Prayer's Perspective

God, You told us You’d bless us—

And how blessed we are!—

While we pray for a child

You work in our hearts.

It amazes us when we stop to think about all that God has blessed us with already. Even while our minds are filled by thoughts of what we do not have—those blessings that we want but lack—our Heavenly Father reminds us of what He has blessed us with, namely His own Son, our wonderful Savior Jesus.  That by itself is enough to satisfy us for eternity.

But God’s storehouse of blessing overflows in our lives every day. As we pray to Him, trusting that He hears our prayers and answers them, we realize how much He is using this time to bless us presently. Even while we wait for a child, we experience the presence of God’s Spirit working within us to make us more like our Lord. That sanctifying grace of God currently at work in our hearts reminds us that God loves us enough to refine us, to shape us, to teach and to grow us. And while the womb remains vacant, for this reason our hearts are full of joy. 

Thank You, Father, for the eternal blessing of Your love which gave us the expensive blessing of Jesus through Whom we know the ever-present blessing of Your Holy Spirit. Continue to work in our hearts, that our lives may be a reflection of Christ. We ask in His name. Amen.

~David

The Shoe

Morgan had recently moved out of the house and mom needed to replace furniture for her old room. Mom loves old, antique, and refurbished furniture and frequents shops that sell said items in downtown Joplin. Mom purchased a few unique pieces including a large trunk. Mom moved the furniture around Morgan's old room deciding what pieces would look best and where. She opened the trunk to take a peek inside. There were a few drawers that you could take out and then replace once items were stored away.  As she was taking the drawers out, she noticed 1 tiny baby shoe.

Mom says it's my rainbow. My promise that a child will come. Since finding the tiny baby shoe, she's tried many times to just throw it away. There was no pair to the shoe. No reason to keep it. But she can't seem to throw it away. It's a symbol. A symbol of something to come. It's a reminder. A reminder to pray for a miracle.

And so, mom keeps the shoe and we all keep praying.

~Paige

Trust

"This is a Savior who accepts us just the way we are- Mary or Martha or a combination of both-but loves us too much to leave us that way. He is the one who can give us a Mary heart in a Martha world." ~ Joanna Weaver

I’ve always been intrigued by the story of Mary and Martha. While I love the picture of Mary, ignoring the whispers of others, making her way to Jesus, I empathize with Martha. While I hope that I would be a Mary, pouring my praise on Christ with oil from an alabaster box, I fear that I might be a Martha…too focused on the task at hand to focus on Jesus.

In Emily Freeman’s book, Grace for the Good Girl, she spends a whole chapter on “Martha and Her Many Things.” Emily explains that Martha thought she was irreplaceable and that the work would not get done unless she did it. While Martha got a few things right, she missed the mark. Martha had many things she felt needed to get done, and so do we. Emily encourages readers to think of our many things. Our lists grow longer and longer and become more daunting. Emily also thinks of infertile Sarah in the Old Testament and how her lack of trust in God caused her to convince Abraham to conceive with Hagar. Sarah thought she needed to find another way for God’s promise of having a child to come to be, that she couldn’t possibly become pregnant without creating her own plan.

As a woman struggling with infertility, I often lose trust, like Sarah, and try to find other ways to become pregnant….hours on the internet, searching the latest and greatest research, reading endless blogs of other women in my situation…and I lose sight of Christ. I focus on the work, rather than the worship.

When we find ourselves focusing on the work rather than the worship, may we think of Mary. Worship should flow out of the hearts of those that believe. Mary, Jesus’ mother, also gave worship rather than work. When the angel of the Lord came to her and told her she would conceive a child and give birth to a son named Jesus, she trusted and worshiped.

May I learn to trust God so that pleasing Him is automatic, rather than working to please Him and finding it hard to trust.

(Thought and excerpts from the book Grace for the Good Girl)

Alabaster Box - A song by CeCe Winans

The room grew still

As she made her way to Jesus

She stumbles through the tears that made her blind

She felt such pain

Some spoke in anger

Heard folks whisper

There's no place here for her kind

Still on she came

Through the shame that flushed her face

Until at last, she knelt before his feet

And though she spoke no words

Everything she said was heard

As she poured her love for the Master

From her box of alabaster


Refrain


And I've come to pour

My praise on Him

Like oil from Mary's alabaster box

Don't be angry if I wash his feet with my tears

And I dry them with my hair

You weren't there the night He found me

You did not feel what I felt

When he wrapped his love all around me and

You don't know the cost of the oil

In my alabaster box


Can't forget the way life used to be

I was a prisoner to the sin that had me bound

And I spent my days 

Poured my life without measure

Into a little treasure box

I'd thought I'd found

Until the day when Jesus came to me

And healed my soul

With the wonder of His touch

So now I'm giving back to Him

All the praise He's worthy of

I've been forgiven 

And that's why

I love Him so much


Refrain


And I've come to pour

My praise on Him

Like oil from Mary's alabaster box

Don't be angry if I wash his feet with my tears

And dry them with my hair (my hair)

You weren't there the night Jesus found me

You did not feel what I felt 

When He wrapped his loving arms around me and

You don't know the cost of the oil

Oh, you don't know the cost of my praise

You don't know the cost of the oil

In my alabaster box

~Paige

Why?

Did you know that approximately 605,479 women get pregnant each day? This means that there are about 220 million women that get pregnant each year. Seems pretty easy? In fact, 15 year olds conceive during a one-time youthful indiscretion, crack-heads conceive while high on drugs, prostitutes conceive often while “on the job”, lovers conceive who are not yet ready to make a commitment… Many of these pregnancies that occur “accidentally” result in over 1.2 million abortions (murders) in the United States each year.

While all of this is occurring in the world, women like me who are in committed, godly relationships who are actively, desperately trying to conceive cannot. And we look to the statistics and ask, “why not us?” We know that 85% of women actively trying are able to achieve pregnancy within a year. And we ask, “why not us?” Month after month, year after year,  we hope, we wait, we pray…and nothing. “Why can’t we be a part of the 85%?” we ask. “What sin have we not confessed?” we ask. “Why don’t we deserve what the other 85% have?” we ask. “What is God trying to teach us?” we ask. “Why does a good God plan and prescribe bad things to happen to us, who are striving to do what is good and right?” we ask.

I firmly believe it’s okay to ask why, to be sad, to cry out, to long for answers. But I also believe, Jesus brings people to the edge of self-sufficiency and urges us to fall to the ground in surrender. I believe, Jesus is present when people are broken. I believe, that no matter what, even if God calls me home tonight in my sleep, He never stepped off His throne. He simply brought me closer to it. I believe that God is my refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. I believe that God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

“Why?” we ask. We may never know why. We may never know all the answers. We may never get pregnant. But we do know that God is sovereign. We do know He knows all the answers. We do know He has a reason. And we can trust Him. He is our hope. He is our joy. He is our all and all. He is all we need.

Dear Lord, I receive your timing. I accept that you know so I don’t have to. Even when it all goes wrong.

Excerpts from Grace for the Good Girl and God’s Word

~Paige Giarrizzo