Sharing Sorrows

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

—Isaiah 40:1

There are some moments these days, since the miscarriage, when I feel like a failure because my body wasn’t able to do what so many other women’s bodies can. I see them with their kids, a year apart, one after another. That will never be true for me and for our family. I’ll always remember, even if we do have more children someday, the loss we experienced last summer. But what has healed me more than anything else are the stories of other women who have experienced similar things. I’ve needed grace, and I’ve needed women who share their sorrows with me, and allow me to share my own.

My friend Nancy lives in California now, and when she heard that I lost the baby, she sent me a card. It said, “Rest, heal, you will be a mother again.” And when I read it, I put my head down and sobbed, in sadness, but also in gratitude, for a woman who knows me well enough, even after all these years, to know what words will stitch me back together when my heart is broken.