An Adventure in Ministry

This week is baby loss awareness week. It is an opportunity for people to remember those babies that didn’t make it through pregnancy or died in the early days of life. It is also a time to bring awareness to the fact that baby loss is unfortunately common, and that the grief and loss that parents feel is real, valid and something to be spoken about. As someone who has walked through infertility for 11 years, while baby loss isn’t part of my story, as a redemptive thread God has woven as part of my story of grace, I have sat with many women who have lost a precious child. I have wept with them, longed with them, prayed with them and lamented with them. It has been easy to see what a horrendous thing baby loss is and how the grief can be very isolating.  Last night I had the great privilege of speaking at our local annual service of remembrance for parents who have experienced baby loss both recently and in the past, organised by Macclesfield maternity unit and hosted at the beautif...

I have written about friendships and community pretty regularly on my blog and I’m writing about it again today as I feel it is so important in the discussion of infertility and generally in challenges people face. One of the main words I would use to describe infertility is ‘lonely’. There were dark times I felt completely alone, that no one understood me, not my friends, nor my family and not even God! Thankfully those days were few and far between and I’m a sure that finding a community to share with has certainly helped with that.  When we first started trying to start our family, pregnancy announcements and photos of happy new families didn’t really bother me too much, but as time went on it took more and more effort to be happy for others when they received what I desire.  As the sorrow continued to wash over me, in honesty, my heart became harder. In self preservation, for my physical and mental health, I started cutting myself off from those around me ...