I recently received a copy of Barren Among the Fruitful: Navigating Infertility With Hope, Wisdom, and Patience by Amanda Hope Haley. The book is a part of the Inscribed series, which is a collection of Christian studies by women.
Amanda has dealt with infertility herself, and it’s clear she’s quite knowledgable about all the different aspects of the disease and its treatments. The book might be a bit too broad and basic for someone who’s been dealing with infertility for several years, but I do think it would be an excellent primer for women who are just taking their first steps on their infertility journey. It would also be a good to give to family, friends, or clergy who are trying to better understand what women who suffer from infertility are facing.
There are several chapters about topics such as the physical and emotion aspects of infertility, healthy lifestyle changes, and strengthening our marriages during infertility. But where this book really stands out is Amanda’s thoughts on the infertility stories in the Bible.
I like that Amanda doesn’t resort to implying that if we have more faith, then we’ll have miracle pregnancies like Hannah and Sarah. She says,
“The miracles of their pregnancies have more to do with the babies they had than the women they were. As a result, their stories don’t offer us modern fertility patients very much help.”
She encourages us to look at the character of Anna instead. Anna was an elderly, childless widow who lived in the temple, waiting for the birth of the Messiah. The Bible describes her as “deeply devoted to the Lord,” and she was one of the first people to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Amanda points out something I’ve never read in an infertility book before:
“Anna teacher us something very important. Her three verses of scripture prove that a child is not a reward for a woman’s faithfulness to God. Meeting God face-to-face is the reward.”
Oh, how I love a book that doesn’t focus on the hope of a positive pregnancy test, but on the hope of meeting God in our circumstance!
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and review. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links, I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Thanks for supporting my site.
I disagree with what she said and you quoted here:
“The miracles of their pregnancies have more to do with the babies they had than the women they were. As a result, their stories don’t offer us modern fertility patients very much help.”
Yes, each woman birthed a “champion” but that champion had to be birthed to someone and God could have used any number of women but He chose them specifically. I believe their faith in Him caught His attention. I also shutter at the last sentence that their stories do not offer us “modern” patients much help. God’s word is timeless and is never “out dated.” What He did for them, He can and will do for women today. I don’t believe that He wouldn’t have included those stories of Sarah, Hannah, Rachel, Rebekah, The Shunammite woman, Samson’s mother, and Elisabeth if they didn’t offer us something today. Why would there have even been a mention of Sarah’s faith or the fact these women were barren if it were just all about the children they birthed?
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and when you need a miracle from God…it takes faith to believe for one so I would say that faith played a big role in these barren women being able to conceive.
Hmm… I’m not sure she’s questioning the fact that the women’s faith played a role in their ability to conceive, or the timeliness of Scripture. I think she’s trying to say that while their stories are examples of faith, they’re not prescriptive. In other words, just because God rewarded their great faith with a child doesn’t necessarily mean that every infertile woman will receive the same if she has great faith.
I also think she’s trying to point out that just because God gave a specific promise of a child to someone like Hannah, it doesn’t mean that we all will receive the same promise. I would never question God’s promise to anyone. I wholeheartedly believe that He reveals specific, individual promises of a child to some women (like he has given you many confirmations of his promise of a child named Josiah to you, Elisha). However, not all of us have received a promise like that, so stories like Hannah’s often leave us questioning the amount of faith we have. I don’t want to put my faith in a promise God has not given me, or at least not given me yet. So, I put my faith in the promises he HAS given me- like His promise of a plan for me, and that every thing will work for my good. This is why I love her interpretation of Anna’s story so much!
Thanks for the comment, girl! I do think it’s important to talk about where we agree and disagree and struggle with Scripture, and I appreciate you!
To me, the issue of infertility lies in a sickness or disease that is preventing us from conceiving and the Bible does promise healing to all who believe in Him. Therefore I believe that even though you don’t have a direct promise of a child, you do have a direct promise to be healed according to God’s written word. And with that healing and normal working reproductive system, you will be able to go forth, be fruitful and multiply. So if nothing else, I encourage you to claim that promise in the Bible as yours and not let go until you see it manifested in your body and life.
I also believe that God doesn’t show favoritism as well (Romans 2:11). And so I don’t believe that He is the type of loving father to pick and choose by giving the desires of a person’s heart to one, but withhold from another.
Thanks so much for letting me know you commented. 🙂 I totally respect your opinion and love discussing God, His word and basically anything about Him with others 🙂
I hope you have a great weekend! I love your 31 days of prayer! Keep it up girlie 🙂 xo
Lisa, I’m so glad you understood where I was going. Too often we are tempted to read stories outside of their context (for whatever reason), and we can end up with incorrect and even hurtful interpretations. 🙂