01 Sep Guest Post: A Royal Daughter

I was very grateful when Amanda from A Royal Daughter agreed to writing a guest post. I fell in love with her blog from the second I read the title! It’s evident that she reflects being a daughter of Christ in her writing. And, she is a fellow Texan, what’s not to love 🙂 Be sure to go check out her blog! Thanks again Amanda! If you missed the guests posts from last week from Mix and Match Mama and The Word of A Nerd be sure to go and read them too!

The sisterhood of waiting-to-be-mommies is bigger, and a lot closer than I used to think.

A year and a half ago my husband and I were more than two years into our journey to parenthood. We’d finally accepted the fact that we probably were not going to conceive a baby on our own, and we’d just begun an overwhelming number of tests and procedures to rule out a cause for our infertility. As it would turn out, all of our tests came back perfectly normal, and we were diagnosed with Unexplained Infertility.

At 31, we’re part of a small, and growing smaller, group of childless couples. And until November 2012, I was completely unwilling to open up about our struggle. My heart was wounded from the emotional and spiritual battle that is infertility, and on some level I suppose I was still in denial that this is in fact our story.

For me the isolation that comes with infertility was both self imposed, and the result of unintentional actions and words from our circle of friends. But I was isolated. I was lonely, hurting, and I felt like my life was on hold. As if God had pressed pause on my life while everyone around me continued on with the natural progression of life and living.

I wrestled relentlessly. And He pursued relentlessly.

I began journalling my spiritual journey: my own rebellion against God’s will for my life; and my emotional journey: the anger, the hope, the let down, the questions. And as I put pen to paper, the heart cries of my heart revealed so much more than my desire to have a baby. It revealed my desire to have a purpose.

Healing comes in the most subtle ways. Slowly and tenderly Jesus soothed my deepest, hidden wounds. He pieced together the shattered pieces of what used to be hopes and dreams. He revealed a different purpose. His Word spoke life and meaning into my heart.

It has been ten months since I first shared our story. And God has used these ten months to shape my heart, breaking through the bitterness and planting seeds of joy and peace, even in the midst of pain and frustration.

And through the story telling, community and sisterhood were born. A camaraderie of broken hearted, but faith-filled women who are waiting to be mamas was formed, offering hope, encouragement, and prayers along the tumultuous road of infertility.

If you’re struggling with infertility I challenge you to open up about your struggle. The grace of Jesus coupled with telling our story was the perfect recipe for healing in my heart and life.

And if you’re the friend or family member of a couple struggling to conceive, I challenge you to pursue peace, grace, and understanding as you interact with them. Be intentional to include them in conversations, life experiences, etc. And be cautious of the words you say to them. Sometimes a simple, “We love you and are praying for you” is all that’s needed.