This post is by Judith Kowles of WholeHearted Home.
Having a tubal ligation seemed the thing to do after the birth of our second child.
I worked nights to help provide for our little family. How was I to have another baby?
I was scared to have more babies!
We had a boy and girl. Just perfect. Right?
The permanency of having a tubal ligation was irrelevant since I was young and living in the moment, not realizing I would ever desire a tubal ligation reversal!
Oblivious of God’s Stop Sign
Three months after the birth of my second child, I had an appointment for a tubal ligation.
God has a way of putting out a STOP sign to slow us down and cause us to think.
Have you ever just raced through the stop sign oblivious that it existed, not seeing, totally blinded to God’s hand in your life?
That is what I did.
I believed Satan’s lies and the voices that surrounded me, saying that at 30, I was too old for another baby.
The major stop sign that God placed in our lives happened when my husband stuck his finger in a grinding wheel and needed skin grafted from his wrist to place in his finger (gross, I know).
His arm was now in a cast up to his elbow and he wasn’t able to care for the baby while I recovered from having the tubal ligation surgery. The appointment had to be canceled.
We rescheduled the surgery but it never dawned on us that God was trying to STOP us and get our attention.
God Used a Phone Call
Has God ever gotten your attention because a friend strongly opposed something?
One day, a friend from church called and told me about a Bible study encouraging women to allow God to plan their families. She had two sweet children and thought having more babies was absurd.
I remember standing there in my kitchen when she called. God used this opposite situation to speak to my heart. A desire for a tubal reversal started to grow in my heart.
God’s Mercy for a Reversal
In Psalms we often read the record of how God blessed David over and over again. God’s mercy is never ending.
We drove out to Geary, Indiana where Dr. Denise Streeter performed my tubal ligation reversal in an out-patient surgery center. It was a 16 hour drive with a 6 year old and 4 year old coming along for the ride.
My tubes had been tied 4 years prior and I was blessed to have God allow me to put things back the way He had created them.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Putting the Planning Back into God’s Hand
We know what plans we have and what we want out of our life. Too often, God is the last person we consult when making life-changing decisions. How many wrong turns do we make and stop signs do we ignore because of our stubbornness?
My intentions in having a reversal was to place the planning of our family back into God’s hands.
When we use birth control, we are controlling whether we have another baby or not.
Reversal Success is NOT More Babies
After my reversal surgery I didn’t conceive for a year, and when I did, I miscarried. Another two years passed before I conceived again. That means almost 4 years passed before having my first reversal baby.
Many who desired to have a reversal would write or call asking if my reversal was successful. To most, success after a reversal is having a baby.
We too easily forget to allow God to be sovereign of every area of our lives including having more babies.
God Placed More Children Into Our Home
For me, having a reversal was more than physical surgery as it was circumcision of my heart. The Holy Spirit was doing a transforming work in my life. Praise God!
We ended up having 5 more children after my reversal surgery. Three through adoption, a labor of my heart; and two were reversal babies, born at home.
God has been good to us and I thank Him for His faithfulness through the years. My journey has not been an easy one but one through a refining fire.
What is your story? Are your tubes tied? Do you desire to have a reversal?
God can use you even when you have never walked in my shoes as you encourage other women to make the right choices, ones they will never regret.
