When God Says "Not Yet"

So this week is National Infertility Awareness week.  Who knew?  Not to make light of it, but man, there is a week (or month) for everything these days!  Nearly every illness, every disorder, every issue or problem has a day/week/month set aside to make people aware of it.  So this is the week to make people aware of the problem of infertility.

Infertility is rough, y'all.  When you desperately want to be a mom, or dad, and it's just not happening for you, it's not an easy place to be.  While all of your friends and family are years-deep into that stage of life, an you have yet to experience even a second of it, it is really disheartening.  And sadly, so many couples go through it completely alone. 

If that's you, I'm so sorry!  There's nothing I can say that you probably haven't already heard, and no words (of mine) that will truly give you comfort.  Waiting is hard. It stinks. It hurts.

You know what though, this problem that our family went through turned out to be one of the biggest blessings of mine and Kevin's life.  God has a way of using things that we think of as problems and turning them into something beautiful, all for His glory.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose for them.  
Romans 8:28

Girls especially often dream of being a Mommy one day.  In fact, Kevin puts Kate to bed each night and he always asks her "Kate, what is the most important thing?", and she'll tell him "To love Jesus."  Then he says "And if you love Jesus, then what can you do?".  She answers with "Anything I want!"  Sometimes she'll say she wants to be a soldier, or a doctor, or a teacher but most often, I hear her say she wants to be a mommy.  That makes my mommy-heart pretty happy!  (I especially love it when she says she wants to be a teacher AND a mommy.  That's right kid, you can do both!)

If you're like me, I've always known that I wanted to be a parent, so it wasn't a matter of IF, it was a matter of WHEN.  It is definitely a test of your faith and trust when the WHEN doesn't happen on your time table. 

When I was a little kid, or a teenager, or even a young adult, I would have never imagined the path my husband and I would take to become parents.  And now, I'm so thankful for how God led our family to this place.  Adoption isn't in every family's future, but it was exactly where God led us.  He knew when he created them that Kate and Karsten would be our children. And yet again, His plans are way better than anything I'd envisioned. 

So if you're stuck in the infertility stage of your life, if you're desiring to be a parent, but the answers to your prayers so far have been "Not yet," just hang on, and trust that God loves you and wants the best for you.  It might not be when you planned, how you planned or even what you planned ... but it might be so much better!