Tag: faith

What is Hope?

Posted on by Evangeline

Hope is not just thinking or wishing that something will happen or thinking, “Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t ; I sure do hope it will.” The Bible definition of hope is different from that “wishy-washy” point of view.

HOPE = THE CONFIDENT EXPECTATION OF SOMETHING GOOD

This confident point of view of God’s willingness to come through in any situation is what gives us the assurance to believe in His love for us and have faith in His Word.

If you’re struggling with infertility, I encourage you to find resources and activities that will promote and strengthen your hope in God. The spiritual aspect of infertility should not be ignored. Having a confident expectation based on the promises of God is what you’ll find in my ebook,  A Seed of Hope: God’s Promises of Fertility. After many requests to have it in print format, I’m pleased to announce that it will soon be available to purchase as a paperback!

This devotional will inspire you to strengthen your hope for a child and to not give up! Each devotional reading in A Seed of Hope will encourage you because it is a product of my struggle and God-given victory over infertility.

To reserve your paperback copy and to receive an additional bonus with it, please fill in the information below.

Paperback Edition

Faith Speaks

Posted on by Evangeline

Faith Speaks

Faith speaks. What does it speak? It speaks the words that God has said. Speaking His Word is a demonstration of believing and being in agreement with His Word. This is made clear in 2 Corinthians 4:13 [NASB], “But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe, therefore we also speak.” This is a reference to what the psalmist had said in Psalm 116:10. He expressed his belief in God’s love for him as he cried out to God in his affliction.

We see this same principle of believing and speaking in Romans 10:4-10. In fact, the very blessing of salvation is based on believing and speaking (Romans 10:9,10). If the greatest gift that God has given us comes through believing and speaking, surely any other blessings are accessible in the same way. God wants us to rest in His love and receive His blessings through simply believing what He has said us. He has given us the position as a joint heir with Jesus and wants us to speak what He has said in His Word about our circumstances.

Be encouraged as you relax in knowing that Father God loves you immensely. He has already made a way out of  life’s difficult circumstances by sending Jesus to meet all our needs. Find what He has promised you in the Bible, have faith in that Word as you believe and speak it, and, with confident expectation, continue to do so until you see His promise manifested.

Remember, faith speaks!

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft Images

Why Should I Be…Joyful

Posted on by Evangeline

Happiness is an emotion and is based on our external circumstances.  It fluctuates and is temporary. On the other hand, joy is more an attitude of the heart. Joy is a much stronger factor in our lives than happiness ever could be.

Joy is based on receiving God’s love (Galatians 5:22). It is a by-product of His Spirit dwelling in us and producing growth in our spirit. Joy is stable because it is based on the unchanging love Jesus has for us. Our relationship with Him allows us to enjoy His presence at any time, even in the midst of the worst hurt. In His presence, there is fulness (abundance) of joy! So when there are circumstances in our lives  that challenge us to our core, and prevent us from finding anything to be happy about, we can still have joy because we find solace in knowing that we are loved by the One who is Love!

Being joyful is a choice. That’s because even in the midst of severe tests and trials, joy can still exist in our hearts and be exhibited in our actions. During hard times, we can choose to be miserable or we can choose to find pleasure in our relationship with Jesus, knowing that He brings life, peace, strength, comfort and much more. The joy that is resident in Him is full, complete, and perfect. That joy is a place and means of safety, protection and refuge for us in good and bad times alike. (Strong’s Concordance)

It’s no wonder that Paul reiterated to the Philippians to rejoice and again, to rejoice.

Joy…it’s a good thing!

Graphic source:  http://www.marilynmoll.com/2010/01/the-joy-of-the-lord-is-my-strength/

Want Great Results?

Posted on by Evangeline

Ruth, a woman whose story is found in the Old Testament, was living a life that seemed desolate of anything good. Her husband had died, leaving her childless. Her father-in-law and brother-in-law had both died, leaving Ruth, her mother-in-law (Naomi) and sister-in-law without a family provider. She was living in a country that was not her own so she had no nearby relatives who could help her. There was famine throughout the land. Talk about unfavorable life circumstances!

But Ruth chose to put her faith in the God of her Hebrew mother-in-law. She was determined to see the salvation and deliverance that she believed God had for her. Even while she lived in seemingly unbearable conditions, she believed that God would ultimately show her favor.

Ruth and Naomi traveled back to Naomi’s homeland, hoping to find a family member who would show kindness and assist them.  Ruth chose to declare that God would help them and provide for them. She trusted that He would lead her to the right field to glean and to its kind owner. God honored her faith in Him. She began to see His hand of favor operate in her life. God led her to Boaz, who loved her and redeemed her. Instead of being a poor, childless widow, she experienced marriage, wealth, and motherhood. Faith in God’s favor produced great results!

Want great results in your life? Believe that God’s loving hand of favor is on you. Declare it every day!

Please come back and share the wonderful results you experience due to believing and declaring God’s favor in your life.

Enlarge Your Territory!

Posted on by Evangeline

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’m Just Sayin’

Posted on by Evangeline

I have learned, and am still learning, how important my words are. Not only do they let others know what I think, but also they are actually vessels filled with the power to change things in my life or to keep things the same.

Zig Ziglar, a world-renowned motivation speaker said, “You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.”  Other than images, words are what go into your mind. God designed this universe to respond to words. He spoke words and things happened (Genesis 1). That’s why He sent the prophets of the Old Testament, to speak the words that He spoke about things so that those words would cause His plan to happen.

Throughout the book of Isaiah in the Bible, we see so many prophetic words about what was coming in the future through the Messiah. Those prophecies proclaim the things to come so that the words would set in motion those things that God included in His plan for man. All of those words were eventually fulfilled, accomplished, and completed through Jesus.

God has placed that same significance and power in our words. Our words are able to change our personal world when we speak what God says about our situation. The act of saying what God says (His promises), initiates, strengthens and builds our faith. Believing and speaking His promises instead of repeatedly speaking our problems can change our personal world.

So if God said it, I choose to believe it AND I choose to say it (2 Corinthians 4:13).

A Blessing For You

Posted on by Evangeline

In Genesis 24:60, Rebekah’s family spoke a blessing over her as she was leaving their household to be married to Isaac. It’s a lesson in the power of the blessing. Her family had no idea that she would later face a struggle with infertility [Genesis 25:21]. But the blessing they spoke  her was irreversible. Those words put something into motion on her behalf that would not be thwarted. She did indeed give birth…to twins!

God’s blessing is the same way. Once He speaks it, it’s a done deal. Job 42:2 (Amplified Bible) states, “I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted.”

So trust that the blessing of the Lord is for you. Speak the blessing of the womb that was spoken over Rebekah for yourself. Meditate on it daily as Truth, as YOUR truth from God. Find other scriptures that support that blessing and believe that what the mouth of the Lord has spoken shall indeed come to pass in your life.

Be blessed…

“And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, You are our sister; may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your posterity possess the gate of their enemies.” Genesis 24:60

God’s Promises of Fertility

Posted on by Evangeline

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.

Keep Hope Alive!

Posted on by Evangeline

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!

Coping with Mother’s Day

Posted on by Evangeline

Mother's day

When I was on the frontline of the battle against infertility, Mother’s Day was difficult to celebrate. Of course, I honored my own mother but something inside me yearned for the ability to celebrate it with my own child.

I wanted to experience pregnancy. I wanted to watch my tummy grow. I wanted to feel the baby kicking and moving inside of me. I wanted to be the one who could console my child when no one else could. But it wasn’t happening…

Thankfully, I had a husband who was understanding and got me through the day without tears (he was good at distracting me). And I had a mother who encouraged me to never give up hope. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” Even though he was referring to the Civil Rights struggle, it is applicable to this personal struggle of dealing with childlessness. With infertility, the finite disappointment rolls around on a monthly basis, but don’t allow it to make you lose hope in having a child.

Childlessness can drain you emotionally, if you let it. It can sink you into great despair, if you let it. I encourage you to find creative ways to maintain ongoing, infinite hope.

How will you cope with Mother’s Day 2012? Please share with us your ways of maintaining hope!