Could Be Worse

One time, when I was a teenager, I think, my parents got me a book called "It Could Be Worse."  It's a children's book about two kids who are complaining and their grandfather tells them a story about all these horrible things that happened to him -- the point being that it could be worse.  Evidently, I complained a lot as a teenager.  And still probably do.
And sometimes God reminds me that it could be worse.  Yesterday at church a couple got up to thank the congregation for their prayers.  Their daughter was born at something like twenty weeks.  She weighed a pound and something ounces.  She is now over a foot long and weighs several pounds, but will be in the hospital until April.  I can't even imagine the worry and heartbreak and longing that couple is going through right now, knowing that it's a miracle their daughter (Autumn, by the way, if you want to pray for her, too) is even alive today.  That, to me, would be worse than not having a child at all.
I have a cousin and several friends who have miscarried.  That, to me, would be worse than what I'm going through.  At least now I know that I'm not losing a child when my cycle starts over.  I imagine it would be harder to lose a child than to never have one at all.  To have that hope and then watch it slip away.  I have friends have lost a child, too.  It breaks my heart to even think about it.  I can't imagine how it would hurt, but God knows -- He lost a child, too.
I have another set of friends I'm praying for right now who are supposed to have a baby girl in April, I think.  She went in for an ultrasound and found out something was wrong and now they are going through lots of tests, to try and figure out exactly what their baby is going through and if it will live long enough to be born.  To me, that would be worse.
And I think about how maybe my situation isn't so bad after all.  Even though all our situations have some of the same heartbreak, I feel out of all of those situations, mine is the least heartbreaking.  Maybe you disagree.  But I'm reminded that it could be worse.