prayer

Sometimes we pray and God says Yes.  Sometimes we pray and God says No.  And then of course there’s perhaps the most frustrating,  when God says “Not Yet.”  Seems as His kids we are always trying to figure out which one it is, while struggling to maintain our faith along the way.

About 6 years ago Evie and Bryan decided it was time to start their family, but despite their best efforts and prayers, 2 years passed without success.  They trusted God to be in control because He is their loving Father.  Then Evie’s cousins were in town from California.  They encouraged Evie to pray with them.  They had seen healing and miracles back home in the ministry they were a part of and believed God for a miracle for Evie and Bryan. 

Evie says the prayer that night was the only time she has ever felt like her world was literally shaken.   She felt as though God had heard her and it seemed unmistakable that His answer had been yes. 

Lo and behold, two weeks later they conceived their little princess!   They celebrated God’s goodness and began to work on plans for a second child not long after Gabriella’s birth. 

This road would prove another test of their faith.   They lost their first baby when Gabriella was a year old.   After an additional year failing to conceive, Bryan and Evie sought help from Shady Grove fertility specialists.   

There was no definite explanation for why Evie was having a hard time conceiving.    They were encouraged to try IUI to conceive and they went through 4 courses.  This meant  4 months in a row they received the call that the fertility had failed.   

Evie struggled with this.  It just didn’t make sense.  She was a strong, healthy woman and had friends conceiving by accident.   She was determined to believe that God had a plan to grow her closer to Him through her sadness.

Shady Grove recommended IVF be their next step and the Pittingers were on board.   Conception happened fairly quickly and Evie recalls the flood of joy that invaded her heart as she realized she would be able to give Gabriella a sibling. 

That joy would not last long though as a few short weeks after their baby’s life began, it abruptly ended.   There’s an expression, “it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”  Evie is confident that she will see these babies again someday when they meet in heaven!  She wouldn’t trade that knowledge for the world!

Bryan and Evie decided to try again.  Many couples struggle with the exorbitant costs related to fertility treatments but they were incredibly blessed to find Bryan’s insurance covered almost 100% of their procedures!  This helped to make their decision to continue on easier.  Evie’s heart aches for families who have to bear this financial burden and realizes how blessed they are not to have had to carry this part of the burden related to infertility.

Their decision to try again is why Evie and her family joined me at C A P T U R E D studio to celebrate and record the evidence of God’s great provision in their life!   At six weeks Evie got to see the heart beat of her tiny baby and today she is weeks away from laying that baby on her chest, heart beat to heart beat. 

Evie’s been dreaming of maternity photographs for years.  She knew if she was blessed enough to give birth to a second child, she would have her amazing maternal transformation photographed so she could always remember the miracle she got to experience twice.  We also spent time photographing some breath taking figure studies that won’t be posted but brought so many tears of joy to Evie! 

God has taken away the fear Evie walked through with her pregnancy and replaced it with peace.  She is well aware that there are plenty of women who walk this road of infertility and despite extraordinary measures, never experience the joy of childbirth.   She will never take for granted the miracle of birth and is a prayer warrior for friends on this same journey.

Personally, this time last year I had three dear women in my life I was praying for who were getting help for fertility struggles.  Amazingly, several months ago I learned that all three are due in October!   I learned this news from each women within just weeks of each other—God is so good for the lessons He teaches us during our “Not Yet” times and then joyfully during our “Yes” times!