On my day off work, I was sitting in my "second office" and decided to listen to a podcats someone had sent me a link to. It was the incredible testimony of Sheridan Voysey, who spoke at the Christian Resources Exhibition in 2013. His title was, "Committed to Succeed" and he used his own personal account of "Expectation. Disappointment. Expectation. Disappointment. Expectation. Disappointment." to demonstrate what it is to be committed to God's plan for your life.
I'm not going to try and condense what he says into my own version of his talk, I would recommend you have a listen for yourself, because God may give you something different to focus on. Click here for the link on the CRE podcast site. But here are a couple of things Sheridan says which really struck me:
"If life carries on as normal, I don't think I can handle it... something has to change. [Sheridan's wife] Merryn had had one dream for her life, to become a mother, and after 10 years of going through a broken dream, that dream was over."
I have also wondered how I can cope with life, if nothing was to ever change. How can I reassess where my life is going, if I never become a mum?
"Who are you if you don't become a mum? If you take away all those secondary identities, when all the dreams are gone... who are you?" What's left is you are a child of God... when you go through the wilderness, you discover who you really are."
I am learning this. When God literally strips away your whole support network, so you have no choice but to trust Him, rely on Him, and lean on Him. This is not an easy place to be - but it's made a LITTLE BIT easier when I realise I am not the only one God is challenging in this way.
Apparently, there is a meeting being arranged for MPs to attend, which will look at raising awareness of infertility at the end of April. This is an all-party meeting on the 29th and is open to all our MPs, including the one you vote for in our local and national elections, organised by NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence).
The reception is to launch the new NICE guidelines on fertility, including:
- the best forms of treatment for people who have problems getting pregnant
- ways of treating people who have a known condition or reason for their fertility problems
- ways of treating people when no reason for their fertility problems can be found
and will offer an opportunity for MPs to discuss the issue surrounding people like us. Follow the link if you want to know more about the NICE guidelines, although the guidelines seem to focus primarily on IVF treatment - maybe it would be worth asking our MPs to discuss those for whom IVF isn't an option, for whatever reason.
Having heard some comments by MPs in the past, there doesn't seem to be a wide range of knowledge of infertility within the House of Commons, I've even heard us, who are TTC, being likened to a gay couple who can't conceive naturally!! Shocking!
With this in mind, the Infertility network UK is asking for our help in trying to encourage our MPs to attend this meeting, and to represent us, as the decisions they take will be affecting us in the future. If you would like to support this request, follow this link to some tips offered by the Infertility Network.
For info on contacting your MP use the link, http://www.parliament.uk/about/contacting/mp/
For a copy of the invitation, please contact karenveness@infertilitynetworkuk.com
