Prayer Warriors

Friends,
In 4 weeks we start another leg of our journey. We have our appointment with Dr. Craig on August 3rd which is 1 year, 5 months and 3 days since we started trying to have a baby. We had a very relaxing month of June and are grateful we also have the month of July to clear our heads to prepare for this journey, but we are very ready to get started. We are ready to start the process that may be long and hard – we are just ready to be doing something so that we are working toward our dream.

We need your help more now than ever. We need God to surround us and guide as we go through this process. We do not know what to expect. We do not know how hard this will be on my body or how hard emotionally it will be on us. We also do not know how hard it will be financially – even though when it comes to a baby money isn’t an issue, if the process doesn’t work the first time we will have to wait and pay it off before we start it again (because insurance doesn’t cover any of it). Basically this is new territory and we are scared. We need our friends to surround us in prayer. We need to be as prepared as possible as we start this and as we go through this and the only way to be prepared to be covered by God’s grace and loving arms.

"…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16).

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26).

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him" (1 John 5:14-15).

Even though I believe God knows what we need more than us, I also believe God likes us to be specific in our prayers. It makes it more personal and intimate. Here are some specific things I will ask you to please pray for:

1. Patience. One of the hardest parts of all of this is how long everything takes. I struggle with patience a lot, but even more during this. I hate that there is so much ‘wait’ time because it is hard to stay focused on everything else in our lives. Which leads to #2…

2. Not being consumed. The past month I have been able to really turn my mind off so that I do not think about fertility constantly. When I have to take my temp every morning and pills at certain times during the day it really makes it hard to not constantly think about it. I feel like life HAS to revolve around it because of how time sensitive everything is. When all I can do is think about it though it makes life so hard because we still have lots going on around us. I struggle with this of course much more than Justin but it is hard on him too having to deal with me. :)

3. Safety. We will now be traveling to OKC who knows how many times a month. We were traveling to Lawton before. We know the way inside and out to OKC but there are always chances of accidents.

4. Understanding. We do not know what will be required of us so there is no way to prepare others for it. We try to be considerate of the ones we work with and give plenty of notice when we will be gone but that may not be possible as much during this. Since things are time sensitive, I know that there may be days when we have to go to OKC without much notice. We have prepared our supervisors of this but that is so hard to do when we do not normally function like this. We do not want to put others out in this process.

5. Peace. We believe that god has lead us to this place. We do believe we are following him by getting to this step. I do believe in the peace that passes understanding though and we will need to feel that at each stage of the process. We do not want to go anywhere or do anything that is not led by God.

6. Progress. I feel like after 16 months we are still in the same boat we were in then. I know we have made progress because of things we have ruled out, but we need to feel a little bit of success. Even if it isn’t in the way we are hoping - a baby – we need to feel like we are not just spinning our wheels. We want to know what is wrong and what can we do to correct it. We need to see a light at the end of this tunnel.

7. For our hearts to be softened. No one knows what is going to come of this journey. We are not prepared nor do we want to be prepared for worse case situations. But we do want our hearts to be softened so that whatever God chooses for our life, we are accepting and ready for. We don’t want to lose the ‘fight’ in us because that is something we need to continue this journey, but we do want God to mend our hearts to His will because that is the only thing that is perfect.

We love each of you so much and are so appreciative that you have been part of this journey thus far. We could not keep going without support from loved ones. Hearing or reading your encouraging words and feeling the prayers you have said on our behalf have changed our lives. We have been able to go back and read words you have said to us or comments you have left and we are encouraged all over again just as we were when we first received it. God is using each of you for greatness and we are forever grateful for the love He has shown us through friends like you!

Much Love,
J & M