Mauricio Rosa: … gonna say that, Jim, I think you’re right. I think we may never know the answer why. But if you look at the cross, the cross tells us … May not tell us the answer for why, but the cross tells us that God cares. And, and I think that is the greatest evidence of God’s love for us is at the cross, he showed that He cares for us.
John Fuller: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: Okay. Christ took our suffering. He knows what pain is. So whether we are struggling in, with the suffering self or with struggling with a, a wrong decision, we can all come to the cross and we can bear that at the cross knowing that Christ empathizes, he knows. And the cross shows us that He cares.
John: That’s Mauricio Rosa. He’s with us today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, along with his wife, Christin, and I’m John Fuller.
Jim Daly: You know, John, we say this all the time, but Focus on the Family is here for you in all aspects of family, for your marriage, for your parenting journey. But man, we have counselors, we have resources galore to help you do that job as best as you can, whatever it might be. And, uh, also the tender areas. And today’s program’s gonna really touch on some tender areas when couples get diagnoses that are not favorable about their pregnancy. And, uh, it’s gonna be a powerful discussion today with our two guests.
John: Yeah, we hear from folks all the time who have stories and today’s story’s gonna stay with you. Um, uh, Mau and Christin Rosa faced decisions most of us never will have to deal with. And their journey shows the value of, of hope and perseverance in Christ. Uh, Christin is a teacher, uh, of a number of subjects. And at a variety of levels, it sounds like you’re a utility player who can do pretty much everything, Christin.
Christin Rosa: (laughs)
John: Uh, Mau is the Associate Pastor for Family and Discipleship at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary, Alberta. They’re the parents of three precious kids, and Christin has captured their journey in a book called Saving Nate: Choosing Life After a Devastating Prenatal Diagnosis. And of course, we have that here at the Ministry. Give us a call or stop by FocusontheFamily.com/broadcast.
Jim: Christin and Mau, welcome to Focus on the Family. It’s good to have you.
Christin: Yeah. Thank you so much.
Mauricio: Thank you so much.
Jim: And, uh, both of you are from Canada now, right?
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Mau, you, you migrated from Brazil.
Mauricio: Yes.
Jim: You like cold weather or what’s the deal?
Christin: (laughs)
Mauricio: (laughs) I guess I do now. Um-
Jim: (laughs) I hope so.
Mauricio: (laughs) Yes. Yeah. I’m originally, uh, born and raised in Brazil, uh, and I decided to pursue other, um, experiences. Like I, I’m an architect by trade-
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: … and, uh, so when I graduated in Brazil, I wanted to go abroad to study and-
Jim: Ah.
Mauricio: … Canada was the place that opened the doors.
Jim: Wow. Amazing.
Mauricio: So I came to study and never thought in my life I would be in Canada now.
Christin: Yes.
Jim: Now, Christin, you were from Alberta.
Christin: Mm-hmm. I am.
Jim: I’m getting into this for all the Canadian listeners.
Christin: Yes. (laughs)
Mauricio: I appreciate that. Yeah.
Jim: I love our Canadian listeners. So this is it.
Christin: Thank you. Yes.
Jim: This is big Canada day.
Christin: Yes. Yeah, they are.
Jim: So what was your life like growing up?
Christin: Uh, I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, which is the capital and I, I grew up in a, you know, typical Christian, middle class family and I, I had a pretty good life, you know?
Jim: Yeah.
Christin: And, um, after I graduated from college, I went to China, and I taught there for two years.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: And, uh, when I was preparing to come back to Canada, I wasn’t quite sure what I was gonna do, um, where … I mean, it would make sense for me to go back to Edmonton, but I felt the Lord calling me for some reason to Calgary.
John: (laughs)
Christin: And so I was like, “Well, okay, Lord, that’s kinda weird.” But, uh, so I applied for jobs in both cities, and I ended up being offered a job in Calgary, so I moved, and then that’s when I met Mau.
Jim: That’s so good.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: It’s good to get your background. It connects us all-
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: … to your story.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: So you get married and you decide or, you know, things happen and you have your first child, Thomas.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Uh, describe that experience of now mom and dad. (laughs)
Christin: Right. Well, he was a, he was unexpected but very wanted.
John: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Yeah, that’s beautiful.
Christin: Yeah. What … We’d actually been trying to get pregnant and then it wasn’t happening, so we kind of though, “You know what, maybe we’ll go to Brazil for a year, I’ll learn the language.” Um, Mauricio was hoping to start a, a missions nonprofit organization, and so we packed up our house, we found like someone to rent it and we both quit our jobs, and it was at that point that I found out that I was expecting.
Jim: Oh.
Christin: And so (laughs) we were kind of thrown for a loop, but we’re like, “Okay, what do we do now?” Right?
John: Yeah, right.
Christin: Do we try to get our jobs back? Do we stay? Do we still go? What do we do?
Jim: So Christin, now, uh, with the struggles with fertility-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … um, you probably weren’t sure if number two would come along. Describe-
Mauricio: Mm-hmm.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … what happened there with your second-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … pregnancy.
Christin: Yeah. So I think Thomas was about a year old when we decided, “Okay, let’s try again.” And once again, we struggled, uh, with infertility and, uh, this time we, we tried, um, a pretty simple fertility treatment, um, artificial insemination and we thought, “Okay, well, we’ll just try this.”
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: Um, uh, the, the odds of getting pregnant with, with that are really low, actually. They say about 13% per try. Um, but we thought, “Okay, we’ll, we’ll try this and-”
John: Mm-hmm.
Christin: “… if, you know, if it doesn’t happen, then we’re gonna pursue adoption.” Um, but we thought we would just give it a try first. And so, um, after the second try, I found out I was pregnant.
Jim: And so, now let me ask this.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: You, you know, we’re gonna get into the difficult story now.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: So-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … you heard about this child growing in your wife’s womb and there were some potential complications the doctor talked to you about, both of you.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: So give me those first impressions. How did they deliver the news? What was it? What was your response both individually then as a couple?
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: So after we found out we were pregnant and then we received the news that we were expecting twins, so I think it was at week 18, we went for an ultrasound to determine, you know, the gender of the babies and all of that and, and to make sure everything’s okay. At that day, uh, the technician told us, “Hey, there is something here. We don’t know what it is. We’re gonna, uh, send you for a, uh, clinical pregnancy clinic.”
Jim: Yeah, more test. Yeah.
Mauricio: Or, you know.
Christin: Like an in depth. An in depth ultra-
Mauricio: In depth.
Christin: … ultrasound. Yeah.
Mauricio: So we don’t know what it is. They didn’t really tell exactly-
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: … what it was. So we were a bit scared. We called the family, “Hey, can you guys pray for this?”
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: Um, and then, I don’t know how long it was after that, that we went for the actual investigation and-
Christin: It was about a week later.
Mauricio: A week later, right?
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: And, uh-
Jim: Mom always knows.
Christin: (laughs)
Mauricio: She knows. Yes.
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: And, and she, and she wrote the book, so-
Christin: (laughs)
Jim: (laughs)
Mauricio: Um-
Christin: Yeah.
Mauricio: And then at that day, they came and they broke the news to us. And then they said, “He has this condition that’s called, uh, congenital diaphragmatic hernia.” And they’d explain a little bit of what it was and we were like, “Oh, boy.” Like, uh, for me personally, my experience was as a man was in kind of a, “Okay, what do I have to do to fix this? What do I have to do?” Um, you know, I got into kind of a work mode kind of a thing, right?
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: At the same time, trying to take care of her. Uh, Christin is a very strong person when it comes to those things, but that was the experience was breaking the news. My mind was like, “Okay, what do I do now? What do I do to, to do whatever I can?”
Jim: So you’re moving into fix it mode.
Mauricio: That’s right.
Jim: Like most of his husbands.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: Christin, how about you?
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Where were you at emotionally at that moment?
Christin: Oh, yeah. For me, I was just … I, I’m an introvert and I, I like to like process things and think about things. So we just re- received this onslaught of information. She explained what congenital diaphragmatic hernia is and, and then she-
Jim: Describe that for the listeners and viewers.
Christin: Sure. Yeah. So basically, um, the diaphragm is a muscle that separates the lower abdominal organs from the chest cavity. So, you know, you … We have our, you know, intestines and liver and all that down below. So, uh, Nate had a very large hole in his diaphragm and so that allowed his intestines and part of his liver to migrate up into his chest-
Jim: Hmm.
Christin: … and then it crowded out his lungs. And so his right lung was like almost nonexistent.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: Very, very tiny.
Jim: Ah.
Christin: And then his left lung was only 27% the size of a healthy lung.
Jim: Wow.
Christin: And so his, you know, CDH was really severe. Um, so most babies, you know, if you’re born with, uh, CDH that severe, you know, the baby cannot breathe at all.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: Um, the lungs are just not developed enough.
Jim: And they’re telling you this.
Christin: Yeah.
Mauricio: Yes.
Christin: Yes.
Jim: Yeah, that’s the point.
Christin: Yes, exactly. And then they also listed all the, you know, the health concerns he could have if he were to survive.
Jim: Right.
Christin: Right? You know.
Jim: So th- that’s where you’re at.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: And in fact, the doctors even suggested abortion would be, uh, an option.
Christin: Yeah. So after, yeah, giving this onslaught of information without giving us, you know, a chance just to digest that, no, no opportunity to ask any questions.
Jim: Mm-hmm. Wow.
Christin: Um, no, there was no discussion of treatment, uh, or anything. She, she said to us, you know, “Given the severity of the, this condition, you may want to consider having a reduction.” Uh, it took a few seconds for me to clue in, “Oh, like-”
Mauricio: Yeah.
Christin: “.. she’s talking about aborting our little boy.”
Mauricio: We were offered abortion, um, I think seven times. And I don’t remember which moment was that I finally kind of, uh, had enough of it. And I, I basically said that, “Hey, listen, like, we are for life. This is not an option for us. You know, we believe that life is sacred, we believe that it doesn’t come from us, it doesn’t belong to us-”
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: “… and we are for life. All we ask is that you guys would bring everything you can that it is at your resource, and we will trust God that he’s gonna do His best. You give your best, and God will do His best.” Um-
Jim: How’d they respond to that?
Mauricio: He was quiet.
Christin: (laughs)
Mauricio: The doctor was quiet.
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: And then after that day, they never brought the issue back again.
Jim: Yeah, but I mean, that’s good. Um-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … that- that’s a good way to do it. It’s a good way for them to manage it too.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: They respected your views.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: That’s a good thing. Yeah.
Christin: But after that very, very first, um, meeting when we just got the diagnosis, uh, you, you actually said, “We know you’re talking about abortion, but you need to know we stand for life and we’re gonna fight for our son’s life.”
Jim: Wow.
Christin: So it was actually the very …
Mauricio: Yeah.
Christin: I remember because I had no words, honestly. I was kind of in shock. Um, and I remember being like, “Wow, like, thank goodness you’re speaking up for me.” (laughs)
Jim: Yeah. Oh, that felt good, right?
Christin: Yes. Yeah. It really did.
John: Yeah. You probably felt, “He’s got my back.”
Christin: Yes.
John: “We are united in this.”
Christin: Exactly.
John: Wow. Well, Christin and Mauricio Rosa are our guest today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly and, uh, we wanna point you to their book because it captures the story so beautifully and, uh, offers hope along the way in so many, uh, different ways. It’s called Saving Nate: Choosing Life After a Devastating Prenatal Diagnosis, and we have copies of that book here, give us a call or get your copy at FocusontheFamily.com/broadcast.
Uh, in that context, you both have shown a lot of grace and compassion toward women who have chosen abortion. Um, what does that look like? How do you offer hope when that decision has already been made perhaps?
Christin: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, I can understand why, or how someone in this situation could choose abortion when you have the doctors. You know, there are people that we generally, you know, we respect their opinion and they’re offering this to you and not offering hope. So it’s definitely understandable that, you know, someone might choose a- abortion. And I think for us, if we hadn’t gone into it with such strong convictions, you know, we may have made a different choice than the one that we did.
Jim: That right there is the difference.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: You know, thinking ahead of time, if this were-
John: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … to happen to us, what are we going to do?
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: So that’s important. So I’m sorry, but I just-
Christin: Yes.
Jim: … wanted to punch that point.
Christin: Yeah. Definitely.
Jim: ‘Cause, yeah, believing what you believe-
Christin: Yes.
Jim: … is really important at that moment.
Mauricio: That’s right.
Christin: Exactly. Because it’s these moments where you have to decide, “Okay, am I going to trust in the Lord?”
Mauricio: Mm-hmm.
Christin: You know, he’s, there’s this difficult situation and, yeah, what am I gonna do? You know, put my faith into practice. But, um, I would just say, like, uh, to those who have chosen abortion, you know, like, uh, you know, you made the best decision you can make given the information that you had at the time. But I would just say that, you know, the Lord doesn’t want you to stay in a place of guilt or shame or, you know, hurt. And he, he’s a good, and gracious, loving God.
I love Psalm 103, you know, he says, um, you know, “As far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the love that the Lord has for those who fear Him.” And He’s also a compassionate, forgiving God. Uh, it says, you know, “As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
And, you know, the Lord is just waiting there with arms open wide for you to come to Him, you know, run to Him instead of away from Him and, you know, submit yourself to Him and immerse yourself in His word and cling to His word. And, uh, I am convinced the Lord will bring you the healing-
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: … that you need and bring you the hope that you need. And I’d also encourage you to find an abortion recovery program. Um, many, um, pregnancy care centers offer them. Uh, you can also find a Christian counselor or a pastor who can help you go through this process-
Jim: Yeah.
Christin: … of healing.
Jim: There is grief related to that.
Christin: Yes.
Jim: So obviously, a complicated pregnancy, you’re probably getting regular check-ins with the doctor and ultrasounds-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … making sure Nate is, you know, developing in other ways, but always with this condition-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … knowing that we’re not sure how he’s gonna do at the moment of birth.
Christin: Mm-hmm. Yes.
Jim: So that happens. Nate is born, he takes one breath-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … and the doctors whisk him away.
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: Tell us that feeling and what hope did you have in that moment when you’re not even sure you’re gonna see your child alive again?
Christin: Mm-hmm. Well, for me, I think it, knowing months in advance what was going to happen. You know, knowing that he was going to need this intensive care, that actually helped me because there were no real surprises, right? So I knew that the moment he was born, he was gonna be, um, intubated and, you know, and I wouldn’t get to hold him.
And so for me, I, I wasn’t fearful. I really wasn’t because, you know, we had, we went into it with just so much prayer and there were so many people who were praying for us, were praying for Nate, um, that I was actually really ready to give birth to the babies. And because there were these months and months of waiting, right? And then you’re kind of at the point where like, “Okay, let’s, let’s do this.” You know, like, um, there was so much prayer that went into this and yeah.
Mauricio: I, I was, honestly, I was wrestling, to be quite frank.
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: Uh, because as Christin’s saying, a lot of people were praying for it. And, and we were praying for miracles. And my prayer and my hope was that God somehow would do a miracle that day, that Nate was, was gonna be born and that his first gasp of breath, he would cry and his lungs would be perfect, and everything would be healed. That, that was my hope.
Jim: Sure.
Mauricio: And, uh, so at that morning when we went for the delivery because it was planned, um, I was reading my Bible and the Lord gave us a verse and was Deuteronomy 31:7-8, uh, to which the Lord spoke to me and said, “I am the one who goes ahead of you. So your job is to trust Me, to be courageous and just trust Me.”
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: And then that verse really held me and us. So when we went that day, even though I had that hope, when that didn’t happen, that verse really held me. Because now, I knew that, okay, now he’s intubated, he’s gonna go into a journey that I, we don’t know how that’s gonna turn out. Like we didn’t know what’s gonna happen, but that verse was a reminder for us, okay, the Lord is the one that is ahead of this, I need to trust him.
Jim: Yeah. And that meant-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … multiple surgeries for Nate in a short period of time or-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … what did that look like? What was the road for Nate?
Christin: Right. Um, at the beginning, they just needed to get him stable. So intubated, getting enough oxygen and just stable, like living. (laughs)
Jim: Right.
Christin: Um, and he actually had his first surgery when he was eight days old. So that was the, the big surgery that, uh, where they moved his intestines and liver back down.
Jim: Fixed the diaphragm.
Christin: Fixed the diaphragm. So it was such a large hole that they had to patch it and so that patch will be there for his whole life.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: And, um, and so he did actually, throughout his stay in the hospital, with each little step that, you know, he needed to go through, they always came back to us saying that he did better than expected.
Jim: Yeah.
Christin: And so he made it through that surgery, um, but unfortunately he, uh, he ended up, um, becoming like, I think his liver became infected just due, due to the handling.
Jim: Yeah.
Christin: And so for several weeks, he was dealing with a really serious-
Jim: That as well.
Christin: … infection.
Jim: Wow.
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: But they, they were able to reposition his lungs and-
Mauricio: So that was the thing-
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: … because even though they put all the other organs where he should be under or below the diaphragm, so that didn’t mean necessarily that his lungs and everything was gonna work.
Jim: Right.
Mauricio: And that was the challenge because now, okay, the, the hole is patched, so what’s next? Is he gonna be able to ever breathe on his own? So that was the question that we didn’t have an answer, and the doctors didn’t have an answer either. So that was our prayer now was, okay, now in addition of him being healed from all this infection, we need to pray that he was be able to breathe on his own and sustain on his own-
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: … which, you know, took weeks and-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: … and then-
Jim: Yeah, but it started to happen, right?
Christin: It- it-
Mauricio: It start-
Jim: His lungs begin-
Christin: His lung started to grow. Yeah.
Mauricio: Yeah, amazing.
Christin: So they had been so tiny, but they did start to grow.
Jim: They did what they’re supposed to do.
Christin: Yeah. (laughs) Exactly.
Jim: Right? So how long was Nate in the hospital and then you got the news that we’re done-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … you can take him home?
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: He was in the hospital for 10 weeks.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: And, uh, it was a long 10 weeks. And, and that’s what I meant that, you know, that Christin is very strong, um, emotionally. She was really able to handle everything. Uh, and for me on my side, I was really emotionally struggling, uh, with the whole thing, like trying to reconcile, you know, what is happening, uh, with work and the other kids at home and all of that. Um, and so for us, I think a big day was, uh, on my birthday actually, uh, I come to the hospital and that day they were able to remove all the intubation.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: Uh, and he was breathing on his own.
John: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Yeah.
Mauricio: And, uh, that was the greatest birthday gift I ever got and the Lord was gracious to me to give that. I needed that.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: And then after, uh, a couple weeks, he was sent home.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Yeah, that’s beautiful.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Um, let’s just get the obvious question out there.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: How is he?
Christin: (laughs)
Mauricio: (laughs)
Christin: He is doing great. He is a very active, happy.
Mauricio: Joyful. Yeah.
Christin: You know, joyful, yeah, little boy. He’s very … You know, he does well in school. He loves reading.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Christin: He loves learning about all the different countries of the world.
Jim: Yeah.
Christin: I think he’s gonna be a traveler one day.
Jim: How old is he now?
Christin: He’s eight.
Jim: Yeah, eight years old.
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: Does he have a perspective of what he went through? Does he kind of understand it? How have you tried to explain to him-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … what his little body went through?
Christin: Yeah. I mean, we’ve t- … We’ve definitely shared-
Mauricio: Yeah.
Christin: … the story with him. Yeah, I don’t know.
Mauricio: I think he knows the facts, but I, I don’t think he can quite grasp.
Jim: He, he’s probably right around the corner. 10 years old-
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: … is about when your cognitive abilities are-
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: … full.
Christin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jim: So I mean, he’s gonna-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: The next few years for you guys-
Mauricio: Yes.
Christin: Yes.
Jim: That’s gonna be an interesting-
Christin: Yes.
Jim: … part of his-
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: … his experience, you know.
Christin: That’s right.
Jim: “Tell me more about what happened to me.”
Christin: Yeah, exactly.
Jim: I mean, he’ll start probably getting curious about that.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Uh, let me ask this hard question. Um, in fact, you had a friend whose, uh, situation didn’t turn out well.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: So on behalf of the, the viewers and the listeners that-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … maybe are going through it and they’re not getting the treatment outcomes that you experienced.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Things begin to improve.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Nate strengthened, his breathing increased.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: His lungs did grow.
Christin: Yes.
Jim: There’s gonna be others that are experiencing the opposite. It’s not going in a good direction.
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: And they’re grieving and they may have even lost their child.
Christin: Yeah.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: And that’s the hardest thing-
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: … human beings can experience is the loss of a child.
Christin: Exactly. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jim: What do you say to them? What did you say to your friend?
Christin: Yeah. For the listener, I just want you to know, like, I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine, yeah, anything worse. You know, it’s really hard. I mean, we, yeah, you wonder why, why did the Lord not answer my prayer? And my advice would be to cling to the Lord. He’s still good. He still loves you. It’s hard.
We don’t understand his ways and yet for some reason in His sovereign will, this was what He chose, and that’s not an easy thing to grasp and, and to say, but I would just encourage you to turn to the Psalms. The Psalms have helped me so much in my life. Um, you know, there’s many Psalms of lament. And the Lord, you know, He can, he can handle our tough questions, you know, our, our anger. Um, you know, He can meet us in, in the hard place. Yeah.
Jim: I think it’s really, really hard. That’s, you know, the age-old question, why do we suffer?
Mauricio: Mm-hmm.
Christin: Mm-hmm. Yes.
Jim: If you’re a loving God, then why do children die?
Christin: Yes.
Jim: And, you know, they’re not questions we can answer fully-
Christin: Yeah, no.
Jim: … because, especially-
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: … for the pain-
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: … in the heart of those parents that have lost a child.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: I don’t even know that it’s answerable other than trust in the Lord.
Christin: Yeah.
Jim: The only other observation I would have, um, you know, and I, I never had to deal with that kind of physical stuff, but I-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … you know, I was an orphan kid, I had different things to deal with, but-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … I do believe when a person can lean into the Lord, trust the Lord, love the Lord-
Christin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jim: … regardless of their circumstances-
Christin: Yes.
Jim: … that He smiles.
Mauricio: Mm-hmm.
Jim: God smiles. And it might be-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: I mean, I hadn’t thought about it in this context, but a parent who has lost their child who can do that-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … He smiles the biggest for.
Christin: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Jim: ‘Cause He knows the pain of that.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: I was gonna say that, Jim, I think you’re right. I think we may never know the answer why, but if you look at the cross, the cross tells us … May not tell us the answer for why, but the cross tells us that God cares. And I think that is the greatest evidence of God’s love for us is at the cross, He showed that He cares for us.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: Okay, Christ took our suffering. He knows what pain is. He knows the pain of guilt-
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Mauricio: … the pain of shame. He knows the pain, physical pain, so He took all of our pain. So whether we are struggling in with the suffering self or with struggling with a, a wrong decision, we can all come to the cross and we can bear that at the cross, knowing that Christ empathizes. He knows, and the cross shows us that He cares.
Jim: Yeah.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Amen. So boy, this has been so encouraging and uplifting and, but what a grueling process-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … you both had to go through-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … and poor Nate, had to go through-
Christin: I know.
Jim: … the most.
Christin: Yeah.
Mauricio: Yeah.
Jim: So it’s great. He’s eight years old, he’s looking strong-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … and doing well and-
Christin: Yes.
Jim: … we’ll have to check in with you later to see-
Christin: (laughs)
Jim: … at 15, how are things going?
Mauricio: (laughs) Yes.
Christin: Yeah, that’s right.
Jim: “Hey, dad, could I have the keys?”
Mauricio: (laughs)
Christin: (laughs) Yeah.
Jim: And that they may be 16, you know.
Christin: Yeah, 16. (laughs)
Jim: But out on the farm in Canada, you could probably drive earlier.
Mauricio: (laughs)
Christin: Yeah. (laughs)
Jim: But, uh, man, this has been so good. So thank you.
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Um, sorry for the experience, but thank you for the testimony and what God-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: … has taught you through all this.
Mauricio: Mm-hmm.
Jim: If this is touching a nerve for you, we wanna be here for you. We do have caring Christian counselors right here at Focus on the Family. Be sure to call us. They’ll schedule a time when they can call you back and, and talk with you and give you additional resources, including this great book, Saving Nate, uh, to help you navigate your emotional and spiritual dilemmas as they are coming. You might even know somebody who could benefit from this type of book. So do that. You can order it directly from Focus on the Family. When you make a gift of any amount, uh, we’ll send it as our way of saying thank you for being part of the ministry.
And let me also mention Option Ultrasound. You know, we’ve been doing this for 20 years now. I think we were the first that got into placing ultrasound machines-
Christin: Mm-hmm.
Jim: into, uh, pregnancy resource clinics, partnering with them, but it was just an idea. We could get that out nationally, internationally. Do you wanna help put an ultrasound machine in? And that effort, along with many additional things that we’ve been able to do at Focus on the Family to wrap around those pregnancy resource clinics has resulted in over 550,000 babies being saved. That includes Canada, US, everybody. I mean, that is an awesome number.
John: Mm-hmm.
Jim: And we’re excited about that. We have the data, and this is the data. $60 will save a baby’s life. So if you’re up for that, if you can afford $60 to save another person, uh, let us know and we’ll report back next year how many babies were saved.
John: Mm-hmm.
Jim: Uh, that’s the accountability that I want Focus to have. So man, that’s it. Call a counselor, uh, call us for the resource, save a baby’s life. I don’t think it gets any better than that.
John: Mm-hmm.
Jim: So, uh, just step up with us and get this done.
John: Yeah. As God has tugged on your heart, respond by calling 800, the letter A and the word family. Or stop by FocusontheFamily.com/broadcast. Well, join us next time as a veteran in the TV business shares about managing technology in your family wisely.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we grew up in a, a family where if we were awake, the TV was on.
Jim: Mm-hmm.
Speaker 5: We started the day with a Today Show and we ended with the Tonight Show.
Jim: (laughs)
Speaker 5: So screens were an ever present, uh, factor in our family, and I, I hated that growing up.
John: Well, thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.
