During our infertility journey, I contacted countless other women to hear their stories. I wanted their perspective to learn from their experience and see how it could apply to our situation. That’s how I process things best, by learning and hearing from others, which is why community is so important! While their exact circumstance or diagnosis may have been different than mine, hearing the protocols they took, doctors they met with, and overall advice, really helped me. It challenged me to think differently about our situation. Many of the women I visited with had eventually gotten pregnant, which always led me to ask this one question, “What did you do different?”
Since our announcement, we’ve been asked this question multiple times and today I want to share our response to bring help and hope for your situation. While it may not be the answer you were expecting or want to hear, I know, without a doubt, it’s the reason we are pregnant today.
Obedience
Before infertility, I’d always thought obedience meant following the rules, the 10 Commandments, etc. I thought I was pretty good at this obedience thing until I realized it’s more than just the things I don’t do. You see, obedience is also our willingness to surrender our plans and follow God’s: despite being afraid, despite feeling inadequate, despite our own understanding, despite knowing how or why.
For us, it involved, what seemed like starting over in December 2018. Not something most people want to do when it comes to infertility because you feel like the clock is ticking. We felt God calling us to go a different direction with our infertility journey and we listened. Many times, I wondered if what we were doing would help us reach our goal of pregnancy, but we were at peace about our decision and stayed the course. For further specifics read Medical Update or Knowing Which Way to Go.
Obedience is not easy, but speaking from experience, it is beyond worth it. It created this entirely new dependence on God, that deepened my trust in Him like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
Prayers
Your prayers matter. When you speak to God, He listens. It was May 2018 and I was listening to a sermon from Rick Warren about breakthrough prayer. This message was a game changer for me. My prayers before were begging God to get us pregnant and I wasn’t consistent with my request. After hearing this sermon, from that day forward, every day, three times a day, I said this prayer, “Thank you Lord for getting us pregnant this year.”
At first, it felt weird thanking God for something I didn’t physically have, but as days turned into months, I became more confident in my prayer and believed He would provide. In addition, we had an army of friends, family and strangers praying on our behalf. I have no idea why September 2018 was the proper time for us to get pregnant, but I trust God’s timing and can’t wait to see His plans unfold for our child.
I believe our story was written this way for one reason: to bring God glory. He is the reason we are pregnant today. It all points back to Him. Without His guidance, our obedience to trust Him and and prayers surrounding us, our journey would’ve looked a lot different. Simply stated, our relationship with Jesus is what we did differently.
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Please share with someone you know who could use some encouragement in the wait.
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