Struggling with Infertility
When a woman first discovers her infertility, she can feel so alone. There is deep grief, loss, anger, disappointment, and unfulfilled expectations. She can even feel like God has let her down just when she needed Him most. Infertility can shake your faith. So how do you trust God again after pain and loss, and how do you find hope in the middle of your struggle? Many other women have walked this difficult journey. You are not alone. The following Christian resources answer many of the heart-wrenching questions you may have. You will find websites, books, and e-books that will help you sort through your fragile emotions and your pain and loss while providing you with hope. Most of these resources come from the hearts of women like you who have also walked the path of infertility with all of its unique challenges and heartaches.
WEBSITES
Hannah's Prayer Ministries provides Christian-based support and encouragement to women around the world who are struggling with the pain of infertility, pregnancy loss, early infant death, and adoption loss. Their outreach extends to those who become mothers of living children through adoption and/or foster care.
Website: www.hannah.org
Stepping Stones: Offering Christian support for couples facing infertility or pregnancy loss. In 1997, Stepping Stones became a ministry of Bethany Christian Services, a not-for-profit Christian adoption and family services agency, with more than 75 locations in the United States and ministries in more than a dozen countries. Stepping Stones was founded by three women who were searching for Christian answers to the questions encountered in their personal struggles with infertility and pregnancy loss. The founders named their ministry Stepping Stones with the hope that, like properly placed stones across a running stream, Stepping Stones would build a bridge to guide travelers across the waters of discouragement, loneliness, and loss that are often part of the infertility experience.
Today John and Sylvia Van Regenmorter are the directors of Stepping Stones. They are co-authors of When the Cradle Is Empty: Answering Tough Questions About Infertility (Focus on the Family and Tyndale House Publishers, 2004). They experienced infertility for the first ten years of their marriage.
Website: www.bethany.org/step
BOOKS
Empty Arms: For Those Who Suffered a Miscarriage, Stillbirth, or Tubal Pregnancy
by Pam Vredevelt (Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2001)
With the warmth and compassion of a licensed professional counselor and a Christian woman who has suffered miscarriage herself, Pam Vredevelt offers sound answers, advice, and reassurance to the woman fighting to maintain faith in the heartbreak of loss. This book is the essential guidebook through the agony of losing a child.
Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage, & Adoption Loss by Jennifer Saake ( NavPress, 2005) Digital Ebook available
Hannah's Hope is for all who long for a child yet to be conceived, grieve for a baby miscarried, or have lived through the anguish of a failed adoption. Using the biblical example of Hannah from 1 Samuel 1 and 2, the author directs you to the source of your strength, the God of all comfort. Jennifer Saake and her husband, Rick, are the founders of Hannah's Prayer Ministries (www.hannah.org). Since their infertility battle began in 1992, the Saakes have lost ten children via miscarriages and failed adoption attempts and have been blessed with two living miracles.
Empty Womb, Aching Heart: Hope and Help for Those Struggling with Infertility
by Marlo Schalesky (Baker, 2001) Digital Ebook available
This book portrays the agony of infertility written by those who've been there. The first-person stories will reach you whether you're struggling with grief, anger, or confusion. Not all the stories have happy endings, but you’ll see how God consistently blesses lives, with or without children. Contains frank and emotionally resonate stories from both men and women facing the struggle of infertility.
When Empty Arms Become Heavy Burdens: Encouragement for Couples Facing Infertility by Sandra Glahn, William Cutrer (Kregel Publications, 2010)
In this updated edition of their popular infertility resource, Sandra Glahn and William Cutrer offer hope and encouragement to couples struggling with infertility. They focus on the emotional and spiritual issues these couples face, but also provide reproductive advice and detailed information on medical issues, fertility treatments, and alternative possibilities. The discussion questions, reading suggestions, case histories, and personal testimonies offer additional help to couples in this sensitive situation.
It's OK to Cry: Finding Hope When Struggling with Infertility and Miscarriage
by Malcolm Cameron, Nick Cameron (Christian Focus Publications, 2005)
In It's OK to Cry, husband and wife Malcolm and Nick Cameron, share their story of infertility, miscarriage, and grief over remaining childless. If you’ve had to reconcile yourself to the idea of childlessness, the single life, career loss, or debilitating illness, It's OK to Cry can help you rely on God and draw you into a deeper devotion to God.
All I Wanted Was A Baby by Kimberly R. Davis Pleasant Word (Winepress, 2011) Available on or about 4/29/11
Do your arms ache to cradle a child, to nurture, cuddle and train him in the way he should go? Do you struggle with wondering why you’re barren, or feel you can’t bear the pain of another miscarriage? Kimberly Davis understands the pain of empty arms. Through nine miscarriages over a seven-year period she sunk to the depths of despair, felt deserted by God, and wondered if life was worth living without a child. Riding an emotional rollercoaster, her hopes rose with each pregnancy only to crash again with grief. Yet something inside her kept telling her to trust God, and He would prove His power. When she could bear the pain no longer, God, in His faithfulness, gave her a son...and another...and another.
When God Lets You Down: Trusting Again After Pain and Loss by Alex Gee (InterVarsity Press, 2006)
Have you ever felt like God has let you down just when you needed him most? For Alex Gee it was the loss of his second child at birth. For others it is death, divorce, financial ruin, physical disability, or a host of other trials we face in the world. In these moments of crisis, our view of God is challenged and our faith is shaken. With refreshing candor in this book Alex Gee offers true companionship ? though not easy answers ? as you search for the way to hope.
Outside the Womb: Moral Guidance for Assisted Reproduction by Scott Rae, D. Joy Riley (Moody Publishers, 2011)
According to research, the number of Americans who use in-vitro fertilization and other available means of assisted reproduction is constantly increasing ? Americans use in-vitro fertilization (IVF) at a rate of 236 per 100,000 ? for a total of more than 70,000 nationwide. And that’s just IVF; many other means of assisted reproduction are increasingly available. We can expect more and more Christian couples to make use of reproductive technologies as well.
But how ethical are these treatments? What key issues should couples wrestle with before using any type of assisted procreation? Medical ethicist Rae and Dr. Riley examine these issues in Outside the Womb and equip Christian couples to consider moral, biblical, and personal perspectives before taking the next step. The authors don't condemn assisted reproductive technologies (ART), but they do call Christians to give careful thought to what God intended for the family and to the ethical issues involved in various fertility treatments. Readers of the book will be better equipped to think morally and biblically about ART, both as a social issue and as a personal issue that affects their own friends, church members, and families.
eBOOK
The Infertility Companion – eBook by Sandra L. Glahn (Zondervan, 2010)
This product may only be available for purchase in the USA.
Infertility changes everything, shattering dreams and breaking hearts. But help is available today more than ever. This book focuses on important questions including: how can we make moral, biblical decisions about medical treatment; can people of faith ethically use high-tech infertility treatments; and how the stress of infertility on marriage can be minimized.
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