Focus on the following promise throughout the day. God said it and it’s what He desires. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth. Speak the Word continually and expect God to do what He has said!
“You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young.” ~~Deuteronomy 7:14 [NLT]
Isaiah 30:15 says, “In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” I hope you’re encouraged to live with a hope-filled focus and blessed by Jenne Acevedo’s post.
Do you tend to make preparations for upcoming events in your life? Isaiah 54:1-2 describes a time of preparation: “”Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child…enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.” Enlarging your territory is simply making preparation for the good things you expect to happen.
Have you reached a point of believing and not doubting in your heart, that God intends for you to have a child? Faith in what He declares in His Word gives you the confidence to act on it. Find something that you can do as a means of preparing for the blessing of a child. Maybe you’ll want to begin now to adjust your budget for the expenses you’ll encounter once you have the baby. Or maybe you’ll decide to start taking pre-natal vitamins.
Whatever you choose to do to enlarge your territory, do it with a high expectation of the good things God will do your life. He enjoys seeing that you have confidence in His promises and loves blessing you with the desires of your heart!
I hope you’ll be encouraged by this excerpt, which is one of the daily readings from my devotional e-book, “A Seed of Hope–God’s Promises of Fertility.”
Confidence
“Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ…”
~ 2 Corinthians 2:14 ~
Confidence. It means trusting in the abilities, strengths, integrity, or faithfulness of someone or some thing. Typically, we willingly speak out boldly about people when we are confident in them. We are told in 1 John 5:14 that having confidence in God means that we believe that He hears us when we pray according to His Word and that He will grant what we ask. Part of your battle plan against infertility must include increasing your confidence in God’s love for you.
Having confidence in others, even God, may sometimes be difficult. Have you ever had trouble letting someone else be in charge? I have. Have you ever wanted someone else to take control of a situation and allowed him or her to do so, only to snatch it right back because you didn’t like how he or she was doing it? Maybe that’s what you’re experiencing with God—not trusting Him enough to completely let go of your circumstances and allowing Him to be in control. If so, you’ve got to get over the fear of what will happen if you’re not in control and instead, trust that His way is a better way. Develop a positive expectation of what will happen when He’s in control.
That’s what my husband and I experienced in our battle against infertility. As engineers, we both were good planners and detail-oriented. We had our lives planned out and thought we knew exactly when we’d start having children. We’d planned to wait until we had been married for 3-4 years, and of course we expected the pregnancy to happen within three months after we first started “trying”. On 6/2/86, I wrote in my journal: “Freeman and I are preparing to start pregnancy in July/August.” Well try as we may, our plan did not work. It didn’t happen in July or August. Neither did it happen by the end of December. And so began the journey of going from doctor to doctor to see what was wrong with me and who could fix it. That journey did not last long before we decided we’d had enough. We clearly saw our need to develop confidence in God. We had to become better listeners to Him, through prayer and reading His Word, so we could follow His directions and find rest in His plan.
Speak the Word: I submit myself to God and His plan because I am confident that He always causes me to triumph in Christ Jesus.
More Encouragement: Hebrews 10:35,36; 1 John 5:14,15
I hope you’ll share this with others who need encouragement in their struggle. Remember, God loves YOU and He does not withhold good things from his children.
Benefit from having hope-filled daily readings like this at your fingertips. Check out the sample or purchase your devotional, “A Seed of Hope–God’s Promises of Fertility,” on Smashwords.
Hope= the confident expectation that GOOD things will happen.
Sometimes, we can run low on how much hope we have about ever having a baby. Here’s a “booster shot” for increasing your personal level of hope:
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,plans to give you HOPE and a future.”
Be encouraged…keep your hope alive!
Do you ever get tired of “shoulding” all over yourself?
I do. I should have gotten up and walked this morning. I should have set the timer to get off the computer so I could get other important things done. I should have made a better choice for a snack this afternoon. I should have told my hairdresser to not cut so much of my hair off. I should have told each of my children “I love you” this morning.
I could “should” all over myself all day,everyday, if I allowed myself to do so. I could beat myself up about so many little things and big things. But I have to daily remind myself that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). If I make a mistake or if I make a wrong choice, I don’t have to re-live it over and over again in my head. If Jesus doesn’t hold things against me, why do I? That’s not to say that I shouldn’t try to make right choices; it just means that I can find peace in Him when I don’t.
If you condemn yourself because of a life changing choice you made years ago, or even yesterday, STOP! You’re the only one on that ride going to nowhere! Jesus is on the ride that is headed toward the destination of grace, forgiveness and peace and He wants you to join Him. So stop “shoulding” all over yourself and take a ride on the GRACE side.
Is your lifestyle one of anticipating the worst case scenario or do you expect good things to happen? As humans, it’s easy for us to see and talk about the negative aspects of our lives. But as a Christian, it should be easy for us to see AND talk about the positive things in our lives. After all, we have an “unfair advantage.” We have the favor of God!
The favor of God is His abundant, unearned grace, and it is unaffected by anything that we do. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have the abundance of God continually available to us for every area of our lives! It’s up to us to believe that it is ours to receive. Even when going through the throes of infertility, believe that the favor of God is working in your life. Despite what the evidence/medical report/family history is in your life, anticipate good results. Believe that the favor of God is working on your behalf. Believe that He is for you and not against you.
As you continue to believe, the things you say will be more positive. As you continue to believe, you’ll anticipate the good, more and more because your focus will change. Your focus will not be on the negative circumstances of your life but on the all-sufficient grace and love of God. And that…is ALL good.
Don’t ignore the spiritual aspect of infertility.
It is so easy to lose focus on the spiritual nature of infertility when the physical aspect overtakes your daily life. You and your spouse can become so obsessed with finding the cause and the cure for you situation that it can rob you of your peace. When you’re not experiencing peace, you’re likely to ignore the one thing that can bring about the solution you’re looking for.
It is important to strengthen yourself spiritually while dealing with infertility. Acknowledge the need to ask God for wisdom when faced with overcoming the enemy called “Infertility.” It may seem like a Goliath-sized enemy to you, but for God, “Infertility” is already a defeated foe. It is not too hard to break or destroy. God said so when he defeated infertility in Sarah’s life (see Genesis 18:14).
Luke 18:27 states, “And he [Jesus] said, The things which are impossible with men are possible WITH (in close proximity to) God”{emphasis mine}. Join yourself WITH Him by asking for wisdom in the decisions you make, by reading His word, by speaking and meditating His Word.
Trust that God’s Word is true for you. It will bring you guidance, comfort, and ultimately, greater peace.
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” ~~ Isaiah 26:3
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” ~~ John 14:27
The more I learn of the love of Jesus, specifically His love for me, I am astounded by its depth, height, width and length. I see more clearly now that His love for me covers everything; it is complete and perfect. There are no holes in His love for me, no void spaces. So if nothing is missing in His love for me, why am I not always confident in the victory that love has already provided?
Maybe I need to look more at what He’s done instead of what I’ve done or what I need to do (I can sometimes have a l-o-n-g “to do” list to correct my circumstances). Maybe I need to allow Him to be in control so that I can rest. Everything that He’s done has been based on His love for me. Every bit of punishment inflicted on Him before and at the cross was because He did not want me to experience it. Every bit of scourging was endured for me. Every sickness and “condition” was taken on by His body for me. He satisfied every requirement of the Law so I wouldn’t have to. He left nothing undone and did everything perfectly. What a love!
No matter the circumstances that I find myself enduring, I’m determined to choose to look to Jesus’ love for me, to have confidence in it, to trust it. I’m determined to rest in the knowledge that His love for me has done enough to get me through.
Be encouraged!
Sometimes it’s hard to trust and be in agreement with the plans of someone else regarding the impact of their plans on YOUR life. If someone asked you whether you agree with whatever God has said and planned about your situation, what would be your response? Would you express sincere confidence in His plans for you?
Maybe David of the Bible can be our example of how to be in agreement with God. David, a man who so openly loved and trusted God, knew the power of speaking the Word of God. He said in Psalm 17:4, “…By the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.” Similarly, we must speak the Word of God to keep us off of Satan’s paths that are lined with his burdens and devices of deception. Most importantly, speaking the Word helps us to keep our eyes and mind on Jesus’ love for us, which enables us to agree with His plans and receive the victory over infertility.
Be encouraged!