Hopelessness during infertility. The two seem to go together. But do they have to?
The danger of hopelessness is a loss of your joy, a critical element in maintaining hope. Hopelessness is spawned from giving up. Giving up on something means losing faith or belief that the thing will ever happen. It’s an act of surrender to an enemy. You feel forced to give up and give in.
In the case of infertility, giving up is the choice someone makes when they declare that they are abandoning the fertility promises God made. It’s a decision that infertility is incurable or unsolvable. As hopelessness swirls into every area of life and becomes a consuming power, it pulls all kinds of negative and dangerous thoughts into one’s mind. One might think that infertility is too hard for God (it’s not–Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:27). Or she may choose to think that God’s promises are not for everyone (they are — 2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Peter 1:3-4).
But I want to offer an alternative to the hopelessness. There is no need to abdicate your position of authority over infertility when you are focused on Jesus, the One who is the cure for everything. Focus is everything. Keep your focus on the Problem-Solver instead of on the problem.
Decide now to continue to trust God’s promises of fertility as being solid ground to stand on. They are never shaky because God does not lie; they are not like quicksand because they are based on the Solid Rock, Jesus. His promises are His forever-settled Word— God’s Word is His bond.
It can be tough to continue to have hope when your faith has become weak and you feel like giving up. But that’s the time to take this essential next step:
- Speak and sing words of God’s praise to yourself and thank Him in advance of the manifestation of His promises. Do this repeatedly, every day.
Those words will begin to bring the joy back into your situation and soon you’ll feel strong again because “the joy of the Lord is our strength!”
“Sometimes you want to give up, but you can’t–something deep inside you won’t let you. No white flags, no bailing out, no throwing in the towel for you. You have to keep going; you must carry on you just take the next step…and the next…and the next.” ~B. J. Gallagher
HOW CLOSE ARE YOU?
You may be closer than you think!
“Keep Calm” image courtesy of Keepcalm-omatic.com
