Every little girl has at least four main dreams:
- To be a bride
- To be beautiful
- To be fruitful
- To live happily ever after
Of course, for those of you have been following my blog for any significant portion of the six years I have been writing, you know what my focus is going to be on. Number 3 it is.
Beth Moore actually writes: "Without a doubt, some of the unhappiest women I've ever known have been those who wanted children and were unable to have them." She goes on to say that Shame is Satan's game and that her friends dealing with infertility have asked themselves questions like "Why me? Why my husband? What did I do to deserve this? Is this my punishment for sex before marriage? Is this my punishment for having an abortion? Would I have been such a terrible mother? ..."
Beth goes on to make four fantastic points regarding barenness:
- Barrenness does not imply sinfulness. Here she uses a scripture from Luke 1:5-7. How I travelled the infertile road without ever seeing this scripture, I have no idea. In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. This was incredibly powerful to me! Elizabeth and John were walking with the Lord and barren. There was no sin that caused this.
- Hearts not surrendered to God can seldom be trusted. Beth Moore writes that, "Until we surrender our hopes and dreams to Christ, we really have very little way of knowing what would fulfill us." She goes on to explain that if we are relying on a circumstance to make ourselves happy, we may end up bankrupt. Unhappiness is not solved by any one thing (marriage, baby, job, etc.)
- God created every life to be fruitful. Beth Moore encourages us to remember that the dream of being fruitful is more than just one of physical offspring. I do believe this is true. I believe we are called to the widows and orphans. We are called beyond what our womb can bear.
- I believe our girlish dream to have babies represent even more than the obvious. I love the way she explains this. She writes: "[Dreams] represent a desire to have fruitful lives, to invest ourselves in something that matters. Something that affects. Something that grows. It not, wouldn't God be cruel to allow any woman to dream of children yet disable her to have them? I don't believe God allows surrendered hearts to continue to long for things He will not ultimately grant in one way or another. Our disappointment with God is often the result of our small thinking."
Another thing Beth Moore mentioned that I never really thought of, is that one day, all of us will be barren. In other words, I will reach an age (soon in my case) that I will not be able to physically have children anymore. Am I to assume that at this point my fruitfulness ends? So true!***
I have been thinking about this. One day my boys will not need me. It's hard to believe that now. But they will lead their own lives. In my case, I feel lead to be a mother for a long time. We see ourselves adopting for many years to come. What about you? How will you continue to be fruitful when the time for physical fruit has passed?***
... just a few notes to share with you that ministered to me. I hope you find something in these words that minister to you.
***A note which I left out prior but might be helpful if you have done the study. I did find that Beth Moore (and other women in our group agreed) trivialized infertility in the sense that she felt that it could be "replaced" by a role of a spiritual mom. I decided not to focus on this in my outline here on the blog and instead just focus from what I did take. That being said, there was quite a bit that I had to leave behind that just wasn't accurate.
4 comments:
Wendi, I think you have done a wonderful job of summarizing what she said, and there is much to take encouragement from. However, I have to be honest and say that I really do not care for the way Beth Moore (I have read Breaking Free and another one of her studies) deals with the subject of infertility. I feel that she preaches the idea of "spiritual motherhood" which is not the same thing at all. Not saying it can't bring great joy and fulfillment, but it is not the same thing, and it doesn't replace the loss of children in a person's life. I was particularly bothered by her statement that, "one day, all of us will be barren" as if losing the ability to have children later in life after having them is the same thing as never having them. Sorry it is not, and I found the statement incredibly insensitive on her part (not yours). I am not saying children leaving home is not painful, but I just feel she tries to minimize the legitimate pain infertility/childlessness causes.
Becky, I actually totally agree -- which is why I left most of that part of the discussion out of my post. There was a big discussion in our group about how she minimalized barrenness to focus on the spiritual motherhood part (which is just not the same!) I thought there was a lot I could get out of it but also a lot I (and other women in my group) had to leave behind. I'm going to put a note about this in my original post.
I'm really glad you added that side note of how you thought she trivialized infertility, because that's what I was thinking. When she made the point of "we will all be barren one day..." the first thought in my head was that she obviously had never struggled with infertility. I don't think that statement is any different than any of the other insensitive things fertile women say to the infetile. Sure, they may just be trying to "help" but in the end they end up doing more damage. Frankly, I think that those who have no experience with infertilty should just leave the subject alone.
Bethany
Bethany, you know I think you are really right. That is well said!
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