Well, we get a lot of hard emails, hard emails to read because they articulate very hard struggles

in the darkest places of life.

Today's email is such a one from Josh and Ohio, Pastor John, my wife and I have been praying

for a child for over two and a half years.

A year ago, we got pregnant for the first time, but it ended with a miscarriage.

We continue to pray and we got pregnant again 17 weeks ago.

Now the doctors are saying our son probably has a chromosomal abnormality, like Down syndrome.

We're not high risk for this.

My wife is 28, I'm 31, there are so many terrifying scenarios ahead for us.

I struggle to see God's goodness in this.

We prayed for years for God to give us a child that is healthy and we grow to love him.

Feels like he is stealing our joy and peace.

I know that he works good for all those who love him.

And that good is to be more like his son, but it seems cruel to afflict my son with a disease

just to teach me a lesson.

Please help us make sense of this.

One of the things that makes all sorrows even more sorrowful is that they are often such

jolting opposites of what we hoped for, prayed for and expected.

That's certainly true for Josh and his wife.

It isn't only the painful fact that their whole life is now changed by the prospect of

parenting a disabled child, but that this comes as a crowning response to their prayers for

the opposite.

...