Do you find waiting for God to answer your prayers to be as exhausting as a sleepless night? I’m not a night owl, and staying awake through the night is a challenge.

I spent a couple of years working at an emergency dispatch center, which meant I had to work many night shifts. We were essentially the watchmen of the city – if someone had a crisis, our 911 center was normally the first to know. However, on most days, in the wee hours of the morning, not much happened while the majority of our town slept. During those years, this Psalm came alive to me because I desperately desired morning, when I could get off work, go home to my own bed, and sleep.

I wait for the Lord,
my soul waits,
and in His word I do hope.
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than those who watch for the morning –
yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6 (NKJV)

I just love this line: “My soul waits for the Lord, more than those who watch for the morning.”

Although waiting through the watches of the night was difficult, do you know what?

Morning always came.

The night may have felt endless and it might have dragged on, but I KNEW that morning would come.

The sun would rise and it would be a new day.

Now I find myself in the longest, hardest wait of my life: we’ve experienced more than five years of trying to get pregnant without a single positive pregnancy test. My husband and I have prayed, we’ve been prayed for, and we’ve searched the Word of God for His perspective. We believe that the Bible makes it clear that children are a blessing. We see evidence in the Scriptures that every woman who asked God for a baby was granted that request. So it’s in His word that we hope.

We believe that our season of parenthood will come, just as the morning eventually dawned after long, quiet nights of watching over the city. Even in the hardest moments, we believe that God has children for us. And if He doesn’t? If we’re wrong in our statements of faith? Even if it doesn’t happen like we think it will, He is still God, and we will still choose to live by faith until the end of our days.

Just like morning always comes after a long, hard night, we believe that our prayers for a baby will be answered.

We choose to wait for the Lord to turn this long night of infertility into a baby-filled morning of joy. It’s in His word that we put our hope.

(As I prepared this post, I remembered a song I loved years ago. Click here to listen to “More Faithful” by Skillet.)