Tag: TTC

Waiting

Waiting with Hope is the Best Way

Posted on by Evangeline

How long have you been waiting to get pregnant? Does it feel like FOREVER? And, now that Covid-19 has invaded our world, it might feel like the birth of your child will never happen.

However, no matter how long you’ve waited, I want to challenge you in the midst of that kind of thinking and feeling. I challenge you to wait with hope.

Waiting With Hope

How can you wait with hope? Psalm 130:5 tells us:

“I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.”

When you EXPECTANTLY wait, meaning that you are looking for Him to keep His word, you’ll experience hope in the midst of the problem.

You live expecting your breakthrough, all because His Word brings you hope.

When you are waiting with hope, your soul is sustained because you trust in His word.

Your soul awaits rescue as you count on Him and put your hope in His transforming word.

So take time to think about what you’re thinking about. Keep your thoughts on a path of trust. Have confidence that God loves you, wants to help you, and that He keeps His promises. He said so in Isaiah 45:19 NLT–

“I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.” 

That’s why you can wait with hope — because God always keeps His promises.

 

 

 

5 day fertility challenge

5 Days to Focus on the Spiritual Aspect of Your Fertility

Posted on by Evangeline

When dealing with the challenge of infertility, women often only address the physical aspect of the struggle. But what about the spiritual?

I am happy to give you the opportunity to focus on the spiritual aspect of your fertility through a 5-day Challenge on Facebook, starting this Monday, 2/10/20. If you are a member of A Seed of Hope Fertility Group, you can easily participate. If you haven’t joined our group, I’ll be happy to approve your request to join.

For 5 days, I’ll share how to powerfully address the spiritual aspect of infertility.

Get ready to receive great tips about how to enhance your fertility journey– less stress and anxiety, more peace and hope.

Sign up for the challenge  and invite a friend to join you so you both can get the FREE goodies I’ll share!

A 5-Day Challenge to Enhance Your Fertility Journey

Posted on by Evangeline
5 day fertility challenge
I am providing a FREE 5-day challenge in the A Seed of Hope Fertility Group on Facebook. The daily activities of the Enhance Your Fertility Journey…God’s Way Challenge will help you experience more freedom from the lies, stress, and anxiety of infertility. Each day, you’ll walk in God’s truth—His promises of fertility.
The Challenge starts Monday, 9/9/19, and will be provided via email so it’s important that you register. You can register for the challenge at https://bit.ly/2lzEGG3.

Here are the top 4 reasons you don’t want to miss it:

  1. The strategies I’ll share each day will give you a major advantage in how you deal with infertility.
  2. You’ll be encouraged and connect with other like-minded women who are also enduring fertility struggles.
  3. Prizes will be given out!
  4. It’s FREE!

This simple and easy 5-day challenge could be the tipping point for you regarding your fertility.

Also, request to join the Facebook group so that you can participate in the prize drawings and see any pop-up FB Live videos I might do during the week.
Join in and enhance your fertility journey!
feeling hopeless choose hope

Here’s Help if You’re Feeling Hopeless About Your Fertility (or Anything Else)

Posted on by Evangeline

If you’re feeling hopeless about the status of your fertility, you can find help in many ways and from many sources. Sources like your gynecologist, a fertility doctor, a close friend, your parents, books, online forums, etc. But one thing I’m sure of (from personal experience)– the best help will come from God. When you address the spiritual aspect of infertility, you are increasing your opportunity to overcome infertility. And that’s reason to be hopeful!

If you feel hopeless, it’s not because there’s no hope available in your life. It’s because you feel there’s none.

Put an End to Feeling Hopeless

When it feels hard to find hope, look for ways to change things. In the Bible’s account of Abraham and Sarah’s infertility, we see how in spite of hopeless circumstances, Abraham chose to maintain hope.

When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. Romans 4:18 MSG

There are always actions we can take to move past hopelessness and feel better.

  • If a hopeless thought comes to your mind that things are never going to get better, remember a situation in your life when things looked hopeless but did improve. Doing this simple exercise will remind you how feelings will typically pass over time.
  • Express gratitude regularly. Appreciating the present moment will take your attention off of feeling hopeless.

So it boils down to making a choice. You can choose to pay attention to your feelings and have an attitude of hopelessness or, you can choose to focus on God’s love for you and what He has said in His Word. Yes! God has spoken about infertility. He’s even made promises about fertility. Here’s a good one to know:

And He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your body…there shall not be male or female barren among you. Deuteronomy 7:13-14 AMPC

Therefore, choose to remember these thoughts when you are feeling hopeless: You are deeply loved. You are empowered by God’s Word. In Jesus, you are a recipient of the outcome of His promises.

Those are all reasons to be hopeFULL! 🙂

Feeling hopeless about your fertility? Focus on God's love for you and what He has said in His Word. Yes, God has spoken about fertility! Click To Tweet
gratitude in infertility

Being Thankful–Even in the Midst of Infertility

Posted on by Evangeline

“No matter how much we ask for something,
it becomes ours only as we accept it and give thanks for it.”
– Agnes Sanford, The Healing Light

 

Gratitude in infertility is difficult but it is possible. And know that even though you’re not grateful for infertility, you can be grateful in this season of infertility. There is always something to be grateful for! But it’s your choice to communicate and exhibit gratitude.

As a follow-up to my previous blog post, here are some additional effective ways to express and practice gratitude. I hope you find them helpful and that you’ll use them to uplift yourself, especially on “hard” days.

  • Start by remembering that God is with you. If you’ve asked Jesus into your heart, you can be assured He will never leave you. He always desires to bless you with His unfailing grace.

I will never leave you alone, never! And I will not loosen my grip on your life! – Hebrews 13:5

  • Rest in knowing that infertility is not a punishment from Him. Be thankful that God is for you and not against you.

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?
If God is for us, who can ever be against us? – Romans 8:31 NLT

 

Be Encouraged by Expressing Gratitude in Infertility

 

  • Be thankful that He has given so many examples of women who overcame infertility along with promises in the Bible that relate to your fertility.

You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you. – Deuteronomy 7:14 HCSB

  • Thank Him that you can count on Him to make good on His fertility promises.  Even during the moments when you doubt His ability, willingness, and timing, stand firm in being thankful that He keeps His Word.

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. – Isaiah 55:11 NLT

Standing firm in the heavens and fastened to eternity is the word of God. – Psalm 119:89 TPT

  • Believe that He loves you unconditionally, just as much as He loves Jesus, and be thankful for His constant expressions of love.

For they will see that you love each one of them
with the same passionate love that you have for me. John 17:23 TPT

You open yourself to more possibilities when you maintain an attitude of gratitude!

What will you be intentionally thankful for today?

Gratitude in infertility is difficult but it is possible. And know this... even though you’re not grateful FOR infertility, you can be grateful IN this season of infertility. Click To Tweet

Delayed Does Not Mean Denied – RELOADED

Posted on by Evangeline

This blog post initially appeared here in 2014. The version that you see here is RELOADED…I’ve added a few key insights that I hope you’ll find helpful.

A promise of God may be delayed but His Word tells us it is not denied (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Waiting is difficult but when you wait with an attitude of confidence in God’s love for you, maneuvering through the wait can be easier.

Have you prayed for a child for a LOONNGG time? Do you feel like God is ignoring your request or is somehow holding back the one thing that you desperately desire with all of your being? Today, I want to encourage you to not give up while you wait.

Daniel’s Experience of Waiting

Take a look at the Bible’s account about the prophet Daniel and the delay he experienced in the manifestation of his requests to God (Daniel 10:1-12 NLT):

In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship.

2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

4 On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, 5 I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. 6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.

7 Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. 8 So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. 9 Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.

10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

12 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. (emphasis added)

Daniel was a man of boldness; he was not afraid to pray and trust in God, even when it was illegal for him to do so.  Daniel prayed earnestly. He had “set his heart,” that is, devoted himself, to this thing he was praying about.

The Scriptures give the account of how the prophet lamented for 21 days. He did not understand why he had not yet heard from God. He still had not seen the manifestation of his request. He mourned during that time, not eating, not anointing himself. Had the waiting become a distraction to Daniel? Could it be that in the waiting his focus had changed from the faithfulness of God to the troublesome circumstances surrounding him? Not necessarily. There could be something else working behind the scenes to cause the delay in manifestation.

When God, When?

Do you sometimes wonder WHEN God’s promises will manifest in your life? Delays are a strategic tactic of the devil. It’s during the delays that he seeks to fill your mind with fear and doubt. He wants you to ever so slowly lose your trust in God’s love for you and His willingness to answer your prayer.  He wants you to become hopeless, thinking that having a baby will never happen for you. delayed but not denied

The devil wants you to believe that God’s promises of fertility are not true for you. He wants you distracted, stressed out, and anxious about your future. The enemy of your fertility does not want you resting in knowing that God is for you and not against you. He doesn’t want you to trust God to come through on His promises.

But, when you choose to look up and see Jesus in the midst of your situation, you see more clearly that He is right there with you, loving you and wanting to give you the desires of your heart. In Daniel’s case, when he looked up and saw God’s messenger, the messenger acknowledged, “I have come in response to your words” (Daniel 10:12 NASB). He had been dispatched to bring the answer as soon as God heard Daniel’s request.

What had caused the delay? It wasn’t anything that Daniel had done. It wasn’t anything God had done. Evil spiritual forces had interrupted the dispatch and caused the delay. Have you considered that those spiritual forces are possibly causing the delay in the manifestation of God’s promises in your life?  The delay is meant to make you give up, to become hopeless, and to no longer expect that God’s promises will come to pass in your life.

How can you deal with this delay?

The best way to deal with delay is to continue to hold on to God’s promises of fertility by speaking them daily. Speak them with gratitude, as if they have already been granted to you. As you speak them out loud, you build your faith (Romans 10:17). When you repeatedly say them, your mind gets more focused on Jesus. You look at His loving power instead of the turmoil of your circumstances. As you speak them, you’ll find it easier to let go of the problem and let God solve it.

It’s important to realize that God loves you, that He has heard your prayer, and that He wants His promises to manifest in your life. While you wait, it’s critical to trust in God’s faithfulness, to never give up on His promises, and to express gratitude. Yes, you can be thankful in advance of the manifestation!

Remember, delayed does not mean denied when it comes to God’s promises. Address the spiritual aspect of infertility.

Scriptures to Speak and Believe

While you wait, here are some additional scriptures to consider, speak, and believe.

God answers YES to His promises: 2 Corinthians 1:20 HCSB – For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in Him. Therefore, the “Amen” is also spoken through Him by us for God’s glory.

You are loved: John 17:23b ESV – that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.

God doesn’t withhold His goodness: Psalm 84:11 HNV– For the LORD God is a sun and a shield. The LORD will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

You’ve been made blameless (infertility is not a punishment): 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV– “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Trust Him: Jeremiah 17:7 NLT– “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.” Mark 11:22-23 NIV – “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.

God’s word is true and final: Psalm 119:89 NLT – Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven. Matthew 24:35 NIV – Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

It’s a spiritual battle: Ephesians 6:12 NASB– “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”.

Delayed does not mean denied! Trust God's promises of fertility. His answer is YES to all of His promises. #ttc #infertility #Borrowed Hope Click To Tweet
overcoming infertility

My Story of Infertility May Increase and Strengthen Your Hope

Posted on by Evangeline

My Story of Infertility

Every marriage goes through seasons. Just like we confidently expect and prepare for changes in the weather as we move from spring to summer to fall to winter, we should expect changes in our circumstances and prepare for them.

Every marital season requires fresh perspectives and new commitments. We can confidently expect positive change as we transfer our focus from our problem to the ultimate solution that is ALWAYS found in Jesus. Looking to Him is the best form of preparation for any season in life.

I choose to call infertility a season because it’s something that we can expect to change.

But before I go any further, let me give you a bit of my story of infertility.

Because I experienced both infertility and childbirth, I can honestly say that the emotional pain of infertility hurts worse than the physical pain of delivering a baby. As a woman, I felt inadequate during my season of infertility. I thought I was a failure. I couldn’t do the ONE thing that women can do that men can’t–and that is to get pregnant.

My story begins in college at Georgia Tech where I met and fell in love with Freeman. After graduation and working a couple of years we got married and as engineers do, we planned our lives–in detail. We knew how many years we wanted to wait before having kids. And trust me, infertility was nowhere in our plan.

We started “trying” but nothing happened. After multiple visits to doctors, D&C surgeries, and multiple tests, no firm diagnosis was made as to the cause of the infertility but my doctor said indications were that we may never have kids.

My husband and I experienced a roller coaster of emotions–disbelief, fear, anger, sadness, even feeling inferior to our friends who already had children. As time went on, I had to fight against numerous thoughts that were fearful, doubtful, and shame-filled everyday. Yes, I was ashamed that I could not get pregnant. No one else made me feel that way; it was self-inflicted.

I reached a point where I felt I had to make some decisions before moving on to infertility specialists and all the treatments that I may have to endure.  It was in this time frame that I made some decisions (the word “decision” means to cut off all other options).

Decisions I Made

I would not get depressed or become a hermit; I would continue to hang out with my friends and their children and find joy and pleasure in being with them.

  • Psalm 118:24 NKJV – This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

I would enjoy life while we waited; I would not fall into the trap of thinking that life would begin to be good only when we had children.

  • Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV – Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

I would not do the easy thing and give up without a fight; I would continue to hope.

  • Psalm 71:14 ESV – But I will hope continually and will praise You yet more and more.

I would honor God with my faith by believing in His power to change my situation and by letting Him work it out.

  • 1 Peter 5:7 NLT – Give all your cares and worries to God, for He cares about you.
  • Ephesians 1:19 NLT – I also pray that you would understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him.

I would make my marriage the priority—divorce would not be an option. My marriage had to take priority over everything else because I wanted to enjoy living the rest of my life with my husband.

  • Matthew 19:6 NIV – So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together let no one separate.

These decisions were not easy to make nor were they easy to carry out. But they were highly important and extremely powerful in helping my husband and me get through that season of infertility. 

Eventually, I experienced VICTORY! I was able to get pregnant naturally, without any treatments (three times! 🙂 ). Making those decisions to trust God’s Word and to keep believing that His healing Word works made a significant difference in my fertility.

Borrow Some Hope

Now that you know more of my story, I pray that it encourages you and fills some of the holes where your hope has diminished. Hearing about another woman’s story of infertility can be a source of hope when you see how she became an overcomer. God’s promises of fertility are true! “Borrowing” hope from other women’s victories over infertility can help immensely. Some days, it may be the only way to not give up!

I have written a book, Borrowed Hope, about this topic. My friend, Angela Williams, who experienced miscarriage, is my co-author. The book is a unique presentation of Sarah and Abraham’s story of overcoming infertility. Peek into her world and witness her intimate conversations  with Abraham, God, and herself about her season of infertility.

Her story of infertility victory will encourage you and strengthen your hope, propelling you to expect your own victory.

[NOTE] A large portion of this post is an excerpt from the ebook, Infertility Sucks! How to Maintain Hope in Your Marriage During Infertility. Infertility Sucks will give you tips to keep your marriage intact and strong during infertility. You can receive this ebook for FREE, along with other goodies, when you purchase the preorder bundle of Borrowed Hope.  This bundle is available only through October 31, 2018.

Borrowed Hope book

Borrowed Hope – How Sarah’s Infertility Story Can Give You Hope

Posted on by Evangeline

Has hearing the story of someone else’s experience in overcoming a challenge you’ve faced ever given you hope? Has it strengthened your belief that you will overcome too?

That’s the purpose of my next book, Borrowed Hope: Sarah’s Story of Triumph Over Infertility, co-authored by Angela Williams.

Sarah’s Infertility Story

The story of Sarah’s season of waiting is well-known primarily because she waited for so long– 70+ years! The Bible’s account about Sarah shows that she was unable to get pregnant from the start of their marriage. Decades of their lives had been filled with monthly disappointments because Sarah was not pregnant. Imagine what her one-on-one conversations with her husband, Abraham, might have sounded like.

You’re invited to witness conversations that Sarah and Abraham likely had in their long season of infertility. Husbands and wives of today may have very similar conversations since the emotions of a fertility struggle remain the same as what Abraham and Sarah experienced. This is their story of how they had hope in the midst of their season of waiting.

In Sarah’s infertility story, you will see how Sarah experienced the same emotions that you are possibly feeling. You will see how she moves through a gamut of emotions… from fear to doubt and anger but then begins to hope and have faith. Eventually, she transitions into a place of victory!

Pre-order Borrowed Hope

If you’ve become hopeless about your fertility, Borrowed Hope: Sarah’s Story will encourage you and allow you to borrow hope from an overcomer.

Angela and I are so excited to release this book! If you’ve been looking for something that will increase your fertility hope, Borrowed Hope is what you need. Sarah’s Story is the first in a series of Borrowed Hope books that tell the stories of women in the Bible who suffered through infertility. The good news is that EVERY one of them overcame infertility and gave birth to a child.

ALERT: We’re offering a bundle of great bonuses when you pre-order the book! 🙂

The book won’t be available in bookstores until late October. BUT, you can pre-order the book, starting today. By pre-ordering, you can take advantage of getting bonus resources that you’ll absolutely love! Check them out HERE.

 

Borrowed Hope: Sarah’s Story will encourage you and allow you to borrow hope from an overcomer, especially if you’ve become hopeless about your fertility. Click To Tweet

 

Thankful in advance

Being Thankful in Advance Helps to Kindle the Flame of Your Faith

Posted on by Evangeline

Being thankful in advance of seeing the answer to your prayer request is a means of fanning the flame of your faith.

Praying God’s Word is an important principle for answered prayer. Philippians 4:6 encourages us to pray instead of worrying. In the midst of that prayer, we need say what God has said in His Word. And before the end of that prayer, we need to thank God for the answer, even before we see it or experience it. It’s a matter of expecting Him to show a high degree of integrity by following through on His word.

Paul wrote this verse to encourage the Philippians to freely give thanks; to use grateful language as an act of worship. Giving thanks to God is an expression of joy toward Him– of gratitude for HIs favor. Paul also wrote on the topic of being thankful in his letter to the Colossians. He encouraged them to live with an overflow of gratefulness. We’re to never stop giving thanks to God because it’s a form of praise. Praise keeps us aware of His presence!

Thankful During Infertility

I don’t believe I ever felt thankful for the infertility I experienced. But I did find ways to be thankful in it. I was thankful for Jesus’ comfort and wisdom, my supportive husband, my praying mother. My numerous caring and fun friends, the doctor who was understanding about my desire to avoid fertility treatments, my job with benefits, etc. were additional blessings I was thankful for.

Gratitude gave me strength and hope. It was a foundational building block for my faith that I would have a baby.

Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 CEV

Being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith…and overflowing with gratitude.
~ Colossians 2:7 CSB

In the midst of infertility, it’s hard to see much to be thankful for because your focus is always influenced by what you don’t have… a baby. So it becomes a choice to admit that you can’t get along without Him, to purposely recognize God’s kindness, and to have a mindset of gratitude. This mindset involves thinking of ALL that God has done for you, especially in other areas of your life that aren’t directly connected to your fertility. And, it involves thanking Him for His loving hands working on your behalf, even when you can’t see it. You can find ways of thanking Him in advance of seeing the manifestation of your desires.

Thankful in Advance

With each expression of gratitude, you acknowledge the good, the favor, and the sweet harmony in your life. The more you give thanks, the more your awareness shifts from the negative to all the positive experiences you have. Using thankful language regularly redirects your focus to His love for you and away from any pain and lack.

Thankfulness is a way to kindle the flame of your faith. As the intensity of your faith grows, you find yourself more and more in line with God’s plan of abundance in your life. Keep fanning the flames of your faith by expressing your thankfulness!

I never felt thankful FOR the infertility I experienced. But I did find ways to be thankful IN it. Gratitude gave me strength and hope. Click To Tweet

 

 

hope - a healthy habit

She Got Through It By Living On Borrowed Hope — You Can Too

Posted on by Evangeline

Have you ever borrowed anything from a friend because you had completely run out of that item? It’s nice to know that when you’re in a pinch, someone is kind enough to share what they have to make up for what you don’t.

Amazingly, if you feel like you have completely run out of hope, you can borrow some of it too! That’s what a friend did as she struggled with infertility. You can read a portion of her story of victory here.

What I’d like to share about her story that you won’t read in her blog is something she recently said to me while we attended an event. She told me that before she met me, she had been reading my Bible reading plan about fertility on YouVersion. It had been a source of hope for her during a dark time in her life. She considered it a source of “borrowed hope” because she had simply run out it. She didn’t want desperation and bitterness to overtake her. As a believer in Christ, she knew she had to keep hope alive within her… somehow. Borrowing hope from the Biblical accounts of those 8 women in my reading plan helped her maintain hope until she eventually experienced victory and gave birth to a son.

Seeing how others experience victory should prompt us to feel hopeful, not envious or pitiful. When we make a decision to celebrate the victory of others…when we remain determined to have a positive mindset…when we choose to believe that what God has done for others He will do for us… we can live life hope-filled.

Borrowed hope from the victorious experiences of others may be what you need in order to get through the struggle. Or maybe their experiences can serve to boost the hope you’ve forced yourself to maintain.

Either way, today, make the choice to rest in knowing that God loves you and ALWAYS keep His promises.

It’ll make the struggle easier.