Prayers

I wanted this baby. I had already begun loving this child. And now there is an emptiness where there should have been anticipation. There should have been weeks to count. A heartbeat to hear. A belly to grow. A birth to prepare for. A baby to hold. Instead, there is grief. Lord, I do not understand why this happened. I do not need explanations right now. I need You. Come into the place inside me that feels empty. Receive every…

Lord Jesus, There is a room waiting. Maybe there is an empty crib. Tiny clothes folded in drawers. Books waiting to be read aloud. A name imagined. A car seat still in its box. And there are arms with no child in them. Lord, this is a strange kind of pregnancy—the long gestation of adoption, with no due date, no growing belly, no little kicks to reassure us that the waiting is leading somewhere. Only hope. And sometimes even hope…

Father, we come before You again. We have asked before. We have waited. We have hoped. And still we ask. Please, Lord, give Ashley and Tommy a child. If it is Your will, open Ashley’s womb and let life begin where for so long there has been longing. Speak Your creative Word into the emptiness. You who call life out of nothing, breathe life here. And if their child is already conceived in another mother’s womb, already born, or still…