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Chapter Six

Baby Steps

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

(Proverbs 16:9)

My husband and I are not high school sweethearts and didn’t live in the same state during college. We met when we were twenty-eight and well into the adulthood of finding a permanent job, a better place to live, and mature friends. We enjoyed our dating stage into our newlywed stage and before we knew it, we were thirty-years-old. Now, we were ready to start a family and parent together.

After trying to conceive on our own for a year, we sought help from a doctor. We found a specialist and began the rigorous and exhausting attempt of conceiving through medical intervention and fertility treatments.

At the beginning of each cycle, I would calculate the expected due date of the baby were that fertility treatment to be successful. Then, I would continue on to prepare plans for the future. I would daydream about exactly how we would tell our family the exciting news. I would get wrapped up in decor, colors, and furniture shopping for the nursery. And I would think through what daily life as a stay-at-home mom, with a precious newborn, would look like. These vivid daydreams consumed my thoughts. Every negative pregnancy test consumed my joy.

I planned for a baby and my Heavenly Father did too; however, our steps and our timeline were not the same. My actions, daydreams, joy, and grief would have changed dramatically had I known it would take four years before my timeline and my Heavenly Father’s timeline aligned.

We will have plans and timelines for our lives. But if we seek God for direction of the next steps, then our plans will align, making a more peaceful journey along the way. Disappointments and failures will be on our path, so growing deeper in our relationship with God will help us acknowledge that it is he who determines the ultimate timeline.

Wait with Hope

List one short-term or long-term goal that you are trying to accomplish.

What is your plan and timeline for getting there?

Take one step at a time and prayerfully consult your Heavenly Father on the next step. Do you feel peace? Then keep going. Do you feel a closed door? Reconsider other options and steps.