A Way to Stay Grounded When Your Dreams Are Shattered

I am pretty sure I was made to be a mother. I know not all women are, but I am pretty sure I was.

And yet, my journey to motherhood was a tricky one.

Soon after my husband and I started trying to get pregnant, I found out that I, in fact, cannot have children—at least not naturally. I am infertile. And like most things unexpected and tragic, the news shattered me.

Photo Credit: andreawilla, Creative Commons

What kind of a women was I if my very womanhood, the ability to bring life into the world, did not exist within me?

These were the painful things I worried to myself late at night.

What do we do when the very thing we think defines us is ripped from our grasp?

The news of my infertility left me broken to my core, as it is with the loss of all things in life that we hope for, plan on, define ourselves by. During this time in my life, the nights were especially dark, but the most important thing was I found that when the sun of a new day would shine through my windows, I was still me.

The pain was there, and the hurt was real, but the light that God was shining on me with each new day was revealing something new.

I was beginning to see the beauty that can only exist amongst the broken.

So often we have an idea of what we want and what is best for our lives.

What my infertility taught me is, when our ideas and hopes are taken from us, we can either sit in the despair, or take the shattered hopes and dreams and begin to piece them together in a new way. I quickly learned that although my fertility was dead, my ability to be a mother was still very much alive.

When we piece together our brokenness, a new kind of creativity is required of us.

My brokenness ushered me into motherhood in a way that has shaped me and made me who I have always longed to be. My inability to bear children led me down the path of adoption.

I am now the mother of three.

While my womb will forever remain empty, my arms will forever be full. My original idea of what is best for my life was greatly lacking, and I never would have known the fullness of my potential if not for the pain of the loss of my initial plans.

What is it in your life that you are allowing to define you?

What brokenness do you continue to sit in?

As the sun comes up with the gift of a new day remember that you are still you.

Remember that God is still good. Do not let what you think you need, or the brokenness you are sitting in, define who you are.

Let the healing sun shine on the shattered glass around you.

Pick up the pieces and begin to put them together in a new and surprisingly magnificent way. With each new piece, you will find the hurt begin to fade. What was once a broken mess can slowly, over time, become the beauty you have been longing for all along.

A Way to Stay Grounded When Your Dreams Are Shattered is a post from: Storyline Blog