Tag: barrenness

A Seed of Hope Fertility Support Group

Posted on by Evangeline

fertility support group

Need some encouragement as you go through this season of infertility?

I am excited to introduce A Seed of Hope fertility support group, a “Closed” Facebook group created to serve women struggling with infertility. Fertility solutions can be found in God’s Word and this group will serve to encourage you  and help you find hope in God’s Word and His promises of fertility.

Living with infertility can leave you feeling isolated, with no one to talk to who really understands the reality of it. By being a part of this group, you won’t have to walk this journey alone.

  • Connect with like-minded women who understand the unique challenge of infertility.
  • Anchor yourself in the hope found in God’s Word so you can diminish doubt and not give up.
  • Share stories and be inspired to take positive action during this season of infertility.

This group is unique in that we will address the spiritual aspect of infertility and will look to God’s Word for encouragement, direction, and hope. I will moderate the group, occasionally posing questions to foster more confidence in God’s promises of fertility.

Come join us on Facebook in our new fertility support group. Become an active part of this uplifting community!

IMPORTANT: Because the group is a Secret Facebook group, you’ll need to email me at Evangeline@EvangelineColbert.com or message me on Facebook to let me know of your desire to join and then I can send you the Facebook invitation to join.

One is Barren, One is Fruitful

Posted on by Evangeline

Barren and Fruitful

As I was reading Jeremiah 17 this morning, I was struck by the contrast of barren and fruitful that’s mentioned in verses 5-8 (Message Bible):

God’s Message:

“Cursed is the strong one
    who depends on mere humans,
Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone
    and sets God aside as dead weight.
He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,
    out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless
    in a land where nothing grows.

 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
    the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden,
    putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
    never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
    bearing fresh fruit every season.

Can you see the dry, desert ground where nothing but weeds can flourish? This scripture is an astounding picture of the barrenness that comes in life while we don’t trust God’s love and His willingness to bring good things to us.  The tumbleweed doesn’t rely on anything to keep it stable and growing.  The hot winds that blow through the desert serve only to push the plant that has no roots; bouncing it up and down, carrying it without any real destination, giving it no purpose. That’s how life can feel in various seasons when we choose not to trust God’s love.

But wait…there’s HOPE! This passage also shows us the wonderful blessings that come our way when we choose to believe God’s Word and confidently trust His very personal love. His Word acts as water from an eternal stream or river that keeps the nearby soil moist and full of life-giving nutrients.We can be serene and calm, as if we were a tree in the Garden of Eden, when we trust God’s promises found in His Word.  Like that tree, even as drought conditions come, we are not prone to be anxious because we’ve sunk our roots deep into the soil that’s been watered by the Word. As our roots spread, they gain more and more strength and the Word promotes life within us. The Amplified Bible says that trusting in God is so powerful that we may not even see, notice, or be swayed by the heat and the drought conditions surrounding us. I believe it’s all because God’s Word provides supernatural nourishment for our parched souls and His provision is always more than what we need.

An additional point of good news is that as a believer in Jesus, you have been delivered and forever set free from the curse mentioned in verses 5-6. No matter what circumstances you may be dealing with right now, you are no longer under the curse (Galatians 3:13-14)! God is a giver of good things and has a good plan for you. Because of Jesus’ love for you, you can choose to confidently trust God’s promises that apply to your situation and experience the serenity and fruitfulness that He had planned for you all along.

What do you do to increase your trust in Jesus’ love and His promises?

Monday’s Marinade – I’m Here

Posted on by Evangeline

Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating  about how God is right there with you in the midst of your circumstances. Repeatedly think about this and quietly say it to yourself.  Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!

Here’s your spiritual marinade for this week:

Monday's Marinade-God is here

10 Bible Verses All Women Facing Infertility Need to Know

Posted on by Evangeline

Here is a consolidation of  a couple of posts that I previously shared. I hope you find this encouraging and a source of light in what can be a dark and lonely experience.

If you are struggling with infertility, you know what a hopeless situation it can become, if you let it. When I dealt with it, I found the best source of hope was the Bible. It contains numerous scriptures that pertain directly to infertility. It also gives many accounts of women who were once barren/infertile/childless but became a mother, all because they trusted God to be true to His promises of fertility.

Infertility Sucks! But I know from personal experience that it can be overcome. Here are some verses that I meditated on and repeatedly used as verbal affirmations, putting my name in each scripture.  You’ll find them to beBelieve Infertile Woman Bible Verse great sources of HOPE.

Deuteronomy 7:14 [NKJV] ~ “You shall be blessed above all people; there shall not be male or female barren among you.”

Isaiah 50:7 [NKJV] ~ “For the Lord God will help me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.”

Leviticus 26:9 [Amplified Bible] ~ “For I will be leaning toward you with favor and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you and establishing and ratifying my covenant with you.”

Hebrews 11:11 [NLT] ~ “It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.”

Luke 1:37 ~ “For with God NOTHING shall be impossible.”

 

Sunset CloudsJohn 17:23 (NLT)- “…you love them as much as you love me [Jesus]”

Lamentations 3:26 (NKJV)- “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Hebrews 13: 5 (NLT)- “For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

1 John 5:4 (NLT)- “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.”

1 John 5:14, 15 (NIV)- “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

 

 

What other bible verses do you depend on to give you hope during infertility?

 

 

More on Follow Through

Posted on by Evangeline

Follow thru rockEarlier this month, I shared that I want to follow through on the things I need to do, for myself, my family and for you. This is a component of my effort to finish strong in 2014.

September is more than half over so I thought I’d let you know how things are going for me.

 

follow through- Falcon CrestI followed through on surprising my husband for his birthday with a trip to the cool pines of Payson, AZ for a weekend. He loved it! It was worth the torment of wanting to tell him all about the plans I was making but not being able to so that I could wake him up and say, “Pack a bag! I’m taking you away for the weekend.” It was our first time staying at a Bed & Breakfast. The Falcon Crest B&B was wonderful and the owners, Al and Linda, made it a very special time for us with their hospitality. As you can see, Linda baked a birthday cake for him!

 

Another big item that I needed to get done in September was my iHope Fertility Game Plan Teleseminar. I hosted the call on last Saturday. It was thrilling that over 35 people signed up for the call! If you were one of those ladies, I hope you got lots of encouragement.

On that call, I invited everyone to checkout my new online course, 50 Days of Unleashing Fertility Hope. To get the details about your opportunity to decrease the stress of infertility and increase your hope, click HERE.

Planning this course has been a joy for me because I know that it will help those who choose to use it.

50 Days of Unleashing Fertility Hope

I hope that you’ll see the benefit of taking advantage of this opportunity to:

  • Decrease the level of stress you experience everyday using specific tools I’ll share
  • Incorporate a daily strategy that can help you put worry on the run
  • Remove doubt caused by infertility’s mind-chatter
  • Anchor yourself in hope so you don’t give up
  • Focus on receiving the promised benefits of God

I’m SO glad I followed through on this desire to bring a course to you that you can access 24/7 AND have the opportunity to have weekly coaching calls.

Check it out. 

 

Right now, I’m about to follow through on getting a few smaller things checked off of my To Do list (like washing the dishes). 🙂

Praying that you’ve been able to do some follow through, especially on things that are important to you.

On what one thing that you still need to follow through?

Focus Friday – Blessed Future

Posted on by Evangeline

Have confidence that God loves you and has a blessed future planned for you.  Focus on this scripture throughout the day. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth.  Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day.

Focus Friday Psalm 16:5 future

Bringing Champions to Birth

Posted on by Evangeline

It’s important to bring God’s champions to birth. They make a difference in this world!

I want to encourage you visit to my friend’s blog at www.waitingforbabybird.com. Elisha shares her desire to celebrate the victory of childbirth, even before it’s manifested in her life.

Here’s a note of encouragement that I wrote in May 2012 about barrenness, with a similar theme about champions. I thought I’d share it with you today.

Champions
Photo source: www.trophies2go.com

Champions are sometimes born and not necessarily made. Examples would be Isaac, Samson, and John the Baptist. Each of them were born of mothers who had suffered with infertility. Each of these sons made a champion-sized difference in their nation.

Their mothers, Sarah, Manoah’s wife, and Elizabeth, respectively, each thought they would never give birth to a child, after years of “trying.” But God had a different thought. He saw the future He had planned for them. It was a plan of fertility: a future of overcoming barrenness. It was a plan based on His love for them. When they each BELIEVED in His plan and His love, they each conceived and successfully delivered a healthy baby.

Want to know God’s love-plan for you? You’ll find it in the Bible—His Word. It contains many promises for fertility and examples of women who overcame barrenness/ infertility.

I encourage you to trust God and BELIEVE in His love-plan for you.

If you need some help in believing God’s promises of fertility for you and maintaining hope for the champion you desire to birth, 50 Days of Unleashing Fertility Hope may be just what you need. This is an online program, which is an extension of my book, A Seed of Hope, that can help you unleash hope. It starts on 9/27/14 and will give you access to a community of other like-minded women—women who want to bring champions to birth.

Click here for more information and to register. 

Focus Friday – No Barrenness

Posted on by Evangeline

Focus on this scripture throughout the day. Be comforted knowing that barrenness is not what God desires for you. God’s desire is for you to experience a fruitful, abundant life– in your body and in ALL areas of your life.  Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth.  Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day.

Focus Friday- No Barrenness

Fertility Teleseminar is Tomorrow!

Posted on by Evangeline

iHope Fertility Game Plan Teleseminar

Do you struggle with maintaining hope in God’s promises during infertility?

I’m excited that tomorrow, Saturday, 9/13/14, I will host a teleseminar for women dealing with infertility. You can access this fertility teleseminar simply by using your phone. During the call, I’ll share a blueprint that will help you to effectively address the spiritual aspect of infertility. I hope you’ll join me for this time of encouragement and prayer. Your access to the call is FREE.

This call will help you learn crucial strategies to:

  • Transform your despair into hope
  • Release your stress
  • Know God’s Truth as your truth
  • Activate your faith

Get access to this free call HERE.

Infertility's roller coaster
Are you riding infertility’s roller coaster?

If you’re tired of being on the drops, curves, and loops of infertility’s emotional roller coaster, this call is for you.

If you’re feeling like God has forgotten you, this call is for you.

If you’re about to give up on God coming through for you, this call is for you.

If you’re walking strong in your faith, but need a little pep added to your step, this call is for you.

 

 

I’m looking forward to sharing with you some very simple and easy, yet crucial keys that can help you if you put them into action.

Join me on the call; it’s absolutely FREE.

It’s not too late to share this post with friends who are in the season of infertility. Let’s encourage as many people as we can!

Click here to get the call’s dial-in details.

I’ll “see” you and your friends TOMORROW! 🙂

Delayed but not Denied

Posted on by Evangeline

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

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 desire with all of your being? Today, I want to encourage you to not give up while you wait.

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). 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, not understanding why he had not yet heard from God. He mourned during that time, not eating, not anointing himself. Is it possible that the waiting had 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 doubt. He wants you to ever so slowly lose your trust in God’s 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 rather than resting in knowing that God’s promises are true for you.

But, when you look up and see Jesus in the midst of your situation, you see more clearly that He is right there with you. He’s 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 said 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 spiritual forces are 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.

The manifestation of a promise of God may be delayed but His Word tells us it is not denied (2 Corinthians 1:20). Click To Tweet

How can you deal with this delay?

The best way is to continue to hold on to His promises by speaking them daily. Speak them with gratitude, as if they have already been granted to you. As you speak them, you build your faith (Romans 10:17). When you speak them, your mind stays focused on Jesus and 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. Then it’s easier to believe He has heard your prayer. And you’ll know that He wants His promises to manifest in your life. While you wait, it’s critical to trust in God’s faithfulness and to never give up on His promises.

The spiritual aspect of infertility always needs to be addressed. So remember, delayed does not mean denied when it comes to God’s promises. 

Helpful Scriptures for the Enduring the Delay

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

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”.

Where’s your focus while you wait—on your problem or on Jesus?