\u201cI think God grants you an incubation period for your faith.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And this is the idea that has stuck with me since. To incubate is \u201cto develop slowly without outward or perceptible signs.\u201d This is the perfect definition of my relationship with God in the years of infertility and then the early years with Charlie. There were ZERO outward signs, or inward for that matter, that God was doing any work in me. Life dumped buckets and buckets of sorrow and setback and there I sat dripping and gasping from it. For years. The wisdom and the window into God\u2019s strategy with me did not come until later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about incubating, you can\u2019t hurry it along. It\u2019s like cooking a roast \u2013 low and slow is the only way to do it. And if I’m really being precise here, it\u2019s also a bit of an inoculation period as well. Because once you\u2019ve survived the hardest point in your life thus far and come out on the other side still trusting in the God who made you, you\u2019re a little less susceptible to the fears and mistrust you once felt towards Him. You soul has developed a thicker skin and a memory.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mistake my point here though. I am by no means saying sit with a smile and keep your mouth shut when things are hard. You don\u2019t have to Pollyanna your way through it. That was not Jesus\u2019s way nor should it be ours. My point is, be graceful with yourself when things are hard. Don\u2019t add a layer of guilt for not getting your emotions \u201cin check\u201d and being the \u201cgood Christian.\u201d A good Christian is an honest one who gets angry or hurt or confused and fights to understand. A good Christian is simply a human being unwilling to completely cut the cord with God even when things seem impossibly dark. But it\u2019s not all sunshine-y all the time. There is space to incubate. To tuck in and wait and let yourself wonder what in the world God is doing. And then, eventually, in this life or thereafter, we will see and we will say, \u201cso that\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>where you were going with all this.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sunday Thoughts Link Up<\/strong><\/h1>\n

It’s time for another Sunday Thoughts Link-Up! I know there are many out there with wisdom that could encourage all of us. As long as it’s faith-based, I’d love for you to join up and then read and comment on what others have shared. Please also leave a comment here. Think of this as a Sunday morning community group that comes to you. And grab the button if you like…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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That chapter in UNBOUND was gut-wrenching–really. It felt<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/2018\/07\/07\/the-incubation-period\/\"> …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[13,22],"tags":[214,28,97,27,46,48,209,115,55,54,17,24,15,59,137],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mom-gene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/egg-314365_1280-e1530281338821.jpg?fit=1280%2C697&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ca5p-1p1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5395"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5436,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5395\/revisions\/5436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}