"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!"A young married woman unloaded her marriage frustrations on a radio call-in show. Her husband had forgotten what the word romance meant. He never thought to bring her a sweet card or to plan a date. He didn't thank her or even notice her hard work, like laundry and keeping the house clean, along with working full-time.
Isaiah 43:18,19a (NIV)
Dear Lord, You make all things new. Will You give me new eyes to see the good things I sometimes miss? Help me not to dwell on the past but to focus on the present and future. You are making a way, Lord, and I trust You with my heart, my husband and my marriage. Help us deal with any issues that are damaging our relationship, so we can appreciate the new things You're doing. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Some days are particularly hard.
People tell me I have children, why should I be so discouraged about
not having more? As
though the presence of my kids will take away the yearning in my
heart for a child whom I feel the absence of.
It doesn't. No more than the presence of remaining children replaces
the children I have lost.
I have carried children to term before.
I know my body is capable of it, and yet it stubbornly refuses to
cooperate now. I
took it for granted, the ability to conceive a life and hold
it inside me long enough to beget a child to raise.
I no longer do. I fully recognize the wondrous miracle that it is.
Infertility hurts.
It does not matter when it happens. If the desire to bring a child
into the world has entered your mind, filled your thoughts, and
tugged at your heart, the denial of that vision seems very personal. ....Why should the Lord deny me the ability?
Infertility strikes all walks of
life. There is less sympathy for those with less affluence, yet
they hurt just as deeply, with less ability to seek technological
intervention. The well to do suffer too, and often all the resources
in the world cannot provide the miracle they desire.
Life marches on around them, oblivious
to the monthly cycle of hope, discouragement, and then depression
as they determine not to even hope again, and then back to hope
again simply because as long as you live you have to hope or you
die, even though you wish you could stop hoping so that the cycle
of disappointment would stop. They feel to cry, as Rachel, "Give
me children, else I die!". But the cries stay within their
heart, often unspoken even to God, the full depth of sorrow held
down deep and perhaps not even fully acknowledged to themselves.
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