Have you ever felt like God has given you a dream in your heart or a vision for your life? A specific word or promise to you? Then—as time passed, and you did not see it come to reality—have you also felt like you lost hope or even doubted what you heard him say? I know I have felt that way.
Back in 2018, my husband and I felt moved by God to grow our family. We spent time praying about it with each other and with our close friends. As we continued to pray about it, we gained confidence that it was a promise from God to give us more children—not to adopt but to have more children of our own.
So, we stepped out in faith, and in 2019, I went in to have a surgery so that we could start to enlarge our family. Then we waited and trusted God. However things did not look like what we expected. That first year came with a heartbreaking miscarriage, and then the next year came with some medical diagnoses and still no baby. There were times of feeling hopeless where I doubted that we had heard God right. It is easy to be led by emotions and rely on only what our eyes can see.
Hebrews 11:1-3 says, “Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see. This is why the ancients were commended. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (NIV).
I can remember many times personally where it was hard to walk in faith and believe what God had spoken to us, especially when everything around me in this natural world was suggesting it might never happen. But God is so good to not leave us feeling hopeless and in despair! He is always speaking and reaching out to us.
When we go through our hard times of our faith being tested, it is important to bring peace and calmness to our heart by reading God’s word and surrounding ourselves with godly friends. Looking back at that time in my life, God especially increased my faith in two ways: by using 1) His word and 2) His people.
Quite often while I was reading my bible, a verse for that day, a scripture, or a story would jump out and encourage me that God is faithful and true. I have a good friend who would randomly text what God put on her heart, and little did she know, some days I really needed to hear those words. Another time I was scrolling through Instagram, and God used the words of Christian author Lysa Turkeurst to speak to me. The words “Remember not yet doesn’t mean not ever” stayed in my heart for a long time. You see God was always speaking to me. All those things increased my faith and gave me the hope to live in a way where I had faith to believe God’s words, not the circumstances.
One day unexpectedly, a little over two years later, I found myself pregnant with our son, and he was so worth the wait!
So, if you find yourself in this place of waiting on something to come to pass that God has spoken to you, I pray my story will encourage you to stand firm and have faith to believe him even when you cannot see. I also pray that he will give you his words and the friends you need to build your faith! I leave you with a few scriptures that encouraged me during that time, and I hope they may do the same for you.
Numbers 23:19: “God is not a human that he should lie; not a human being that he should change his mind. Does he speak, and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill it?” (NIV).
Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding” (AMP).
Philippians 4:5-7: “Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in every circumstance and situation by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, continue to make your specific requests known to God. And the peace of God, that peace which reassures the heart, that peace which transcends all understanding, that peace which stands guard over your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus is yours” (AMP).
We want to thank Brenda Martinez for sharing this post.
Women's Ministry 