Our God Heals!!!

When we decided to have a baby in 2008, Jeremy and I thought it would be a fairly quick and easy process.  We looked at the calendar, counted out nine months to accommodate the school year, and then decided when I would stop taking birth control pills.  The plan worked wonderfully until I stopped taking the pills.

The summer we hoped to conceive came and went without so much as a period.  The same remained true throughout the fall and winter.  After almost nine months of waiting to ovulate, I brought the matter up to my primary care physician.  She referred me to an OB/GYN in the area, and we began a small array of tests.  Almost two months after I first visited my doctor, a diagnosis was revealed: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).  I didn’t fit the profile, my OB/GYN told me, but the blood test results were clear.  We discussed treatment options and what the journey to conception might look like.  We decided the best course of action was a prescription for Clomid to jumpstart my ovulation.  Once again, Jeremy and I looked at the calendar to determine the best possible timing.

This time, after two months of trying and at least one super-emotional argument (Thanks, Clomid!), we received the wonderful news that we were pregnant with the baby that would become our Pearl!

Throughout my journey to conception, both pregnancies, and in the almost 5 years since I became pregnant with Pearl, I have discovered that many women suffer with difficulties conceiving.  I am also aware that my story probably sounds simple and easy to many who struggle to conceive.  My point in sharing our story is not to gain attention to what I endured and overcame, but to draw attention to how I overcame PCOS.

After my pregnancy with Pearl was well-established, I began to think about future pregnancies that Jeremy and I hoped for.  I thought of how we would probably encounter these difficulties again.  And then I stopped.

 I wondered why I expected this illness to persist.  I wondered why I expected defeat in my life.  I wondered why my thoughts were aligned with disease, destruction, and difficulty.

Then I started thinking again.  I thought about Jesus and what he came to do on this earth and on the cross.  I thought about how he was whipped horribly before crucifixion and that the Bible says we are healed by his stripes (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24).

I decided to give it a chance.  I decided to trust that my Heavenly Father loves me and answers prayers.  I asked God to take away the PCOS that was in my body.  I didn’t claim it for my own; I didn’t say that it was mine.  I recognized it as something foreign that needed to be gone.  I believed that God could heal me and wanted to heal me.  Then, I thanked him for the healing.  I hadn’t seen it yet, but I thanked him anyway because I knew he was more than able.

Pearl was born, and I nursed her for over a year.  About nine months after her birth, I happily welcomed the return of my period!  I haven’t had a single problem or oddity with my cycle since that day!

Strangely, although thankful, I didn’t jump up and down and shout from the rooftops that I had experienced a miracle.  I asked God for healing and expected it to come.  When the manifestation of the healing came, my response was similar to what I would have for an expected visitor: happy but not shocked.  It wasn’t until I was recently relaying my story to a gal at our church that I realized how amazing these events were.  She was also diagnosed with PCOS and expressed that she was greatly encouraged and challenged by my story and the faithfulness of God within it.  Her response opened my eyes to the miraculous nature of what occurred in my own life!

My prayer is that you might also be encouraged and challenged.  Do you have something in your life, whether health or otherwise, that is not right?  Is there something in your life or body that is not everything that God intended it to be?  Our loving Heavenly Father is all-powerful (Genesis 17:1) and the God that heals us (Exodus 15:26, Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24).  He wants you to be well.  Our God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).  His healing is for you, too!