Stop Praying and Start Moving!

I know what some of you are thinking... What? You are supposed to pray without ceasing... why would you stop praying about something so important? Well, that isn't really the message. I bought a book called Power of Praying Through the Bible and here is a mini devotional in it that really touched base for me.

"Read and Consider Exodus 14"
"Exodus 14:15 And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward"

"Many passages of Scripture speak of the importance of crying out to God in times of distress. In Lamentations we read "Arise, cry out in the night...pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord" There comes a point, however, when the time for crying out is past and our clear instruction from the Lord is to take action.

That's what God said to Moses. The Israelites didn't need to worry about the details; God would take care of everything. He would help His people by obstructing the sight of the Egyptians with clouds and darkness. He would give the Israelites light. he would cause the wind to dry up the sea bottom. They didn't need more desperate prayer. They needed to get moving!

They may have been tempted to just wait. "This can't be what God wants us to do! Its too dangerous! its too frightening! how do we know we'll make it? Let's just keep praying about this." Sometimes prayer is an excuse for inaction.

Famed missionary Amy Carmichael once wrote a simple rhyme to illustrate the importance of following through with action once we have thoroughly prayed over a matter.
"A centipede was happy till one day, a toad in fun said, "Pray which legs goes after which?" Which strained his mind to such a pitch, he lay distracted in a ditch, considering how to run."

When you hear God telling you to move in a certain direction take two words of advice: DO IT!!
If you delay, you may well find yourself "distracted in a ditch considering how to run." When the way is clear, remember the Lord's instruction to the Israelites through Moses - "MOVE ON!"

END OF DEVOTION.

This one really spoke to me. Many people think that seeking infertility treatments are rushing God's will and His plan for your life. Well, until you have been in my shoes, don't assume so. Becoming a mother is something I have known I would be from the time I was little girl. My friends and I would stuff our shirts with pillows pretending to be pregnant and carry around our baby dolls dressed in newborn outfits and diapers. We volunteered in the church nursery to be near babies and even tried to start a babysitting business, we went as far as to go to a class at the hospital for babysitting instruction and took up CPR classes. I wanted nothing more in life than to be a mom from the time I can remember. I know that God is not a cruel God and He simply would not have given me such a desire if He wasn't going to make that happen. Instead I think He gave me such a desire so that when it came to this time in my life I would fight with everything I have and not give up that desire! Because of the sin in the world our bodies have become corrupted through the decades - the reason we have a rise in health issues. I believe that God gave doctors the knowledge to come up with treatments and scientist the knowledge to come up with medication that can help and its irresponsible of us to not seek treatment when something is wrong. God expects us to take care of our bodies - His temples, its the reason we shouldn't drink or smoke, right?

This fight that I am in the middle of has made me stronger, its made me appreciate the simple things in life. If you have never suffered any infertility issues, miscarriage or infant loss, you take it all for granted. You can say you don't, but until you have been on my side of the fence - you really don't know. I am not saying it makes you lesser of a caring parent/mother. I am just saying you don't understand all that goes into having a family the way I do. I know this will personally make me a better mother because I won't take one second of it for granted!

Here is another devotion from Streams in the Dessert:
November 6th
"As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." Rev. 3:19
"God takes the most eminent and choicest of His servants for the choicest and most eminent afflictions. They who have received most grace from God. Affliction does not hit the saint by chance, but by direction. God does not draw His bow at a venture. Every one of His arrows goes upon a special errand and touches no breast but his against whom it is sent. It is not only the grace, but the glory of a believer when we can stand and take affliction quietly. - Joseph Caryl

If all my days were sunny, could I say,
"In His fair land He wipes all tears away"?
If I were never weary, could I keep
Close to my heart, "He gives His loved ones sleep"?
Were no graves mine, might I not come to deem
The Life Eternal but a baseless dream?
My winter, and my tears, and weariness,
Even my graves, may be His way to bless.
I call them ills; yet that can surely be
Nothing but love that shows my Lord to me!

"The most deeply taught Christians are generally those who have been brought into the searching fires of deep soul-anguish. If you have been praying to know more of Christ, do not be surprised if He takes you aside into a desert place, or leads you into a furnace of pain."

Do not punish me, Lord, by taking my cross from me, but comfort me by submitting me to Thy will, and by making me to love the cross. Give me that by which Thou shalt be best served... and let me hold it for the greatest of all Thy mercies, that Thou shouldst glorify Thy name in me, according to Thy will. - A Captive's Prayer.

END OF DEVOTION

God brings affliction in our life for many reasons. You can search out His reasons in prayer but try not to dwell there we won't always know what it is He is trying to teach us but we need to trust Him and know that He has our best interest at heart and wouldn't bring us to it if He couldn't bring us through it! If you are experiencing similar struggles (some of the hardest things in life to get through I believe) God has a lot of faith in you that you can handle it and come out a stronger person - so put that same faith back in Him that He is using you for a very special purpose.

I know that God would not have taken my baby away from us and not give us another. Not that one can be replaced with another but God used that pregnancy to teach me to have more faith in Him and has shown me how much He can comfort me since then. If you don't ever suffer pain you will never be able to experience the greatest Comforter there is. So I am embracing these trials and going to MOVE ON! It's time to take action!