I JUST WANT A TOMATO!

I Just Want a Tomato!! 

I'm starving!  I'm actually starting to get hangry (hungry + angry = hangry) and all I can think about is eating a BLT sandwich (with lots and lots of mayonnaise).  But I NEED a tomato!  So I ask my father for a tomato and he hands me tomato seeds.  Tomato seeds?!?  What am I going to do with tomato seeds?!  His reply, "Plant them and you will have your tomato.  In fact, once you plant all of these seeds you will have LOTS of tomatoes."  But I want my sandwich now and I NEED my tomato now...I don't WANT to wait! 

I believe that sometimes this is how God is with our blessings...We come to Him with our requests but we don't always receive them in the time frame or way that we would like to receive them.  This causes us to be impatient, frustrated, angry, bitter and doubtful.  If we are not careful, all of these emotions can cause us to either give up on or let go of God all together. (which is a scary thought)

Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,"

When it comes to my request for a baby, I have learned that God doesn't just want to give me a baby.  But He wants me healed, restored, walking in peace, strengthened in my faith, joyful in my hope and trusting in His character so that I can start sharing "my blessings" with others.  He wants to give me blessings upon blessings upon blessings.  He knows that if I am healed then I can go forth and have all the babies that I want...I wouldn't have to keep looking to outside resources or drown in my own downward spiraling emotions because I have been restored and made new and as a result I can give him glory and share with others the faithfulness and miraculous power of God.

I used to ask God why He hasn't fulfilled His promise to me yet but I no longer have to ask Him this question because I am finally at a place where it doesn't matter.  I KNOW that my promise is coming if I have hope (expect) remain faithful, and have faith.  I also don't care why it hasn't come yet because when I look back over the course of the year since my failed IVF,  I have learned to know the strength that He gives me when I am weak...the faith that He gives when I walk without sight...the love and forgiveness that He has shown me when I did doubt and question His character...and the tools I can use to defeat the devil.  My relationship with Him is stronger and on more solid ground than this time last year and I wouldn't trade any of these blessings for anything.  The ministry of H.O.P.E. was birthed and I know that even if only one woman has found true hope in God again because of my testimony and the weekly Thursday night meetings then what the devil meant for my harm was worth it.  God could have given me a baby months ago...even years ago...and I could have all that I wanted...but I wouldn't have known Him as He truly is in all His glory...and this would have been my loss and God knew it. 

I haven't been given my "tomato" but He gave me seeds (His promises of children, peace, joy, love, courage...) and as I plant those seeds, I am reaping a harvest more than what I ever asked or imagined.  God is faithful and God is good.  

I used to think the greatest of all gifts from God would be children but God has shown me that the greatest of all gifts is to know Him.  Not just know OF Him and be able to spout out scripture every once in a while, but to KNOW Him.  Infertility is a hard battle but I know and can say with boldness that He will fulfill His promise to me because His Word will not return void. One day I won't have this problem of infertility because I know that I will have "tomatoes" upon "tomatoes" upon "tomatoes".  The peace I have gained, the faith that has been strengthened and the hope that has been restored will carry me through any future struggle the devil tries to throw at me.  God is preparing me and equipping me for the next battle that I might face in life because soon this battle of infertility will be DONZO and the devil will try to attack me in another area but I will be far more prepared because of the seeds I have sown. 

If you are in that waiting time, I encourage you to not despise it.   Surrender it all to him.  Let Jesus be the center of it all.  Surrender everything and let Him be the center of your agenda, your time frame, and your wants.  God is wanting to do a work in you and through you far above just giving you a "baby".  He wants to show up and show out.  Your promise is coming but are you willing to trust Him completely and let Him do a complete work in your life?  He wants to give you abundantly and exceedingly far more than what you can even dream or imagine.  He doesn't just want to give you a "tomato" but He wants to give you the seeds of healing, peace, and restoration so that you can have tomatoes upon tomatoes....blessings upon blessings.  Will you let Him be the center of it all?

Below is a link the H.O.P.E. facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/HOPE/434401456655733?ref=br_tf

Wait

By: Russel Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried.

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, He replied.

I pleaded, and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait.”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply.

“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why.

Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

“My future, and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me ‘wait’?

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,

Or even a ‘no’, to which I can resign.

“And Lord, you have promised that if we believe,

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord I’ve been asking and this is my cry;

I’m weary of asking: I need a reply!”

Then quietly, softly I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”

So I slumped in my chair; defeated and taut

And grumbled to God; “So I’m waiting, for what?”

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine

And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens, darken the sun,

Raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

“All you see I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want, but you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

“You’d not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust, just by knowing I’m there.

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me,

When darkness and silence was all you could see.

“You would never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

“The glow of My comfort late in the night;

The faith that I give when you walk without sight;

The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

“And you never would know, should your pain quickly flee

What it means that ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’

Yes, your dreams for that loved one o’ernight could come true,

But the loss!  If you lost what I’m doing in you.

“So be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all…is still…wait.”