We Do Not Mourn As Those Without Hope

*written earlier this week*

It's been a strange week, full of many highs and lows. My mom was involved in a very serious car accident last Thursday when she was driving to visit me. I'd stayed up waiting for her until midnight, then felt too tired and went to bed. I was wakened to my cell phone about 1:30, and my mom told me she'd run off the road and hit a tree. She was incredibly blessed to have no serious injuries, only some deep bruises from the airbag and the seatbelt.

We talked for a few minutes, then hung up so she could call the police. Nathan and I got in a discussion, in the straight sense of the word, about what to do. I wanted to hop in the car and race to be with her, about an hour and a half away. He felt it was unsafe to be driving so late after receiving such a shocking phone call, and that there was no way he was going to compound the problem by letting me go, especially on so little sleep. I understood, but said there was no way I was going to send her to a hotel and see her in the morning. I needed to be there, asap.

We prayed together, thanking Heavenly Father for his mercy in answering our earlier prayers for my mom's safety. She'd been much on our minds and hearts, and I think that with family prayer, couple prayer and each of our individual prayers, we'd said 8 prayers for her safe travel. I wished that I'd called her at midnight before I'd gone to bed, like I'd intended to. I wished that I'd insisted that she stop at a hotel instead of just suggesting it. Still, she'd been protected and I was, and am, grateful.

There seemed to be no way that Nathan's concern for my safety and my desire to be there for my mom could both be satisfied. We said another prayer, again thanking God for her safety and asking that somehow this would work out.

I called my mom back, and she told me that a woman had stopped (after the police were already on the scene- how often does that happen?) and asked where she was going. Turns out the woman was driving right through Columbia, and offered to give her a ride. The woman said she'd felt "nudged" to pull over. She also offered to drive Mom back to Tampa on Sunday, which she did.

How crazy is that? Such a huge, tangible blessing. The woman stopped at 2 in the morning and stayed with my mom while they waited for a tow truck, arouns an hour an a half. Who does that?

I have felt this renewed sense of Heavenly Father's quiet presence in our lives, his gentle leading us through trials.

Tonight, we got a call from a close family member that their full-term baby had not had a heartbeat during their prenatal appointment today. Tomorrow morning, they will go to the hospital to deliver their little daughter, and bath her and say good bye. We are shocked and so very sad.

I am struck that the same God who heard and answered our prayers for my mom in such a bold and obvious way manner would answer this prayer in a way that we so little care to receive. It's a hard thing.

Comfort comes when I think on the great sacrifice of the Savior, and the resurrection and eternal life that all little children will receive. It is a blessing and a source of peace to know that these beloved children will be in our family for eternity, that they will not suffer or miss out on anything good about this life, though their time here be short. They will have the opportunity to grow up and make the covenant of marriage that will enable them to progress in the next life, and to enjoy the things that my heart most longs for- my husband and children, my parents, and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and nieces and nephews. For the friends of my heart and the opportunity to enlarge the circle of those I know and love. How could God be just if these children were denied those things that make heaven heavenly? My heart tells me that He would not deny them these things, and latter-day scripture confirms it.

"The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were considered too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore if it is rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again....The only difference between the old and the young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Notwithstanding all this glory, we for a moment lose sight of it and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope." (Joseph Smith, The Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, pgs. 176-177)

We do not mourn as those without hope. Much love to you all.

*Update- My sister-in-law safely delivered, and today is the graveside service.