Let's dig in to Part 1 of my Conceiving Naturally Series - Against the Odds.
Click here to go to the series Intro if you missed it.
1. Prayer and Submission (you're on it!)
2. Finding the Right Doctor
3. The Role of Hormones
Sections to come:
4. Diet - Hers
5. Diet - His
6. Herbs, Extracts, and Supplements
7. Exercise
8. Chiropractic
9. Acupuncture
10. Massage
11. Timing: Ovulation Calculators, Ovulation Predictor Test Kits, and the Rhythm Method
12. The Fun in Trying :)
Go to the next section: Finding the Right Doctor
Click here to go to the series Intro if you missed it.
1. Prayer and Submission (you're on it!)
2. Finding the Right Doctor
3. The Role of Hormones
Sections to come:
4. Diet - Hers
5. Diet - His
6. Herbs, Extracts, and Supplements
7. Exercise
8. Chiropractic
9. Acupuncture
10. Massage
11. Timing: Ovulation Calculators, Ovulation Predictor Test Kits, and the Rhythm Method
12. The Fun in Trying :)
PRAYER AND SUBMISSION
If you are a praying person, hopefully this is a given first step in trying to conceive (TTC). If you aren't a praying person, I still hope that you will read on and keep an open mind.
As I have said before, this is my own personal journey into motherhood. I am not the keeper of the universe, therefore can not make promises that will guarantee you a bun in your anxiously waiting oven.
I was desperate for a child for a long time. I thought about having one all the day long. The desperation part was not healthy for me. Each passing month the test was negative was only another month without a baby to me. I do not recommend this mentality.
Letting go while still longing and striving toward the goal. Is this possible? Yes.
This is absolutely the hardest part, which is precisely why I wanted to cover it first. This is not simply a first step I took and moved on. This needed to continue on. Like an anchor in my soul.
Letting go while still longing and striving toward the goal. Is this possible? Yes.
This is absolutely the hardest part, which is precisely why I wanted to cover it first. This is not simply a first step I took and moved on. This needed to continue on. Like an anchor in my soul.
If you don't have any faith, you can most definitely ask for that. In my personal walk with the Lord, I have come to understand that He wants me to admit my weakness and just let Him be the all powerful One that He has always been, is, and always will be. So. No faith? Ask. Hmmm...still none? Keep asking (maybe throw in a patience request while you're at it).
Tim and I began "trying" early in our marriage. We decided to put on the "let it happen when it happens" mentality and just kinda watched the calendar with one eye. From the start we prayed together and looking back through the last 5 years I can see how prayer has truly been like sweet incense (Psalm 141:2) moving through each and every turn and phase of our marriage. There's just something about being in your husband's arms, right? Well, add him praying over you to that and notice life's tensions fade a little. We prayed that God would give us a child in His perfect time and we trusted Him. Over time, this prayer was harder to pray without a big "BUT" after it ... followed by pleading, and often tears on my part.
Exactly a year before we got pregnant, I truly surrendered for the first time. Tim was working in Natural Gas fields during this period and was gone a lot. I was alone in my room, unable to sleep and letting myself drown in the sorrow of my utter barrenness. It's easy to look back now and kinda chuckle, thinking myself pathetic ... but those moments were raw and real when I was very much in the middle of them. In my brokenness I heard that small voice simply say, "Read Psalms." Delayed obedience is disobedience so I reached for my Bible, cracked it open in the middle, and started with Psalm 1 ... figuring I'd know when I got the message trying to be sent.
I was running through the Psalms and came to an abrupt halt when I slammed into this wall of a passage from Psalm 17:14-15
"...from men by your hand, O Lord,
from men of the world whose portion
is in this life.
You fill their womb with treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to
their infants.
As for me, I shall behold your face in
righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with
your likeness."
Wow. Stunned in silence. I was completely struck with a lightening bolt. I felt hot and found-out. I read it over and over and through the tears (you will find that I am quite the teary lady) admitted that I had been putting my treasure in FUTURE children...not even ones I had yet. I was under the assumption that I would find satisfaction in a gift from God instead of God. I was floored that He would care enough to meet me face to face and bring this to the surface. After a long talk with God, I slept soundly ... and when I awoke, I was satisfied with His likeness.
That was a turning point in our journey of trying to conceive. It changed the way I looked at my present and future with Tim. Maybe it would only be us. Maybe we would adopt. Maybe we would have children biologically. Whatever the circumstances, they were not going to be my treasure. A child was not going to bring me ultimate satisfaction. It was time to surrender the reigns along with the metaphorical whip I had taken to my own (and Tim's) backside a few times.
This did not mean all my heart's desires and longings went out the window. God gave me my heart and those yearnings, my passions, my imagination. I would continue to envision myself as a Mommy some day and we still earnestly prayed for children and continued on with the other 11 parts of this series toward our goal of conceiving naturally.
If you need a little help in the praying department, here is one you might start with...and may I suggest prior to your first big step: take a deep breath, close your eyes, and even get down on your knees. Your life is about to change.
Tim and I began "trying" early in our marriage. We decided to put on the "let it happen when it happens" mentality and just kinda watched the calendar with one eye. From the start we prayed together and looking back through the last 5 years I can see how prayer has truly been like sweet incense (Psalm 141:2) moving through each and every turn and phase of our marriage. There's just something about being in your husband's arms, right? Well, add him praying over you to that and notice life's tensions fade a little. We prayed that God would give us a child in His perfect time and we trusted Him. Over time, this prayer was harder to pray without a big "BUT" after it ... followed by pleading, and often tears on my part.
Exactly a year before we got pregnant, I truly surrendered for the first time. Tim was working in Natural Gas fields during this period and was gone a lot. I was alone in my room, unable to sleep and letting myself drown in the sorrow of my utter barrenness. It's easy to look back now and kinda chuckle, thinking myself pathetic ... but those moments were raw and real when I was very much in the middle of them. In my brokenness I heard that small voice simply say, "Read Psalms." Delayed obedience is disobedience so I reached for my Bible, cracked it open in the middle, and started with Psalm 1 ... figuring I'd know when I got the message trying to be sent.
I was running through the Psalms and came to an abrupt halt when I slammed into this wall of a passage from Psalm 17:14-15
"...from men by your hand, O Lord,
from men of the world whose portion
is in this life.
You fill their womb with treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to
their infants.
As for me, I shall behold your face in
righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with
your likeness."
Wow. Stunned in silence. I was completely struck with a lightening bolt. I felt hot and found-out. I read it over and over and through the tears (you will find that I am quite the teary lady) admitted that I had been putting my treasure in FUTURE children...not even ones I had yet. I was under the assumption that I would find satisfaction in a gift from God instead of God. I was floored that He would care enough to meet me face to face and bring this to the surface. After a long talk with God, I slept soundly ... and when I awoke, I was satisfied with His likeness.
That was a turning point in our journey of trying to conceive. It changed the way I looked at my present and future with Tim. Maybe it would only be us. Maybe we would adopt. Maybe we would have children biologically. Whatever the circumstances, they were not going to be my treasure. A child was not going to bring me ultimate satisfaction. It was time to surrender the reigns along with the metaphorical whip I had taken to my own (and Tim's) backside a few times.
This did not mean all my heart's desires and longings went out the window. God gave me my heart and those yearnings, my passions, my imagination. I would continue to envision myself as a Mommy some day and we still earnestly prayed for children and continued on with the other 11 parts of this series toward our goal of conceiving naturally.
If you need a little help in the praying department, here is one you might start with...and may I suggest prior to your first big step: take a deep breath, close your eyes, and even get down on your knees. Your life is about to change.
God,
Help us.
We need you.
We can't do this on our own.
Come breathe your life into us and bless us with a child.
Direct us to the ways and means you have for us to make this dream a reality.
Take the anxiety from us so we are able to enjoy the process no matter how long it may be, not matter what the outcome.
Let our hopes rest in you and you alone.
Amen.
Let our hopes rest in you and you alone.
Amen.
Go to the next section: Finding the Right Doctor
This is going to help a lot of people, Jen. Great info!!
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