I am about to share with you a story about an experience that happened to me several years ago. God gave me a picture of something he said would happen. When it seemed like the thing wasn't going to happen I cried out to God and said to Him that if the picture came true then I would tell people about it, not as a bargaining tool, but as a way of thanksgiving and to glorify Him. It happened, so here I am telling you!
There have been many occasions over the last few years where I have thought I didn't really need to share the story, that it was no longer relevant, that God had forgotten about it, but surprise surprise, God doesn't forget and he has been nagging on at me ever since. SI shared the story in church this morning and now I am sharing it with you:
In September 2010 my husband and I began trying for a baby,
sometime after we began trying I was sitting in my parents living room, on
their sofa and suddenly received an image of me sitting in the same place, but
looking about 7 months pregnant, it was Christmas I felt like the image was
from God because it was so vivid and real feeling.
After about 6 months of trying for a baby nothing was
happening, and I also wasn't having any periods, so went to the doctors and was
diagnosed with polycystic ovaries, meaning I wasn't ovulating so couldn't get
pregnant. I began a course of treatment,
but nothing seemed to be happening, about 2 months later I saw the doctor again
and asked how long I should expect to wait before it started working, he said
several months, so I felt I was in for the long haul, I had moments of despair
when I thought I was never going to have a baby and started looking into
adoption, around this time I also read a Bible verse that spoke to me, it was
from 2 Samuel 7:11-12 and read:
The Lord declares to you that the LORD himself will
establish a house for you : When your days are over and you rest with your
fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your
own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
This Bible verse and reminding myself of the image of myself
pregnant,( although I didn’t know if that was the near future, or many years
down the line),reassured me that one day I would be pregnant.
Throughout this time, my church home group were in on what was
going on and I received a lot of prayer from them, I remember one day
particularly stood in the super market car park after a church session and two of the girls placed
their hands on me and prayed for me.
About 6 weeks later I found out I was pregnant, about 6 weeks pregnant!
I hadn't had a period for 5 months. I
was of course absolutely thrilled and felt so thankful to God that I was
pregnant and he had been faithful to the image he sent me.
When I was 12 weeks pregnant, the day before I was due to
have my 12 week scan I had a massive bleed, I thought I was losing my
baby. I couldn't believe it, I cried out
to God, I was devastated, we called the doctor but he said I wasn't having a
miscarriage because I wasn't in pain, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to
have one, and that it could take 3 weeks.
God amazingly gave me the strength to accept that I might be losing the
baby, and to be able to give my situation to him totally, I didn't feel like I
had been let down, or that the image wasn't from God, I felt like maybe it
wasn't this pregnancy, maybe it wasn't this baby, but that God was faithful and
I would one day have a baby, I just prayed that if I was going to lose it, then
please let it be quick. I felt a real and strange sense of peace although was obviously still very upset. It wasn't my
own ability to be faithful in God that made me able to feel like this, God gave
me the faith I needed.
Thankfully a scan at the hospital confirmed that the baby
was still there and I was so happy and thankful to God. I had two further bleeds after this one, but
God gave me the strength to continue to be faithful to him and to trust in
him.
Sometime later I sat on my parents sofa, 7 months pregnant,
living the image God had given me.
So what I learnt from this experience is that there is no
amount of effort that you can put in to get the confidence and faith you need
in God, it is God that gives you the faith and strength you need to trust Him.
