My heart is in a tender, broken place. I have an ache, a hollow place that is drawing my attention and my emotions. My focus and aim is not on the Lord alone but, on my wants. I'm sure NO ONE can relate with that!?
Since I was a little girl, I have wanted to be a mama. I had so many different baby names picked out! Man, I'm glad I grew out of some of those names..."Ursula" being one! It was a joy to play with my baby dolls. I pretended to nurse my babies as my mom nursed my brother! I love that God placed that desire in my heart as a little girl. When Shan and I met, one of our most serious conversations was about being a wife and a mama. He knew where my heart was and that is one thing that made him know I was the girl for him! I wanted to stay at home and care for him and for whatever children God would place in our lives. NO, I did not always do a stellar job but, God has brought me so far! I praise Him as I look back at where I was 13 plus years ago til now. Oh, the grace and mercy He has poured out on me.
When we were married all of four months we decided to give our family to the Lord, family size that is. We trusted Him to give us the kids He wanted to, knowing He is sovereign over all. Nine months later I was expecting Noah James. We were thrilled!!! After Noah the doctor's mentioned to me that they didn't think I would be able to have any more children. My hormones were "off" and my body wasn't able to keep a baby in my uterus...it wouldn't attach. Noah was 4 1/2 at the time and we'd been longing for more children for years. I went to the health food store and grabbed some natural progesterone, praying that would help my hormones to even out! 9 months later I was shocked and expecting, Titus Daniel! High risk and lots of bed rest was on tap but, all so worth it! What a joy Titus has been to our home.
Here was are now. Titus is almost 6 years old! Time has flown by so quickly. After six years, I still long for a child. I miss a little person that I've never even met! I day dream about him or her and tears spring to my eyes. I pray for God to bless our home as He sees fit. We pray He will add to our home. We want to raise children who love Him and that will greatly impact the world with the gospel! Our boys, especially Titus, prays often for a baby. He blesses my heart with his prayers. Sunday, was a hard day for me. I woke up once again to see that I was not expecting. I wasn't shocked or surprised but, disappointed. Some days I feel like everyone I know has a new baby, pregnant or is in the process of adopting. I rejoice with these dear families, I do! We went to church and I was okay, until I met a new baby that had been added to our church. Friends, had their beautiful, newly adopted daughter there for us to meet! I had so looked forward to meeting her and hearing all about the birth. I did okay for a few seconds! My heart literally broke. I can't explain it any other way. I felt horrible but, my friend was gracious and she knows my heart. I left to pray and spend time with the Lord while the service went on. We left early as I was in no place to talk or try and fellowship. Much of the day I cried on and off. Monday was similar. I am thankful for friends who message me and one dear friend that is in the same position I am in called and listened to my heart. What a blessing!
I know there may be someone out there who is aching and hurting like I have been. Children are looked down upon in our world. Abortion is everywhere you turn! Children are an inconvenience to so many. Careers, lifestyles, sports, relationships.....I've seen so many things take a place of importance above family and children. Kids are "in the way" or an annoyance to deal with. Motherhood is laughed at and mocked in many circles. The highest calling of a married woman with children is to stay at home and care for her family. Controversial as that statement is to many, it is truth.
God has a plan for you. If you have suffered miscarriages or infertility, my heart aches with you. His purposes are higher than ours and His ways are perfect. I pray that through these hard times and hurts that we can trust in His hand. Some of you may think I am crazy for feeling this way with two children in my home. No, I truly am fine. I just know that God loves children and that He sees them as a treasure. My focus however has to change. I must be thankful for what He has given to me. I must pour all of my time, creativity, love and the gospel into the two sweet boys I have! I must trust that God knows the desires of my heart. I am NOT trusting Him as I should right now. If I feel like I know what is best for me and I want my way, THEN I am not trusting God. I am telling Him that He is not all-knowing and big enough to run my little life. He is truly worthy to be praises, honored, glorified and to have full control of me. When I look away from the gospel and what He's done for me... I focus on myself.
As for the hurt, it is very real for me and I know it is for you. I am thankful that when my heart is broken or my spirit is down that He comforts and gives me peace. Tears are good!!
Psalms 147:3-5
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure."
Today I started to feel my wounds being cared for. I read some verses that ministered to my heart. I know He is always working, always. I know that He loves me beyond what I will ever know. Knowing how much a LOVE my boys, I can't imagine the love He has for His adopted children. How could I even think He wouldn't want the best for me? He wants to do whatever it takes to make me more like His son. I long for holiness and if it takes a broken heart to be remolded over and over again, I pray I will have the strength to endure. He promises me that He will not give me more than I can handle.
Galatians 6:2
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ"
Can I pray for you? If you have struggled infertility or have a hurt that has you on your knees, I would consider it a joy to pray for you. I would love it if you could pray for me as well. Maybe you have been there and have some encouragement or scripture that encouraged your heart. I'd love to hear it! If it's too personal to comment, you can feel free to message me on Facebook or send me an e-mail at godzgaljen@gmail.com.
Pin: Broken Places
12 Responses to “Broken Places”
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About Jennifer
Hello there! I’m Jennifer and Welcome to my website – A Home with Purpose. My passion is sharing Christ’s Love and recipes with my Trim Healthy Mama friends. Learn more about me.
This was so beautifully written by such a beautiful person. I hurt with you my friend and I pray for you daily. Love you and your sweet family so. Andi
Thanks Andi, I know that you do! I am so thankful for your friendship and that I travel this road with another so dear to me.
The Lord know the pain we carry – He hears our hurting heart . . . praying for you!!! Walking along with you . . . may you find JOY in the midst of your pain!!! xoxoxo Love you
The joy of the Lord is my strength. I can sing it through tears. Thanks, Kristi!!
Thank you for writing. it is so good to know someone else has these same feelings. I had an ectopic 2 1/2 years ago. Every month for the past two years, I wait, and I’m disappointed. Some months, I’m looking UP more than others, so it’s not so bad; but then there are those when I cry for two or three days straight (especially when I’m late). Then, I feel guilty because I should be thankful for the child I do have and that I got to see pictures of the child that would have been. I cry every June (the birth month of the one I lost) and every October 8 (the day I lost him/her). So many emotions….I try so hard to put them in the palm of God’s hands, but I fail so often. I cling to His promises and the truth that He does know HIs plans for me. Even though they are MUCH, MUCH different than what I would’ve have thought, they are His and He has formed them before I was ever created. I do trust Him, but it doesn’t take away the emotions I have twice a year and every time I hear of another person having a baby. So, again, thank you for writing. Thank you for using your pain and struggles to encourage others like me.
Thank you for sharing your heart with me, Melanie. I will add you to my list of girls to pray for. The pain is real, so real. I am sure those dates each year are full of hurt and “what if’s” I am so thankful for the hope we have in Jesus Christ. To trust Him with our lives…every detail. I pray he will continue to use our pain and hurts to refine us into what He wants us to be. Pain is easier to bear when we know it’s to glorify God.
Thank you for writing this! Although we have three and hopefully soon to be adopted two more, we had a very hard time getting pregnant with our three. And we’ve been trying for two years since Maddux. We love children and know what a blessing they are, it’s hard to give it up to God’s will, even when you know it’s all in his control and he’ll u all of it for His glory. I will certainly pray for you and we’d so appreciate your prayers as well. I more than understand the hurts that comes when hearing of a new pregnancy or a new baby, no matter how excited and happy you are for other people it def breaks your heart all the same. We continually pray for more children. Thank you for your heartfelt post!
Thank you, Bethany! I saw the pictures of the twins that you now have in your home. They are precious! Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate them so very much!!
Oh Jennifer I was grieved the rest of the day after you left. I saw the tears falling and I immediately knew the reason. I wanted to come give you a hug but I held back because I feared my own big pregnant belly would make it worse. I didn’t think I was the one who you needed a hug from at that time. Maybe I should have, I don’t know. I though have never felt a bitterness from you towards me. You are a sweet and wonderful woman and you love your family with all that you are. You have and will continue to be in my prayers. Your post was so open and honest, thank you for allowing us a look into your soul and how we might pray for you.
Thank you, Janet for praying for me. I am a hugger! I feel no bitterness or anger toward anyone who is expecting or who has a little one. I rejoice with them…with you all. I am glad that you know my heart in that. Thank you for your kind words here. This means so much to me.
I follow your pinterest board because of the recipes I thought. I am very very new to THM and don’t have a story of my own to tell exactly. My journals show that I am asking Abba for more compassion. It is hard for me to understand others tears and I feel VERY superficial. I may not be or am being hard on myself but….. I also know that it is easier to pray harder when there is a face to the situation so to speak or if the pain is personal. So I have found psalms to pray thru when my own words weren’t enough.
Why I am writing to you this morning is because while I didn’t know the topic of your post, I was captured by your title of Broken Places.
Your post has been a new part in His answer to prayer for compassion in me as you wrote in such a way to help understanding in a deep place in my heart. I really can’t explain it as why this is so personal for me. so I will tell you a story of my friend for whom I have now a new compassion. [huge]
She ‘lost’ her 7 year old son in a nasty divorce partly by her own actions, partly because of a vindictive other party. This must have been some twenty years ago. She kept a scrapbook of letters she wrote, birthday cards never sent and memorabilia of all sorts. She remarried many years later and moved across the nation. New hubby put all in storage to be sent for at a later date. He turned out to be ….abusive….and the storage with all its contents were lost. Now my friend could not be consoled. It was an awful time for her as can be imagined. She lost her son twice. About 6 years ago she started searching for him. Would he want to meet his birth mother? What had he been told? Was he searching for her? These questions she never could look at too closely because they brought torment. But it seemed like time to open it all up. He would be graduating high school or?? So she hired a private detective. All that yielded a photo [not a great one–distant, indistinct] and an email address. So she wrote. She poured out and out and out. She asked for a meeting, a phone call, something….what ever he could give in return. Then she waited some more. Never leaving the house. Checking email. Listening for the phone. Torment. [I must say at this point that my friend does believe and has made a profession of Yeshua/Jesus as Lord, but has never really been consistent in any outward way–just leaving it there as her heart and soul has it’s own burdens and cross]
Back to the story. She never was able to talk to him. She got a curt email weeks and weeks later that he wanted nothing to do with her and to never write, email or try to contact him again.
Now when I say that your BrokenPlaces post touched a nerve in me I am saying it largely because I think of this friend. I have misunderstood others with miscarriages that do go on to having more children etc., and I now have new and fresh eyes for them as well. For my friend that lost one son three different times….well…that pierces my heart in new ways with more compassion and tears than I could muster before reading your post. I didn’t understand how she could still grieve after all this time. Now it isn’t my place to think that way. She does grieve and it says to ‘weep with those who weep’ and now I am more able to do that.
So I thank you that years ago you wrote and poured out your heart. Hoping this made some sense and that you. Abba has also shown me that when we do surrender to His will for us that the wounds that are real to us do become our scars of battle as and when He heals. Your wounds are being cared for…healing only comes from the inside out. When we see each other in eternity our scars may show as the nail prints in His hands are still there, but even if ours don’t show [or need to show as He dries all our tears], we will recognize that all who are there had to endure to the end. Peace and wholeness to you, my new friend and sister. Sincerely, JoAnne
JoAnne,
Thank you for sharing with me. I am truly thankful when God uses anything I say or write to help someone else. I am so sorry for all your friend has faced. I cannot image the pain she’s gone through. I’m glad God has brought fresh compassion to your heart for her. I know she can probably really use a good friend.
We are all growing in our walk with the Lord. I am glad you are listening to Him and becoming more and more like Him. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6
Hugs to you!