Sunday, April 24, 2011

Faith and Infertility

It is so very interesting to me how things come together in a way that you would have never expected. When I started this blog, I had a written plan for what I wanted to talk about for the first couple of months. This month I wanted to focus on the spiritual side of infertility and how that affects all of our lives. While reading the ensign for this month, I noticed an article about infertility. Since we have started trying to conceive there have been maybe one or two articles discussing infertility. So I think it is a big deal when it is talked about.

This article fits so well into what I wanted to write about this week that I would like to share parts of the article with you on a daily basis. I feel that there is so much we can learn from others and this give a completely different view point then just from me.

If at any time you would like to read the entire article it can be found at:
http://lds.org/ensign/2011/04/faith-and-infertility?lang=eng.

This Article is Titled:

Faith and Infertility” by Mellissa Merrill.

Infertility can be heartbreaking. Four couples share how they maintained faith and hope.

Infertility: it was the last thing Brenda Horrocks ever expected to hear from her doctor. She and her husband, Brad, had been married for four years, and although she had experienced complications with her menstrual cycle from the time she was a teenager, doctors had told her and Brad that with “a little help,” they would be able to have a baby. “A little help turned into a lot of help,” Brenda says, and after multiple fertility treatments over several years, the Horrockses were told that the likelihood of their being able to conceive was extremely small.

Infertility is not uncommon—some 15 percent of couples in the United States have difficulty conceiving a child; 1 other countries throughout the world show similar figures. In 40 percent of instances, the wife is infertile. In another 40 percent, the problem rests with the husband. In 10 percent of cases, both are infertile, and in the remaining 10 percent, the cause is unknown. 2 In the context of the Church, where the family is celebrated as the fundamental unit of society, 3 not having children can be an especially difficult challenge.

Yet as Brad and Brenda and many others can attest, God does not leave His children alone in their trials. “Never give up,” Brad recommends. “There’s always hope. Heavenly Father always has something in store for us. We have found that over and over again.”

Here, the Horrockses and three other couples who have dealt with the challenges of infertility—Dave and Angie Belnap, Phil and Valerie Hochheiser, and Curtis and Melody Linton—share how they saw the Lord’s hand guiding them through their challenges.

(Tomorrow: Dealing with Grief)


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