My beloved spoke, and said to me:

“Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away.

 

For lo, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

 

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of singing has come,

And the voice of the turtledove

Is heard in our land.

 

The fig tree puts forth her green figs,

And the vines with the tender grapes

Give a good smell.

Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away!

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

 

On August 5, 2001, after nearly two years of trying to became pregnant – procedures, appointments, prescriptions and loss – these words were spoken over us. We were struggling emotionally and physically. We’d been together twelve years by this time. We wanted a family desperately. We were ready to move forward but this was truly out of our control. For two type-A personalities, lack of control is HARD.

 

This particular Sunday we went to church without any real expectations except to fellowship with a church family who had been supporting us in this difficult season and to hopefully hear an encouraging message. A visiting pastor was preaching that day. We had never met him. During the service he pointed us out and asked us to come up before the congregation. What?

 

As we walked forward the pastor reached for his Bible and read the above scripture to us. He said he felt compelled to share that verse with us. He then he did something I will NEVER forget. He asked my husband to put his hand on my stomach. Then the pastor prophesied that Jesus was coming to heal a barrenness in me that I had experienced for a couple of years. He said among other things that we were going to go “from barrenness to birthing” in the natural and in the supernatural.

 

I remember tears rolling down both of our faces. Neither of us had ever had a prophetic word spoken over us before. In fact, we’d never seen anyone give or receive a prophetic word before. But the words the pastor spoke that day revealed information about which no one but Derek and I were aware. We didn’t understand quite what had happened, but we knew for sure God was in the middle of it. There was no other “explanation.”

 

That prayer over us was recorded and we were given a copy of it. I cannot tell you how many times we listened to those words over the next few years. We stood firm on those words (most days). When one of us wavered in our faith (OK, me, when I wavered), the other raised this word. God had promised us a family. We knew it was our future. We did not know the timing which was often frustrating, but we knew that we knew that we knew that we would have a family.

 

We proceeded with IVF treatments that December. After two failed cycles and another year went by, I was struggling again. I remember starting to toy with the idea of adoption. I wondered if that’s how we were meant to grow our family. I finally raised this with my husband. He was very emphatic that we were not supposed to go that route. I was confused. For a man who wanted a family as much as I did, how could he reject the idea so quickly? That answer came easy to him. God had promised that we were going to go “from barrenness to birthing.” Derek was unwaveringly committed to this promise of God. I wanted to believe but it was hard through all the highs and lows and to be honest, through all the hormones. I am so grateful that one of us in our partnership could be so strong for both of us.

 

In July I started my next IVF cycle. I was convinced that since “I” had eliminated a lot of stress (by recently leaving my law practice) that this was going to be the right time. Sadly, only a couple weeks into the cycle we had to stop because there were some problems. I was crushed. I know Derek was as well but he kept a stiff upper lip and kept going back to the prophetic word. He knew God was going to come through in His timing, not ours.

 

A few weeks later we were back at the doctor’s office ready to start again. This would be our third cycle of IVF. This time I approached things differently. I’d come across the following and looked at the doctors in a different light: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man,” Psalm 118:21. This was not about what the doctors could do, it was about us trusting God to do what He had promised He would.

 

Two weeks later a pregnancy test revealed I was pregnant. An ultrasound two weeks after that revealed twins. God was faithful and true to His word. We had gone from barrenness to birthing, in abundance. One day we were a couple. The next we were a family of four.

 

As an aside, fast forward to the year following the birth of our third son. One day out of the blue my husband asked “Shall we look into adoption now?” What? I reminded him he was the one who wouldn’t consider it before. He told me that had nothing to do with the idea of adoption. It had everything to do with standing on God’s promise. Amen.