Not Alone

This morning I was reading the first article in the March Ensign titled "Come unto Him in Prayer and Faith" by President Monson, and while I enjoyed the whole article, 2 little lines stood out to me. They weren't something new to me and something I believe in already but when you are going through trials, sometimes those kinds of things take on new meaning and importance. The 2 lines are:

Pray as though everything depended upon God.

Work as though everything depended upon you.

This advice, of course, applies to all trails in our life. Faith without works is dead. It came to me as a confirmation that, yes, we need to continue to pray to, rely on and have faith in our Heavenly Father that He knows what is best for our little family, and a baby will come to us when the time is right, according to His will.
But I also believe that we need to do our part, and if you're doing the first sentence, He will help you through the second sentence.
It's funny how He works. The other night I was flipping through channels and stopped just long enough to hear a woman talking about infertility. She was going through cancer treatments and was worried about preserving her fertility. Then, a few words showed up saying there was financial assistance available for infertility. I then went to the computer and did a search for infertility financial assistance. This brought me to a website which wasn't really so much about financial assistance as much as it was about finding out more about infertility and PCOS, which is the cause of my infertility. So I spent a good couple of hours reading and learning about what I need to be doing to getting healthy. This includes the 2 medical breakthroughs that seems to cure about everything, yet none of us want to do it:

Diet & Exercise

Seems like a simple solution, right? Easier said than done for me. PCOS is a result of insulin resistance, which means my "diet" (really what should be a lifestyle change) means no refined carbs, white sugar, flour, bread, potatoes, etc. Well, that eliminates everything I love and pretty much all I eat. As far as exercise goes, I hate it. The only analogy I could come up with to describe how much motivation I have when it comes to exercise was how exciting it would be to pull a dead cow out of a ditch....alone.
I also need to go back to taking my medication which I abandoned after all the tummy trouble it gave me. And frankly, after a few months, I just figured it wasn't going to work and gave up.
But after all my research, it confirmed the path that my doctor had me on over a year ago, and gave me the realization that I really do need to have some self control in my life. I need to grow up and eat like an adult instead of a 5 year old. I need to exercise. Not only to have babies but to prevent stroke, heart disease, and diabetes later in my life, all of which I'm at high risk for if I don't get this PCOS under control. Sometimes I think that maybe this trial of infertility is a blessing in disguise. I most likely wouldn't be worried about my health if I was able to have children easily, and that might greatly affect me down the road with major health problems.
I know some people may say, "If the Lord wants you to have a baby, you will have a baby no matter what". But I think God has blessed us with minds, science, medicine, and knowledge so we can USE them! And of course the diet and exercise thing is a part of the word of wisdom, something we should be following anyway. I know that just doing those things, whether it results in a baby or not, will help me be happier and healthier, a better wife and mom, and just a better me.
Anyway, I could go on and on and this turned out to be a lot longer than I intended, but I want to share my testimony that I know that as we go through trials, we can turn to our Heavenly Father and have faith that He will help us and know what is best for us. If we do this as well as doing all that we are capable of doing ourselves, we don't have to face our trials alone. And I find great comfort in that.