Embracing Life after a Challenging Prenatal Diagnosis

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Embracing Life after a Challenging Prenatal Diagnosis"

Podcast: Focus on the Family with Jim Daly
Date: January 9, 2026
Host(s): Jim Daly and John Fuller
Guests: Mauricio (Mau) Rosa and Kristen Rosa

---

Episode Overview

This deeply moving episode centers on Mauricio and Kristen Rosa’s journey through the shock, heartbreak, and faith-testing experience of receiving a devastating prenatal diagnosis for their unborn son, Nate. The Rosas candidly share their story—from infertility struggles, the daunting diagnosis, and repeated offers for abortion, to their steadfast choice for life and the grueling yet hope-filled months that followed. Their conversation offers solidarity and encouragement to families facing similar circumstances, blending practical faith insights with empathy and honesty.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background of the Rosa Family

• Mauricio’s Story: Born and raised in Brazil, later immigrated to Canada to study architecture.
  "I came to study and never thought in my life I would be in Canada now." (03:33 – Mauricio Rosa)
• Kristen’s Story: Grew up in Edmonton, Alberta in a Christian household, taught in China before settling in Calgary where she met Mauricio.
  "...I felt the Lord calling me for some reason to Calgary...I ended up being offered a job in Calgary, so I moved. And then that's when I met Mau." (04:11 – Kristen Rosa)

2. First and Second Pregnancies: Joy and Uncertainty

• First Pregnancy: Thomas was unexpected but wanted, arrived after struggles with fertility.
• Second Pregnancy: More fertility struggles; conception through artificial insemination (06:00–06:40).

3. The Life-Altering Diagnosis

• At 18 weeks, during a routine ultrasound, Kristen and Mauricio learned one of their twin sons, Nate, had congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)—a severe and often life-threatening condition. "Nate had a very large hole in his diaphragm, so that allowed his intestines and part of his liver to migrate up into his chest...His right lung was almost nonexistent...His CDH was really severe." (09:05 – Kristen Rosa)

4. Pressure to Abort and Faith-Fueled Resolve

• The Rosas were offered abortion seven times by medical professionals, often with little time to process the magnitude of the diagnosis. "We were offered abortion, I think seven times...I finally kind of had enough of it. And I basically said, hey, listen, like, we are for life. This is not an option for us..." (10:47 – Mauricio Rosa)
• Their faith and pre-established convictions on the sanctity of life anchored their response: "Believing what you believe is really important at that moment." (12:54 – Jim Daly) "To those who have chosen abortion...I would just say that, you know, the Lord doesn't want you to stay in a place of guilt or shame...He's a good and gracious loving God...The Lord will bring you the healing that you need." (13:02–14:36 – Kristen Rosa)

5. Hospital Ordeal and Medical Challenges

• Post-birth, Nate was intubated immediately; Kristen describes being prepared for this due to months of anticipation and prayer (15:12).
• First Surgery: At 8 days old. Various setbacks, including a dangerous liver infection, followed.
• Miraculously, with each hurdle, Nate’s progress exceeded medical expectations: "With each little step...they always came back to us saying that he did better than expected." (17:49 – Kristen Rosa)
• Emotional breakdown:
  • Kristen: Strong, processed internally, ready due to prayer and preparation.
  • Mauricio: Wrestled emotionally, yearned for a miraculous healing but found anchor in Deuteronomy 31:7-8: "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.'" (16:30 – Mauricio Rosa)

6. Nate’s Recovery and Life Today

• Nate spent 10 weeks in hospital; milestones (like breathing unassisted) coincided with Mau’s birthday. "That was the greatest birthday gift I ever got. And the Lord was gracious to me to give that." (19:27 – Mauricio Rosa)
• Nate is now a joyful, healthy 8-year-old: "He is a very active, happy, joyful little boy...He loves reading. He loves learning about all the different countries of the world." (20:31 – Kristen Rosa)

7. Ministering to Others: Grief, Faith, and Lament

• Kristen emphasizes compassion for parents who suffered loss or made difficult choices: "For the listener, I just want you to know, like, I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine anything worse...cling to the Lord. He's still good, he still loves you." (22:10 – Kristen Rosa)
• The theology of suffering:
  • Life’s hardest questions may be unanswerable, but God’s presence and care—demonstrated at the Cross—offer ultimate comfort: "The cross may not tell us the answer for why, but the cross tells us that God cares...Christ took our suffering...He knows what pain is." (23:59 – Mauricio Rosa)
• Psalm 103 and Lament Psalms highlighted as spiritual anchors during trials.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Faith and Conviction:
  "We are for life. All we ask is that you guys would bring everything you can...and we will trust God." (10:47 – Mauricio Rosa)
• On Processing Grief and Guilt:
  "The Lord doesn't want you to stay in a place of guilt or shame...He’s a good and gracious loving God." (13:02–14:36 – Kristen Rosa)
• On the Role of Prayer and Scripture:
  "There was so much prayer that went into this." (15:12 – Kristen Rosa)
  "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." (16:30 – Mauricio Rosa)
• On Lament and Suffering:
  "The cross tells us that God cares. He knows what pain is...we can bear that at the cross, knowing that Christ empathizes." (23:59 – Mauricio Rosa)

---

Key Timestamps

• 05:09: The Rosas’ first pregnancy journey
• 06:00: Struggles with infertility and conception of twins
• 07:04: The diagnosis and how the news was delivered
• 09:05: Explanation of congenital diaphragmatic hernia
• 10:17: Pressure to abort and the Rosas’ response
• 12:18: Kristen’s compassion for those who have chosen abortion
• 15:12: Nate’s birth and the beginnings of the hospital journey
• 16:30: Scripture that carried them through (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)
• 17:49: Nate’s first surgery and surprising resilience
• 19:27: Nate breaths unassisted—on Mau’s birthday
• 20:31: Nate’s life and personality at age eight
• 22:10: Encouragement for grieving parents and the application of lament
• 23:59: The cross & suffering—God’s ultimate sign that He cares

---

Episode Tone and Final Takeaway

The tone remains empathetic, honest, faith-building, and supportive throughout, with both Rosas and hosts validating pain while pointing listeners toward hope and healing in Christ.

Essentially, this is an episode about clinging to faith, the sanctity of life, enduring uncertainty, and finding solace in God’s compassion, no matter the outcome. It is equally a call to compassion for those who choose differently and those who grieve.

---

For listeners touched by similar experiences, the Rosas’ story is a source of hope and solidarity, and Focus on the Family offers resources and counseling for those in need.

Transcript

[Focus on the Family Announcer]

Chatgpt and AI can offer you ideas and attempt to give you answers, but it can't listen with compassion, pray with you, or guide you with wisdom shaped by faith. When life feels overwhelming, real human connection matters. At Focus on the Family, we believe in the power of professional help and biblical wisdom. That's why we offer a free confidential consultation with a caring Christian counselor to walk with you through life's struggles. Whether you're navigating challenges in marriage, parenting anxiety, grief or something else, our counselors are here to help. If you're hurting, don't wait. Hope is real and healing begins with a conversation. Request your free confidential consultation today. Call 1-800-A-FUSY. That's 1-800-232-6459 or visit focusonthefamily.com gethelp that's focusonthefamily.com GetHelp.

[Mauricio Rosa]

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. Christ took our suffering. He knows what pain is. So whether we are struggling with the suffering itself or we struggling with 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 Fuller]

That's Mauricio Rosa. He's with us today on FOCUS on THE Family with Jim Daly along with his wife Kristen. With 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 and 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 also the tender areas. And today's program is going to really touch on some tender areas when couples get diagnoses that are not favorable about their pregnancy. And it's going to be a powerful discussion today with our two guests.

[John Fuller]

Yeah, we hear from folks all the time who have stories. And today's story is going to stay with you. Mao and Kristen Rosa faced decisions most of us never will have to deal with. And their journey shows the value of hope and perseverance in Christ. Kristen is a teacher 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. Kristen MAU is the associate pastor for family and discipleship at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary, Alberta. They're the parents of of three precious kids. And Kristen has captured their journey in a book called Saving Choosing Life After a Devastating Prenatal Diagnosis. And of course, we have that here at the ministry. Give us a call or click the link in the show notes.

[Jim Daly]

Kristin and MAU, welcome to Focus on the Family. It's good to have you.

[Mauricio Rosa]

Thank you so much.

[Jim Daly]

And both of you are from Canada now, right? MAU, you migrated from Brazil.

[Mauricio Rosa]

Yes.

[Jim Daly]

You like cold weather? What's the deal?

[Mauricio Rosa]

I guess I do now.

[Jim Daly]

I hope so.

[Mauricio Rosa]

Yes. Yeah. I'm originally born and raised in Brazil and I decided to pursue other experiences like I'm an architect by trade. And when I graduated in Brazil, I wanted to go abroad to study and Canada was the place that opened the doors. So I came to study and never thought in my life I would be in Canada now.

[Jim Daly]

Now, Kristen, you were from Alberta. I'm getting into this for all the Canadian listeners.

[John Fuller]

Yeah, I appreciate that.

[Jim Daly]

I love our Canadian listeners.

[Mauricio Rosa]

So this is it.

[Jim Daly]

This is big Canada Day.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yes.

[Jim Daly]

So what was your life like growing up?

[Kristen Rosa]

I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, which is the capital. And I grew up in a, you know, typical Christian middle class family and I had a pretty good life, you know. And after I graduated from college, I went to China and I taught there for two years. And when I was preparing to come back to Canada, I wasn't quite sure what I was gonna do. 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. And so I was like, well, okay, Lord, that's kind of weird. But 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 Daly]

That's so good. It's good to get your background. It connects us all to your. So you get married and you decide or, you know, things happen and you have your first child. Thomas, describe that experience of now. Mom and dad, right?

[Kristen Rosa]

Well, he was a. He was unexpected but very wanted.

[Jim Daly]

Yeah. That's beautiful.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah. We'd actually been trying to get pregnant and then it wasn't happening. So we kind of thought, you know what, maybe we'll go to Brazil for a year. I'll learn the language. Mauricio was hoping to start a missions nonprofit organization.

[Jim Daly]

And.

[Kristen Rosa]

And so we packed up our house we found someone to rent it, and we both quit our jobs. And it was at that point that I found out that I was expecting. And so we were kind of thrown for a loop. But we're like, okay, what do we do now? Right? Do we try to get our jobs back? Do we stay? Do we still go? What do we do?

[Jim Daly]

So, Kristin, now with the struggles with fertility, you probably weren't sure if number two would come along. Describe what happened there with your second pregnancy.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah, So I think Thomas was about a year old when we decided, okay, let's try again. And once again, we struggled with infertility. And this time we tried a pretty simple fertility treatment, artificial insemination. And we thought, okay, well, we'll just try this. The odds of getting pregnant with that are really low, actually, they say about 13% per try. But we thought, okay, we'll try this. And if, you know, if it doesn't happen, then we're going to pursue adoption. But we thought we would just give it a try first. And so after the second try, I found out I was pregnant.

[Jim Daly]

And so, Mal, let me ask this. You know, we're going to get into the difficult story now. So 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, 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?

[Mauricio Rosa]

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 the gender of the babies and all of that and to make sure everything's okay. At that day, the technician told us, there is something here. We don't know what it is. We're gonna send you for a clinical pregnancy.

[Kristen Rosa]

Ultrasound. Yeah.

[Mauricio Rosa]

So we don't know what it is. They didn't really tell exactly what it was, so we were a bit scared. We called the family, hey, can you guys pray for this? And then I don't know how long it was after that that we went for the actual investigation.

[Kristen Rosa]

And it was about a week later.

[Mauricio Rosa]

A week later, Right. And mom always knows. She knows, yes. And she. And she wrote the book. 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 congenital diaphragmatic hernia. And they'd explain a little bit of what it was. And we were like, oh, boy. Like, for me personally, my experience was As a man was in kind of, okay, what do I have to do to fix this? What do I have to do? You know, I got into kind of a work mode kind of a thing. Right. At the same time trying to take care of her. Kristen 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 do whatever I can?

[Jim Daly]

So you're moving into fix it mode for most of us husbands. Kristen, how about you? Where were you at emotionally at that moment?

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah, for me, I was just. I'm an introvert and I like to, like, process things and think about things. So we just received this onslaught of information. She explained what congenital diaphragmatic hernia is.

[Jim Daly]

And then describe that for the listeners and viewers.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah, so basically, the diaphragm is a muscle that separates the lower abdominal organs from the chest cavity. So, you know, we have our intestines and liver and all that down below. So 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. And then it crowded out his lungs. And so his right lung was like, almost non existent. Very, very tiny. And then his left lung was only 27% the size of a healthy lung. And so his CDH was really severe. So most babies, if you're born with CDH that severe, the baby cannot breathe at all. The lungs are just not developed enough.

[Jim Daly]

And they're telling you this? Yes, that's the point.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yes, exactly. And then they also listed all the health concerns he could have if he were to survive. Right.

[Jim Daly]

That's where you're at. And in fact, the doctors even suggested abortion would be an option.

[Kristen Rosa]

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 Daly]

Wow.

[Kristen Rosa]

No, there was no discussion of treatment or anything. She said to us, you know, given the severity of this condition, you may want to consider having a reduction. It took a few seconds for me to clue in, oh, like, she's talking about aborting our little boy.

[Mauricio Rosa]

We were offered abortion, I think seven times, and I don't remember which moment was that. I finally kind of had enough of it. And I basically said, 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, 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. God that he's gonna do his best. You give your best, and God will do his best.

[Jim Daly]

How'd they respond to that?

[Mauricio Rosa]

He was quiet. The doctor was quiet. And then after that day, they never brought the issue back again.

[Jim Daly]

Yeah, but, I mean, that's good. It's a good way to do it. It's a good way for them to manage it, too. They respected your views.

[Mauricio Rosa]

Yeah.

[Jim Daly]

That's a good thing.

[Kristen Rosa]

But after that very, very first meeting, when we just got the diagnosis, you actually said, we know you're talking about abortion, but. But you need to know we stand for life and we're gonna fight for our son's life. So it was actually the very. I remember because I had no words, honestly. I was kind of in shock. And I remember being like, wow. Like, thank goodness you're speaking up for me.

[John Fuller]

Yeah.

[Jim Daly]

Oh, that felt good, right?

[Kristen Rosa]

Yes. Yeah, it really did.

[John Fuller]

You probably felt, he's got my back. We are united in this. Wow. In that context, you both have shown a lot of grace and compassion toward women who have chosen abortion. What does that look like? How do you offer hope when that decision has already been made, perhaps?

[Kristen Rosa]

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 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 Daly]

That right there is the difference. You know, thinking ahead of time, if this were to happen to us, what are we going to do?

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah.

[Jim Daly]

So that's important. So I'm sorry, but I just wanted to punch that point.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah.

[Jim Daly]

Because. Yeah, believing what you believe is really important at that moment.

[Kristen Rosa]

Exactly. Because it's these moments where you have to decide, okay, am I going to trust in the Lord? You know, he's. There's this difficult situation, and. Yeah, what am I going to do? You know, put my faith into practice. But I would just say, like, to those who have chosen abortion, you know, like, 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. Or you know, hurt. And he, he's a good and gracious loving God. I love Psalm 103. You know, he says, 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. 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 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 I am convinced the Lord will bring you the healing that you need and bring you the hope that you need. And I'd also encourage you to find an abortion recovery program. Many pregnancy care centers offer them. You can also find a Christian counselor or a pastor who can help you go through this process of healing.

[Jim Daly]

There is grief related to that.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yes.

[Jim Daly]

So obviously a complicated pregnancy. You're probably getting regular check ins with the doctor and ultrasounds, making sure Nate is developing in other ways, but always with this condition, knowing that we're not sure how he's going to do at the moment of birth. So that happens. Nate is born, he takes one breath and the doctors whisk him away. Tell us that feeling. And what hope did you have in that moment when you're not even sure you're going to see your child alive again?

[Kristen Rosa]

Well, for me, I think 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 going to be 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, 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 you're like, okay, let's, let's do this, you know, like there was so much prayer that went into this.

[Mauricio Rosa]

And yeah, I was honestly, I was wrestling, to be quite frank, because as Christian is saying, a lot of people were praying for it and we were praying for miracles. And my prayer, my hope was that God Somehow would do a miracle that day that Nate was going to be born. And at his first gasp of breath, he would cry, and his lungs would be perfect and everything would be healed. That was my hope.

[Kristen Rosa]

Sure.

[Mauricio Rosa]

And so at that morning, when we went for the delivery, because it was planned, I was reading my Bible, and the Lord gave us a verse and was Deuteronomy 31, 7 and 8, 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. And 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 going to go into a journey that we don't know how that's going to turn out. Like, we didn't know what's going to happen. But that verse was a reminder for us. The Lord is the one that is ahead of this. I need to trust him.

[Jim Daly]

And that meant multiple surgeries for Nate in a short period of time, or what did that look like? What was the road for Nate right at the beginning?

[Kristen Rosa]

They just needed to get him stable. So intubated, getting enough oxygen and just stable, like, living.

[Jim Daly]

Right.

[Kristen Rosa]

And he actually had his first surgery when he was eight days old. So that was the big surgery that. Where they moved his intestines and liver back down.

[Jim Daly]

Fix the diaphragm.

[Kristen Rosa]

Fix 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. And. And so he did, actually, throughout his stay in the hospital, with each little step that he needed to go through, they always came back to us saying that he did better than expected. And so he made it through that surgery. But unfortunately, he ended up becoming, like. I think his liver became infected just due to the handling. And so for several weeks, he was dealing with a really serious infection.

[Jim Daly]

But they were able to reposition his lungs.

[Mauricio Rosa]

So that was the thing, 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 going to work. And that was the challenge, because now, okay, the hole is patched. So what's next? Is he going to 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. Which, you know, took weeks. And then.

[Jim Daly]

Yeah, but it started to happen, right?

[Mauricio Rosa]

His lungs began.

[Kristen Rosa]

His lungs started to grow.

[Mauricio Rosa]

Yeah. Amazing.

[Kristen Rosa]

So they had been so tiny, but they did start to grow.

[Jim Daly]

They did what they were supposed to do.

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jim Daly]

So how long was Nate in the hospital? And then you got the news that we're done. You can take him home.

[Mauricio Rosa]

He was in the hospital for 10 weeks, and it was a long 10 weeks. And that's what I meant, that Kristen is very strong emotionally. She was really able to handle everything. And for me, on my side, I was really emotionally struggling with the whole thing, trying to reconcile what is happening with work and the other kids at home and all of that. And so for us, I think a big day was on my birthday, actually. I come to the hospital and that day they were able to remove all the intubation and he was breathing on his own. And that was the greatest birthday gift I ever got. And the Lord was gracious to me to give that. I needed that. And then after a couple weeks, he was sent home.

[John Fuller]

Yeah.

[Jim Daly]

That's beautiful. Let's just get the obvious question out there. How is he?

[Kristen Rosa]

He is doing great. He is a very active, Happy, Joyful. Joyful. Yeah. Little boy. He's very, you know, he does well in school. He loves reading. He loves learning about all the different countries of the world. I think he's going to be a traveler one day.

[Jim Daly]

How old is he now?

[Kristen Rosa]

He's eight.

[Focus on the Family Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jim Daly]

Eight years old. Does he have a perspective of what he went through? Does he kind of understand it? How have you tried to explain to him what his little body went through?

[Kristen Rosa]

Yeah, I mean, we've definitely shared the story with him. Yeah. I don't know.

[Mauricio Rosa]

I think he knows the facts, but I don't think he quite grasp.

[Jim Daly]

He's probably right around the corner. 10 years old is about when your cognitive abilities are full. So I mean, he's gonna. The next few years, for you guys, that's gonna be an interesting part of his experience. You know, tell me more about what happened to me. I mean, he'll start probably getting curious about that. Let me ask this hard question. In fact, you had a friend whose situation did turn out well. So on behalf of the viewers and the listeners that maybe are going through it and they're not getting the treatment outcomes that you experience, things begin to improve. Nate strengthened his breathing increased, his lungs did grow. There's going to be others that are experiencing the opposite. It's not going in a good direction. And they're grieving and they may have even lost their child. And that's the hardest thing human beings can experience, is the loss of a child. What do you say to them? What did you say to your friend?

[Kristen Rosa]

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.

[Focus on the Family Announcer]

It's hard.

[Kristen Rosa]

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 to say. But I would just encourage you to turn to the Psalms. The Psalms have helped me so much in my life. You know, there's many Psalms of lament. And the Lord, you know, he can, he can handle our tough questions, you know, our anger, you know, he can meet us in the hard place.

[Jim Daly]

I think it's really, really hard. That's, you know, the age old question, why do we suffer? If you're a loving God, then why do children die?

[Kristen Rosa]

Yes.

[Jim Daly]

And, you know, they're not questions we can answer fully because, especially for the pain in the heart of those parents that have lost a child, I don't even know that it's answerable other than trust in the Lord. The only other observation I would have, you know, and I never had to deal with that kind of physical stuff, but I, you know, I was an orphan kid. I had different things to deal with. But I do believe when a person can lean into the Lord, trust the Lord, love the Lord, regardless of their circumstances, that he smiles. God smiles. And it might be, I mean, I hadn't thought about it in this context, but a parent who has lost their child, who can do that, he smiles the biggest for. Because he knows the pain of that.

[Mauricio Rosa]

I was going to 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. Christ took our suffering. He knows what pain is. He knows the pain of Guilt, the pain of shame. He knows the pain, physical pain. So he took all of our pain. So whether we are struggling with the suffering itself or we're struggling with 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 Daly]

Amen. So, boy, this has been so encouraging and uplifting, but what a grueling process you both had to go through. And poor Nate had to go through the most. So it's great. He's 8 years old. He's looking strong and doing well. And we'll have to check in with you later to see at 15, how are things going. Hey, dad, could I have the keys kind of thing. Maybe 16, but out on the farm in Canada, you could probably drive earlier. But, man, this has been so good. So thank you. Sorry for the experience, but thank you for the testimony and what God has taught you through all this. If this is touching a nerve for you, we want to 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 talk with you and give you additional resources, including this great book, Saving Nate, 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, 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 into Pregnancy Resource clinics, partnering with them. But it was just an idea. We could get that out nationally, internationally. Do you want to 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, 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, let us know and we'll report back next year how many babies were saved. That's the accountability that I want Focus to have. So, man, that's it. Call a counselor call us for the resource Save a baby's life. I don't think it gets any better than that. So just step up with us and get this done. Yeah.

[John Fuller]

As God has tugged on your heart, respond by calling 800-THE LETTER A in the word family or We've got the details in the show notes. Well, join us next time as a veteran in the TV business shares about managing technology in your family wisely.

[Mauricio Rosa]

Yeah, we grew up in a family where if we were awake, the TV was on. We started the day with the Today show and we ended with the Tonight Show. So screens were an ever present factor in our family. And I hated that growing up.

[John Fuller]

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.

[Erin Smalley]

Sprinkle some love into your marriage this month with the Loving well podcast from Focus on the Family. I'm Erin Smalley and I host the podcast with my husband, Dr. Greg Smalley, and our good friend John Fuller. We chat about how to put Christ at the center of your relationship, deepen your love, and have a marriage that truly thrives. Listen today at focusonthefamily.com lovingwell or wherever you get your podcasts.