the baby we lost last summer would have lived, we would have never become pregnant with Riyah. You still following? Good.

That's when she stopped me. With an excited look on her face, the conversation changed directions as she said (paraphrased), "You're right. You couldn't have had all those babies on earth. It's not possible. But, you will have them in heaven!" I had to stop and think for a moment. While I have always known and believe that I would have them in heaven, I hadn't thought about the fact that if it weren't for God's perfect will and timing, I in no way would be able to one day experience eternity heaven with these three children whom He chose to bless me with on earth, if even for just a short while. It was a startling revelation for me; something I had never realized or thought about in that way before. I have been blessed with five children, three of whom are already in heaven; two here on earth. Lord willing, we will all be reunited in heaven one day, as I pray my living children come to know Him. I can't quite put into words what this conversation with my friend meant to me, but one thing is for certain...I have certainly been blessed.

What about you....have you thought about your baby(ies) eternal dwelling place? What do you ladies think? What comfort, if any, do the Scriptures shared above provide? I'd love to hear your thoughts...