Thursday, January 13, 2011

Enough

Shauna Niequist has written two books, the first, Cold Tangerines, and the second, Bittersweet. She calls Chicago home and has experienced secondary infertility since the birth of her son, now five years old. She is a woman of joy and openness.

Today she wrote about the pain of pregnancy announcements. How you become the one that no-one wants to share their pregnancy news but the one who has come to a place of "enough." Whether you are single and looking for Mr/Mrs. Right, married without children, married and want more children, or perhaps just struggling with contentment in other areas, today's posting is for you...

Shauna's blog post January 12, 2011 (click here).

Please leave a comment, short or long, to let me know what you thought. I struggle with words often but today, I feel like her words could be mine.

"And He has said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (Apostle Paul)
-2 Corinthians 12:9

Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way"I want to cultivate a deep sense of gratitude, of groundedness, of enough, even while I’m longing for something more. The longing and the gratitude, both. I’m practicing believing that God knows more than I know, that He sees what I can’t, that He’s weaving a future I can’t even imagine from where I sit this morning."- Shauna



*** To my IRL friends that are wonderfully pregnant- I love that you get to experience growing a new little life to raise for God's glory. I just loved this article and wanted to post about it. I really can't wait for your baby shower:-)***

6 comments:

Polly Gamwich said...

I loved the three way mirror bit!

For me this journey is one of faith, I cannot separate my infertility struggles with my relationship to and understanding of God.

I do wish I was better at handing Him the burden.

Thank you so much for the card and the treat - it was entirely thoughtful and moving - thank you.

I look forward to the next time I see you.

Aly sun said...

Very interesting and entertaining read. She puts it well.

Elizabeth said...

I am so glad you read that post. I read it on Wednesday and immediately thought of your infertility struggles. I also thought of my own struggles to be settled, connected, etc. Her words always touch me on such a deep level. May we both experience the beauty of "enough."

Erin said...

That was a really really good post!! In the last few weeks since my last miscarriage I went through a little depression but then I came to terms with the fact that I have no right to be depressed. I have 2 healthy children and as much as I would LOVE a third, that might not happen. I have been blessed with Viktor and he is a gift that I will always cherish. I have everything I ever wanted and no right to depressed.

Melissa said...

I'm not trying to have children as I'm not married nor in a relationship. I haven't been in a meaning relationship since about 2004 and that was a short lived one too. For years now I've been yearning to meet my husband-to-be and haven't had any luck (even though I don't believe in luck). I've prayed for the man I want, I've waited, I've pursued in a number of different ways and I've not looked.....still no results.
About 3-4 years back my gramma was recovering from esophogeal cancer and while she was in the hospital she told me she knows it's not her time to leave this world because she's to watch me walk down the aisle. She's watched both my younger sisters get married. My gramma died in June 2008....over 2 yrs ago and I've not once been close to getting married.
My "enough" is about being single and being sick of it. My "enough" depresses me with crazy lows and sad thoughts and sometimes bad thoughts. I know this process is not in my time but His but in my human mind, it's not happening quick enough.
I have some personal issues to still deal with (psychologist is $$ though) and I think I'm brave enough to say "I wouldn't want to be with me anyways" right now in my life. I think that may be a hurdle I have to climb and succeed in to get to the next stage of meeting a guy, courting, engaging and marrying. Patience is a virtue, right?

Elizabeth said...

Shauna posted part 2 this morning. I love this line:

May you have the deep sense that whatever you're longing for, you're not alone. Pull back the curtain, and you'll find that we're all yearning for something, managing the pain in the meantime, praying desperate prayers.