Tag: Mother’s Day

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day 2016 – It’s a Good Day to Make it a Good Day

Posted on by Evangeline

This is a revised reprint of a previous Mother’s Day post. My thoughts about how to deal with the emotions this day brings haven’t changed so I thought I’d share it again. I hope it encourages you!

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…

Getting Through Mother’s Day

Thankfully, I had a husband who was understanding and got me through the Day without tears (he was good at distracting me and making me laugh). And I had a mother who encouraged me to never give up hope.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Even though Dr. King 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 God’s promises of fertility. Don’t let the doctor’s diagnosis make you lose hope for having a child. There’s a spiritual enemy, the devil, that would love for you to give up on Jesus–don’t let him win. Hope is what gets us through the tough times. Always base your hope on Jesus’ for love you. I overcame infertility because I did not lose hope…I did not give up on God’s promises.

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. Choose to make the Day a good day.

Stay in the Word…allow Jesus’ love to speak to you through it. Need some suggestions for some applicable verses to read? There are plenty of them included in my YouVersion Infertility Bible Reading Plan.

If you’re in the throes of infertility, how difficult is this day for you? Where is your focus?

I encourage you to look to Jesus. Make Him the object of your focus. It’s the promises of fertility found in Him–the Word–that can keep you hope-filled!

Looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy of accomplishing the goal set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God
[revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]. ~Hebrews 12:2 Amplified Bible

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mother’s Day and Infertility

Posted on by Evangeline

mother's day infertilityMother’s Day and infertility–they just don’t seem to go together. If you’re in the throes of infertility, is this a difficult time for you?

I remember some years ago when I dreaded Mother’s Day because I was struggling with infertility and it was difficult to get through that Day without feeling inadequate. Despite all the “trying” my husband and I had been doing, nothing was working and I felt like so out-of-place on that Day.

I wanted to experience pregnancy and it seemed that I couldn’t.

I wanted to watch my tummy grow and it seemed like that could very possibly be impossible.

I wanted to feel the baby kicking and moving inside of me and it seemed that I wouldn’t.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

With infertility, the finite disappointment rolls around on a monthly basis, but don’t allow it to make you lose hope in Jesus’ for love you. Don’t let the doctor’s diagnosis make you lose hope for having a child. There’s a spiritual enemy, the devil, that would love for you to give up on Jesus–don’t let him win. Hope is what gets us through the tough times. I overcame infertility because I did not lose hope…I did not give up on God promises.

Reinforce your hope this week by digging more deeply into God’s promises of fertility. Let them give you courage to rest in His unfailing integrity, His covenantal willingness, and His omnipotent strength. Placing our hope in Jesus is the only sure thing. He desires to be our anchor, especially in times of raging storms.

“We have this HOPE as an anchor for the soul.” ~ Hebrews 6:19

Stay in the Word this week…allow Jesus’ love to speak to you through it. Need some suggestions for some applicable verses to read? Check out the appendix in my fertility devotional, A Seed of Hope: God’s Promises of Fertility for lots of encouraging passages.

How will you cope with Mother’s Day 2015? Please share with us your ways of maintaining hope!

 

Image courtesy of 89studio | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Dreading Mother’s Day?

Posted on by Evangeline

white CarnationIf you’re struggling with infertility, you’re probably already dreading this coming Sunday– Mother’s Day 2014. But here’s a word of encouragement: STOP! 🙂

There are still 5 more days before that Day. If you’re already dreading it, you’re probably experiencing some stress. A day that is meant to celebrate your mother and her maternal love for you should not be allowed stress you out.

Believe me,  I understand through personal experience, the mounting Mother’s Day pressure that has begun (probably even before this week). And, if allowed, it could continue to grow by the weekend. But the woman who started this Mother’s Day movement in 1908 never had the intention that it would become a day to make Potential Moms feel embarrassed, stressed, inferior, or depressed.  Her desire was that each family would honor its mother, as she said,

“I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.” ~Anna Jarvis

Somehow, we’ve turned getting through Mother’s Day into getting through Mother’s Week and unfortunately, that’s of our own doing. I encourage you to not allow dread to influence this entire week as it progresses. Dread promotes stress and stress is no good for you.

Instead, make a choice to change your focus. Choose to focus on good things. Focus on celebrating your mother and her love for you. Focus on the motherly love shown to you by others throughout your life. And if neither of those work to remove/reduce the dread, focus on God’s love for you.

This activity might help– Make a list of what kind of loving and honorable traits you want to have when you become a mother. At the end of the list, write a prayer to God to help you exhibit those attributes. Tuck that list away somewhere and consider it a seed for your future as a mom.

What are the attributes you want to model for your child so that he/she knows that they are loved?
Mother's Day infertility - Philippians-4-8-MSG

Anna Jarvis Quote Source: Wikipedia

 

FREE Infertility Devotional

Posted on by Evangeline

I know getting through Mother’s Day can be tough when you have tried and tried to get pregnant and nothing happens. As a means of encouraging you to keep your hope alive, I am pleased to offer to you or your friends/family the opportunity to get my ebook, “A Seed of Hope: God’s Promises of Fertility”  for FREE during this weekend.

A Seed of Hope---God's Promises of FertilityAlso, consider using this offer as an opportunity to give the ebook as a gift to someone you know who is struggling with infertility. Even if they don’t have an e-reader, they can download it and read it on their computer. Look for the Gift button on the right side of the Amazon sale page.

This offer for the FREE ebook is good only during this weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 5/10-5/12. Click now and get your FREE copy of “A Seed of Hope: God’s Promises of Fertility”.

A Mother’s Day Letter to Pastors

Posted on by Evangeline

As we approach Mother’s Day, I remember how difficult was to get through the Day before I overcame infertility, especially at church. I thought this excerpt from Amy Young’s blog would be good food for thought…especially for pastors as they consider their method of honoring mothers during Sunday’s service.

“To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.”

Mother's day

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!