In this episode, I chatted with licensed counselor Jessica McDaniel about the interplay between body, mind, and emotions when healing from pregnancy loss. We talked about everything from how the experience of our body impacts our grief, to the way that the body of Jesus displayed his grief, to how to know if you should seek professional help to facilitate healthy healing. I pray that this episode will be an encouragement to you as you consider your own experience of loss and journey through grief, remembering that God knows your frame and is full of compassion.

 

About Jessica McDaniel:

Jessica is a licensed professional counselor and has been working with clients from a biblically informed perspective for the past decade. She and her husband Ryan have been married since 2006 and have three daughters, the youngest being identical twins. They also went through the devastating loss of their 2nd baby during early-term miscarriage. Jessica enjoys teaching, leading seminars and loves listening to podcasts any chance she can get! In her free time she enjoys volleyball, bike riding with the family and taking trips to the Texas coast. She deeply believes that people's lives are changed and transformed through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and knowing him more. 

Questions in this Episode:

Can you start off just by telling us a bit about your experience with miscarriage, both professionally and personally?

Can you paint a picture for us of what is going on for a woman physiologically in the time that follows the loss of life in the womb?

Can you help us understand how what we experience physically during and after miscarriage affects how we grieve and heal? Why is it important for us to think about this?

 I hear a lot of women express shame or frustration over the magnitude or duration of their grief over the loss of life in their womb. As if there is a barometer for this type of grief. I’d love for you to speak to that a bit.

Given the effect of our bodies on our minds and experience, how can we know if we should seek outside help to facilitate healing?

Questions for every guest:

What’s one way God has used your experience of miscarriage to work in your heart and life?

If you could encourage a woman to meditate on or memorize any verse or short set of verses in this season, what would it be and why?

Scripture References:

Luke 22

Lamentations 3

Psalm 90:14