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.
Tag: hope
Remember Simba
I am a huge fan of the Lion King movie. When it was first released on DVD, my children and I watched it over and over again. We saw the Lion King parade at Disneyland, and my daughter and I have seen the musical play. All of the characters in this story are so personable. They each remind me of someone I know.
The main character in the story is Simba, a young lion trying to find his way. He has a loving father, Mufasa, who gives him guidance and teaches him what it’s like to be a king. When Mufasa dies, Simba thinks it’s his fault because he believes the lie uncle told him. Fortunately, before Simba gets too far off course, a wise baboon (Rafiki) comes into his life.
Rafiki reminds Simba who he is. He tells him to remember what Mufasa taught him about being a king. I love the scene where Rafiki tells Simba to look in the pond. Simba sees only his own reflection—his weaknesses, his ineptness, his missteps. But Rafiki tells him to “look harder.” When Simba looks again, he sees the reflection of his father, Mufasa, and all of his strength, abilities, and wisdom.
We are much like Simba, believing the lies of the devil and focusing only on our problems and our weaknesses. We too need to be reminded of who we are in Christ. The bible tells us we are Priests and Kings. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit is with us to remind us of the strength, abilities, and wisdom we have because of Jesus.
We are indeed victorious Kings in life when we believe that Jesus’ power resides in us. We are able to have favor-filled lives as we focus on Him and believe that all He provided for us is already ours.
God’s Promises of Fertility
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.
Grace Always
Have you ever wondered if God is mad at you? Do you sometimes wonder if infertility is a result of God’s anger toward you because of something you’ve done or haven’t done?
The best thing to do whenever you’re wondering about the negative things in your life is to look to the Word of God. It continually points us to Jesus and His loving, all-encompassing work on the cross. Do you know that Jesus died for you so that God’s anger toward your missteps, your wrong choices, and your bad behavior would be totally satisfied? Because He died on your behalf, He took ALL the punishment and now you can simply rest in God’s grace.
“Rest” means living life knowing that everything is completed, there’s nothing left to do to satisfy God. Jesus did it perfectly and completely so that you can enjoy receiving all that God’s grace provides. God’s response to the believer in Jesus Christ is always grace. His grace is free, it is unearned favor—nothing you can do to acquire it, nothing you can do to lose it. Grace brings goodness in your life as you continually believe that God is for you and not against you.
So when you are once again faced with wondering if God is angry and sent infertility your way as a result, think again. Only this time, think about His grace toward you and how it is sufficient to turn infertility around and send it packing.
“And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.” ~~Romans 11:6 New Living Translation
Keep Hope Alive!
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!
Think about what you’re thinking about…
When faced with a thought filled with doom and gloom, and it repeatedly comes to mind, it’s hard to maintain a hope-filled focus. That’s exactly when we must remind ourselves that we can choose what we think about. We can dwell on the thought that brings us down and continue to ride that wave of despair, OR, we can switch gears and begin to think about the Truth.
Truth always prevails. It is unshakable. It is unchangeable. It is the foundation upon which we can build a thought-life that brings waves of joy and not sorrow, hope and not despair.
The only Truth I know is the Word of God. It is filled with hope and love. It is food for good thoughts!
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” ~~Philippians 4:8 NLT
Announcing…’A Seed of Hope’ Devotional
Finally, an encouraging devotional for those suffering with infertility! My new ebook, “A Seed of Hope—God’s Promises of Fertility,” is from my perspective of having overcome infertility. It uplifts and brings hope to the reader through daily readings with the premise that nothing is too hard for God, not even infertility.
You’ll be encouraged along your journey to get through this season of childlessness by relying on, speaking, and trusting in the Word of God and His love for you. Please let me know what you think after you take a look inside “A Seed of Hope” .
Devotional Readings that encourage you in the struggle of infertility!
Don’t Ignore…
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
- http://www.resolve.org/infertility101 (Basic understanding of the disease of infertility.)
- http://www.resolve.org/national-infertility-awareness-week/about.html (About NIAW)
Confidence in His Love
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!
Confidence in His Plans
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!