The Little Signs

My 23rd birthday is soon approaching in just two short weeks. However, up until three days ago, I was still hanging onto a present I had received from my last birthday almost a year ago. It was a Mardel gift card from our good friends Chris and Amelia. Who holds onto a gift card for a year?? Well, for some crazy reason, I did! But I'm starting to see more and more God's hand in this small act of holding onto that gift card. Let me tell you about the super random chain of events...

I have known for a very long time that if/when we do have a child, whether through pregnancy or adoption, that I want to get the Bible verse reference I Samuel 1:27-28 as a tattoo. The verse reads, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." This quote comes from Hannah who struggled with infertility for a long time and the Bible tells of her hearts yearning and desire to bear a child. God finally granted her the wish and that was her response to be being blessed with a child. The other day I was thinking about these verses again and thought that there surely had to be some kind of Christian support out there on the internet in regards to Hannah and infertility. I turned to my best friend, Google, and, lo-and-behold, found the site Hannah's Prayer Ministries.

This site is exactly what I was looking for: a place that offers "Christian support for fertility challenges." It just so happens that one of the founders of Hannah's Prayer, Jennifer Saake, has written a book called Hannah's Hope. As soon as I heard of the book I knew there had to be a reason why I still had that Mardel gift card...especially since it came from Chris and Amelia, two of the people that have been most supportive and instrumental in helping us through these times. It's just a little sign I can take from God that His hand surely is in all of this. It's not necessarily a sign that we will ever conceive a child. I just see Him showing me that just as it took a while to use something as simple as that gift card, it was still used within its own time and had a great purpose. In the same way, this process we're going through may take a long time, but there is a great purpose for it and it will be used within its own time to bring glory to His kingdom.