On January 10, 2016 I woke up with the anticipation of being a first- time mom. My entire pregnancy had been high-risk with a lot of what-if scenarios. My baby was consistently small for his gestational age, and we decided that for his safety we needed to induce him at 37 weeks. What I didn’t know on this day 7 years ago is that the birth of my first baby would usher in some hard times in our family. Our faith in God was tested a lot during this period. Now, on the other side of it, I can clearly see how God was calling us to trust in Him and His plan. In this blog post I hope to encourage you with 5 ways that you can keep trusting in God during the hard times.

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OUR STORY: TRUSTING IN GOD even when it’s hard

To say that I was completely against being induced for my first pregnancy is an understatement. I begged and pleaded and put my foot down about wanting to go into labor naturally. But it became apparent that my baby was no longer growing well. He needed to be born for his safety. You know the old adage, “When you want God to laugh just tell him YOUR plans.” I think a more accurate way to put it is, “Tell God your plans and He will show you how His plans are better.” On this day 7 years ago the Lord showed this to be true for us.

On this day 7 years ago I was mourning not being able to have the natural birth that I wanted. I was preparing for what I thought motherhood with a newborn was going to look like. I didn’t know what I was heading into. What I didn’t realize at this moment was that this was the first of many times that I would be trusting in God during hard times. What I didn’t know 7 years ago was that I would be birthing a new life for our family as well.

Our new baby was 4lbs 7oz and stayed in the NICU for a week. He failed his newborn hearing screening in the hospital and our lives started to snowball from there. Within 2 months we found out that we had a deaf baby and he was a candidate for cochlear implant surgery. Within the next 9 months we met with an ENT, started speech therapy with our baby, started physical therapy with our baby, picked out the cochlear implants we wanted, and put our baby through surgery to receive his cochlear implants. Two years later, I would have a second deaf baby and the process would repeat.

At this point we were seriously wondering why God was bringing this much hardship to our family. To be honest, we still don’t know why our boys were born with a rare genetic syndrome that caused their deafness. A syndrome which has never been seen anywhere in our families before our children. God took us and our motives out of the picture from Day 1 with our kids. The deaf and hard of hearing world is still new for us, and I don’t know what the future holds for our kids. God put me in a position that I literally can’t do anything else but trust in Him now and forever.

Although I admit that not knowing and having no control is a frusterating situation to be in, it also also bore some sweet fruit in that it allowed for the joy of hope to enter into our lives, and I learned what true contenment in God’s promises is like. That is not a result that I saw coming 7 years ago when we had this gigantic mountain of hearing loss to climb with our kids.

Trusting in God during easy times is, well, easy! It’s the true mark of Faith when you can trust in God during hard times, when you can’t see the path in front of you. As the Lord tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, and not by sight”. The real walk of faith for a Christian is having faith even when you don’t understand your situation. If you are struggling with trusting in God during hard times, here are 5 ways that you can keep trusting in Him.

5 ways to trust in god during hard times

1. Remember that grieving can exist along with hope and joy. It’s ok to grieve the life that you thought you or your child would have, while also looking forward to the hope and joy that inevidably comes after the storm.
2. Keep a prayer journal. This is the single best thing I’ve done to amplify my relationship with God. Write down a prayer and then write down every, little detail of when God answers that prayer. You will be astonished about how God is working everyday in your life.
3. Hold fast to the foundation of Christ and get grounded in His words. Write down bible verses that talk about faith in hard times, and keep reading them to remind you of God’s promises of hope and redemption.
4. Confess your hardship to someone. Not confessing when we are going through hard times is really a sign of pride. Everyone goes through hard times, and we are meant to go through hardships with a community. Ask someone if you can talk, and then ask for them to pray for you and your family at the end.
5. Take it one day at a time. Recognize that you will feel better one day, and then not so much better the next day. Keep waking up and trusting in God. Take it one day at a time.

the middle of the story

Right now, our family is in the middle of the story that God is writing. With the Lord’s help we met and succeeded in climbing many mountains, however we know that many more mountains are yet to come. Looking back on giving birth to my first baby 7 years ago, I felt hopeless at his diagnosis of hearing loss. I couldn’t see even an inch of the path in front of me. I had no idead of the joy and pride that I would feel when my son learned a new skill. The emotion that a new word or a new sentence that he uttered would bring to us. I didn’t know that my world would open up and I would be introduced to an entirely new and lovely community of parents of kids with hearing loss. I had no idea that my child would grow and develop on his own timeline into the most joyful 7 year old that I have today.

What I want you to know is that trusting in God during hard times is not easy. There will be things that seem to come out of left field that you didn’t anticipate. Your faith will be tested, and you might even feel that you know nothing about God and His promises. However, keep going through it. Find someone who will believe for you, when you can’t believe for yourself. Hold fast to the foundation of Christ, and be encouraged that there is joy and redemption for you on the other side.

What have going through hard times taught you about trusting in God?

You can read more about my journey with Trusting God in Difficult Times in this blog post.