A history of God's faithfulness

In recent weeks I have found myself wandering into the dark places I was in during the months we waited with hope, not knowing whether we would be able to have a child. It's frustrating because I have seen and felt in a very physical way how God can provide and heal and intervene to allow something that my broken body cannot do on its own. How quickly I forget that faithfulness when it gets tough again. As I expected, I am seemingly falling back into my old patterns. We are ready to try for another child and my body doesn't seem to want to cooperate. I haven't been back to my doctor yet, and I am no where near ready to jump into all the treatments and things we did before. But, it's a little disheartening to think that we may have to walk this road again. Rather than wallow in my sorrows and frustrations, I have felt this urge to do some study on how God was very actively involved in women's reproductive health. I can't believe I missed so many of these details before. I know I mentioned it in my previous post, but there are numerous times that the bible talks of God opening and closing wombs. The reasons were varied and the responses of the women were varied as well. But the fascinating thing to me is how we see God's control over this. All of the interventions, medications, diets, & shortcuts we have invented to make our bodies conceive are really just meaningless unless God allows it to happen. He is in the business of procreation. He's called us to be fruitful and multiply, but he provides a way for it in his time and no baby is conceived without his prior knowledge and guidance.
So that said, I am spending some time looking at the stories of the women in the bible who we know had a tough time conceiving. (A little side note: how amazing is it that, of all the gray areas or unnamed trials and tribulations that we as humans must face in this life, infertility is mentioned specifically and the power of God in these situations is spelled out in no uncertain terms? We can know with surety that God cares deeply about this struggle because it's mentioned so many times in his Word!). I wanted to start with Sarah. Her story is not unfamiliar. She was old--very old--when she bore her son, Isaac. The bible says she was 90. But there's a lot more detail to her story. I read Genesis 16-21 today and I felt like I was reading my story a little bit. No, I'm not 90 years old, but I certainly had those same doubts about God's ability to overcome my broken system. Sarah's story is amazing. We read about her desire longing to have a child. We are also told of her plan to try and fulfill God's promise of an heir by using her maid to carry a child in her place--almost a premodern surrogacy. But God told them both that he would give them a child that Sarah would carry. And her response? She laughs! I probably would have, too. After all, the bible says she was post-menopausal and and Abraham was old, too. I was thinking about it, she was my grandmother's age. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like if my grandmother were to carry a child at her age. But God's timing wasn't their timing. He was more powerful than Sarah's broken and old womb. I found an interesting story tucked in right before we learn of Sarah's pregnancy. God's hand was on Abraham and Sarah throughout their lives, even at a time when Sarah was taken in to be a part of the harem of Abimelech. God prevented Abimelech from ever touching Sarah and the bible says that God prevented all of the women of the house of Abimelech from conceiving during the time that Sarah was in his house. It was only when she was restored to Abraham that all of that house were healed and allowed to have children again. And then finally we read about God opening Sarah's womb so she could conceive and bear her son, Issac. The whole story is amazing. And God was present and active in every part. No creative intervention or act of man was able to interfere with God's plan for Abraham and Sarah. It gives me hope that he still intervenes and moves in these circumstances to bring about his plan.