So much of the fight for your sanity in your quest for a baby is waiting. You wait for the next cycle to begin. You wait for the next round of IVF. You wait for the blood test. You wait to get past the point of your last miscarriage. Everybody despises that dreaded two week wait. It seems like all we do sometimes is just sit around and wait. Why is it that even God tells us to wait?
Look at the Scripture found in Isaiah 40:31:
“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength;”
I love to look at the literal translation of words in Scripture. You can learn so much when you know what the writer had in mind when he took pen in hand. Look what I found about what the word wait really means:
“A straining of the mind in a certain direction with an expectant
attitude…a forward look with assurance.”
Waiting is not passive at all! It is active! If you feel weary of this fight, and need to gain new strength, this Scripture literally tells you what to do: wait. Don’t wait like you may have previously thought about waiting—you know, sitting around doing nothing. Wait like the Word of God tells you to. Strain your mind toward God with an expectant attitude, looking forward with assurance!
Let’s break down the definition we found of the literal meaning of this word "wait."
“A straining of the mind in a certain direction with an expectant
attitude…a forward look with assurance.”
A straining of the mind in a certain direction…It is so easy to keep your mind on negativity during the battle with infertility. It may not be easy to keep your thoughts going in the right direction, but it is possible. How can you strain toward God and knowing Him more if there are so many negative and hurtful thoughts bouncing around your mind? Here are two other Scriptures for you to lean on:
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
Don’t forget that when Paul wrote these words he understood hard times. He was actually in prison at the time he wrote this. It probably would have been easy for him to write about his beatings, rats crawling on him, his being wrongly imprisoned. Instead he tells us to think on these things instead of hardships. Several times in this book, he even commands us to “Rejoice!”
2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
You can take negative, damaging thoughts and place them under the obedience of Christ, Himself. This was written also by Paul, who told you what things to think on.
Use these Scriptures to strain your mind in this direction. We are given instruction in Philippians as to what type of thoughts to think, and told in 2 Corinthians that we can take negative thoughts and make them captive to Christ. Train your mind to strain toward Christ and the kind of thoughts He wants you to have in your heart and mind. It will probably feel totally foreign to you at first, to disallow negative thoughts, and replace them with whatever is good, lovely, right. It is exponentially easier to give in to negative thoughts. Fight it. Strain toward another direction. Strain toward God and knowing Him more.
…with an expectant attitude…When you have a problem like infertility or grief over the loss of your baby, your mindset can be depressed. Satan can begin to convince you that God has forgotten you and that you will live in heartache for the rest of your life. Your view of your future is dim. That makes the waiting portion of this season very heavy.
Rather than focusing on what God has not placed in your life at this time, decide to look forward to the plan He has lovingly designed for you. Determine in your heart to develop an expectant attitude! God is working through this season in your life! Expect that His plan for you is good! Expect to grow closer to God through this. Even if your heart cannot keep time with an expectant attitude, try to develop one anyway. Eventually your heart will catch up to your head!
Here are a couple of Scriptures to back this up:
Jeremiah 29:11 ‘“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’
If the Lord has a plan for you, you can expect that He will bring it to pass!
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Guess what the word “hoped” literally means?!? That’s right! The literal translation for the word “hoped” is “expect”! Faith is the assurance of things we expect!
Are you praying for something? Of course you are! Do you believe God hears you? Do you believe He has a plan for your life? Then expect an answer!
…a forward look with assurance. Look forward! Don’t look behind at failed cycles, or beat yourself up because you aren’t handling things as well as you once did. The next pregnancy will be a brand new pregnancy—not the same pregnancy that ended in loss. Look forward with assurance!
Philippians 3:13 “Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Don’t worry about the past. You cannot change it. Look forward to what lies ahead and press on!
You never knew there was so much work involved in waiting, did you? I’ll bet you thought you were a pro at waiting! God promises renewed strength, endurance and courage to keep on going when you wait.
I encourage you to wait on the Lord and find this new strength He promises. He is faithful to His Word and faithful to you.
*Taken from Sarah's Laughter Daily Double Portions
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