The Infertility Olympics–100 Meter Dash

Posted on August 12, 2008 and filed under Infertility Resources, Infertility....the unfathomable journey

This article (written by Sarahs-Laughter.com) was especially helpful to me today, I hope it will be to you also! If you want to recieve writings like this daily, you can sign up at www.Sarahs-laughter.com (click on Daily Double Portions).

Therefore,  since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  
Hebrews 12:1-2
Many of us have dreamed of nothing more than to be parents.  We’ve looked forward to the moment when we catch our husband’s eye, and with a mischievous grin hold up that positive pregnancy test, only to be swept into his arms and into the next nine months of preparing for a baby to come home. But we face disappointments.  Life doesn’t always play out like we thought it would.  Infertility is hard.  For some, it’s like a sprint: relatively short lived, but intense.  For others, it’s like a marathon.  You feel like it will never end!  It’s easy to feel like others are passing you by.  They run the race easily and finish with the prize of a family.  If you’re not careful, you’ll get so focused on the blessing that God has given others, that you will wonder if He has any blessings left over for you!
When we read the passage of Scripture found in Hebrews 12, we are admonished to fix our eyes on Jesus.  The literal translation of this passage means “to look away from one thing so as to see another, to concentrate the gaze upon”.  Imagine you have a front row seat at the Track & Field events this week in Beijing.  You’re so excited to be there, and the amazing runners have taken their positions at the starting line.  The 100 meter dash is about to begin and you’re there to witness the whole thing!  The starters pistol is fired and the runners from all over the globe take off like the wind!  Muscular arms and legs are pumping and it is astonishing how fast their bodies move!  However, one athlete isn’t quite keeping up with the others.  He started the race at the same time as all the others, and seems to have the same abilities, but he instead of running in the lane assigned to him, he is veering all over the track.  He bumps into other runners and falls further and further behind!  What has happened to this runner?  He started to look up into the stands to watch fans as they cheered him on!  He took his eyes off of the finish line, and started looking other places!  In only a moment, he went off course and fell behind.  His hopes for a medal were dashed!
 It would be ludicrous to even imagine an Olympic runner running the race while looking at people in the stands, wouldn’t it?  However, we tend to make this mistake quite often.  We try to run the race of our lives, only to take our eyes off of Jesus when we face difficult obstacles.  Keep your eyes on Jesus as you press toward the goal of parenthood.  It’s easy to get so frustrated when your heart hurts and you can’t imagine what His plan is for you.  Shift your gaze from what you don’t have to the One who loves you enough to give Himself for you.  When everyone around you has a baby in their arms and keeps asking you when you’re going to have one, it’s hard not to look at their spit-up stained shoulders and compare it to your empty lap.  Satan will try his best to shine a spotlight on everything you do not have and use it to convince you that God is not going to bless you as much as He has blessed another.  Shift your eyes from the schemes of Satan to the promises of God!  Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith through this entire race you are running!