Living life with steps of faith

Last year it was unlit lights on my Christmas tree. This year it is a stack of unopened Christmas cards sitting on our stairwell.  Didn't quite realize why I wasn't opening them until I came across an infertility blog that mentioned how difficult it is to open Christmas cards.  Each one holds a picture of a happy family or tells the story of kids or grandkids. Some act as a birth announcement. I am fighting the Christmas blues and have been doing fairly well until this last week.  But my husband and I have admitted to each other that we just can't wait for Christmas to be over. And yet, the Scripture that keeps coming to my mind is Nehemiah 8:10: 10  Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing  prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy  of the  Lord  is your strength.”  So we will go and enjoy choice food and drinks and try to stay focused on the fact th...

Today as I was doing research on a passage from the gospel of John I came across this quote from Chrysostom that caught my attention. He writes, "Don't be amazed that I bring you to what is profitable for you by way of such sorrow, since even a mother, to become a mother, passes in a similar way through pain." (Homilies on the Gospel of John 79.1) I am not sure yet where our journey of infertility will lead us, but if it is to adoption, I will know that I did not miss out on the birth pains of pregnancy or delivery.  They just came to me in a different way. So if you are reading this and you are an adoptive mother - know that when women start sharing their delivery stories, you have one too!  You were in delivery for 5 years, 7 years, 10 years, 18 years (you know how long). Your contractions happened on a monthly basis, sometimes they were more painful than others.  You were never quite sure when you would finally give birth or whether or not the result would be a li...