Victory Archives | Bridge of the Faithful

Infertility is Never the End of the Story

October 19, 2020 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Infertility is Never the End of the Story

00:00 / 22:52

According to the CDC, approximately 13% of women between 15-44 years of age suffer from issues affecting fertility, ranging from endometriosis, PCOS, to the unknown.
- I was blown away after polling my Facebook friends, I had never realized how many brave people were facing it and willing to raise their hands. I know that there are many more out there that are afraid to talk about it.
This episode is dedicated to those people struggling to understand why, feeling “less than,” or having an identity crisis through this journey. You are all important to God, the one who carries you through who made you, who knows you and loves you more than you could ever understand.
How do I know? Because I’ve had my own journey in the lonely and painful land. For over three years (which I realize is not as long as some of you) I wrestled with all of these issues, including keeping a journal as I dealt with my anger and grief.
- The words of my journal are not easy to share. They show a lot of the ugly that God needed to deal with (and still does).
- However, God grabbed my heart and reminded me that He’s got this.
Infertility is not a subject that is ignored in the Bible:
- Sarah (wife of Abraham)
  - Genesis 12 God promised Abraham that he would be “the father of many nations” and “extremely fruitful.”
  - There was a waiting period. The promise was not fulfilled until we get to Genesis 21, 25 years later. God does not shy away from letting us know about the wait.
  - Sarah made mistakes during the waiting period, losing hope, and forgetting the promise.
    - But God still kept His promise.
    - God’s faithfulness does NOT depend on ours.
- Rebekah (wife of Isaac)
  - Genesis 25:21 – Isaac pleaded with the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The LORD answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.
  - Isaac and Rebekah traveled through 19 years of infertility because they had their sons.
  - Isaac was more patient: he had seen God answer these prayers first hand. He was the answer to one of these prayers.
  - Our God is generous.
    - Isaac pleaded for a child. He got double that.
    - Psalm 23:5 – You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.
    - John 3:16 – For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
    - God’s blessings and promises are extravagant.
- Leah and Rachel (wives of Jacob)
  - This story is interesting because it includes the competitiveness of these women, something we all deal with today.
- - Genesis 30:1 – When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob, she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob “give me children, or I’ll die!”
    - It seems dramatic, but we’ve all been there, right?
    - Rachel knew the pain of infertility, and the Bible doesn’t shy away from that.
  - When we give in to the lie that our value and worthiness depends on our fertility, it changes our outlook and our choices.
    - In this story, it began a war between sisters, seen in Genesis 30. Between the lines, you can see there was hostility, pride, fighting, and bragging mixed in and fueled by the pain.
    - Rachel gave her maid to Jacob to get sons.
    - Leah did the same when she stopped having children.
    - Despite the competition and tension ruling this house, God was still working.
  - The naming of children is incredibly important in the Old Testament. They were either chosen to commemorate something (like Isaac, based on the laughter of Sarah) or as a declaration of God’s faithfulness like Samuel (see further down).
    - After giving her servant to Jacob, Rachel names the child Napthali. Genesis 30:8- “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I am winning!”
    - God worked in Rachel’s heart and answered her prayers. She named her son. Genesis 30:22-24 “God has removed my disgrace,” she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said “May the LORD add yet another son to my family.”
      - The name Joseph means “he will add.” In the time between Napthali’s birth and the birth of Joseph, Rachel was able to see God’s love and promises, and know that she could declare that He had more in store for her.
  - Tamar (daughter in law of Judah)
    - This marks the 4th generation of infertility in this family. It is definitely not conventional.
    - Genesis 38 gives us this juxtaposition story.
      - Tamar was married to Judah’s oldest son. He died before they had children, so his brother was obligated to give them a son. He refused, prevented her from getting pregnant, and he died as well. Afraid that she was a curse, Judah sent her away.
      - Tamar was forced to take things into her own hand, pretended to be a prostitute, and had relations with Judah.
      - This resulted in her becoming pregnant with twins.
      - This story is told in the middle of the story of Joseph in Egypt. Both Tamar and Joseph did nothing wrong but were blamed and punished for it. Judah and Potiphar’s wife were both inadvertently used by God turning their selfishness into blessing the entire world.
      - God is simultaneously able to give justice AND grace.
        Psalm 89:14- Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
        Hebrews 4:16 – So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
        These are NOT contradicting verses. These are two facets of the character of God- He is both just AND merciful. He makes wrongs right while also being completely gracious.
        Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of both God’s just making right the wrong of all our sins) and God’s mercy (grace toward us, His beloved creation).
  - Hannah
    - In Samuel 1, Hannah goes to the closest place she can get to God: the temple. She prays so fervently that Eli the priest thinks that she is drunk! In this prayer, she begs God for a son. She doesn’t stop there though, she tells God that she will dedicate her child completely to Him.
    - She names her son Samuel, meaning “God heard.”
    - Samuel became the prophet anointing Saul and David to be the kings of Israel.
  - Manoah’s Wife
    - Judges 13 tells a story about a man named Manoah and his wife. The Angel of the Lord visits her, telling her that she will bear a son and that he is to be set apart.
    - This son was Samson (as in Samson and Delilah), who had the famous strength and hair.
    - Samson ended up killing thousands of Philistines and therefore giving the Israelites a huge victory.
  - The Shunamite Woman
    - 2 Kings 4 tells the story of the Elisha and the Shunamite woman.
    - This woman built on to her and her husband’s house just so Elisha would have a room when he visited their area.
    - When Elisha asked her what he could give her to repay, she didn’t ask for anything.
    - Elisha’s servant realized that she didn’t have a child, so he suggested this as a blessing.
      - She was so afraid of the hope of having a child that she couldn’t even bear the idea of that conversation.
    - She did end up having a son, who ended up dying while still young.
      - She ran straight to Elisha. 2 Kings 4:28 – “Did I ask you for a son, my lord?” she said. “Didn’t I tell you, ‘don’t raise my hopes?'”
      - This woman was often afraid to speak her hopes and desires in fear of the pain that would come. if God did not grant them.
      - Despite her fears to actually voice her hopes, she knew that she could go to the place that God proved to her that He knows her heart and cares about what she holds in it. She knew she could fully trust God to know what she wasn’t able to let go of and that He could do something with that pain.
  - Elizabeth
    - Luke 1 tells us the story of Elizabeth, the wife of Levitical priest Zechariah.
    - Luke 1:6- Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and decrees blamelessly.
    - In the culture of this time of history, physical ailments such and infertility were considered to be a consequence of sin. The above verse proves that this was not the case.
    - Later, when Jesus was healing a blind man, he explains in John 9:3- “neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
    - Gabriel the angel announced to Zechariah that Elizabeth would give birth to a son and name him John. However, due to their age, Zechariah did not believe and therefore lost his ability to speak.
      - Despite Zechariah’s unbelief, God was still faithful to His promise.
    - When Elizabeth heard the prophecy she said in Luke 1:25 – The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken my disgrace among the people.”
      - There has to be so much behind this quote. There was so much shame being childless, especially in their higher position as priest and wife. There were likely lots of comments both privately and to her face. We all know how that feels.
  - Mary
    - I realize her story is not exactly infertility, but it is still a story of God’s victory and power over our fertility, no matter how impossible the situation may seem.
God knows that we live in a fallen world and meets us in that, all while doing whatever it takes to move us toward restoration.
- In the book Grace Like Scarlett, Adriel discusses her pain of miscarriage. In it she says “I wanted to linger in the romance, believing perfection was within my reach. But seeing the lifeless ultrasound screen was a stark reminder that we still live. in the tensions between now and not yet. Jesus has come but he is still coming. Restoration has drawn near but it’s still approaching. Heaven is at hand but it’s still descending. Every tear will be wiped away but for now, we still have a reason to cry.”
- I’m not sure where you find yourself in this story. But no matter where you are, INFERTILITY IS NEVER THE END OF THE STORY.
- In the book Surprised by Motherhood, Lisa-Jo Baker tells a story about a man who randomly came up to her and said “God wants you to know that whether you have children or not, He loves you for you.”
- Every time I look at these stories of infertility, I see God preparing to show Himself in a big way. And in all of it, He is showing you that He loves you for you.
- God has proven Himself victorious 100% over these fractures of His original conception of our world.
- Infertility was NOT the end of the story for Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Tamar, Hannah, Monah’s wife, the Shunamite woman, the mother of Samson, Elizabeth, Mary, and it will not be the end of the story for you.
- I am NOT promising that you will have children. I am NOT promising that if you have children you will suddenly be fulfilled and life will be perfect.
- What God does promise is Ephesians 3:20-21 – Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen!
I know it is hard to wait, that there is pain, doubt, despair, and so many questions.
- There is so much more. And God absolutely and abundantly holds that “more” for you victoriously in His hands.
- God has proven that He is faithful over infertility time and time again. Infertility never has and never will be the end of the story.
Romans 5:3-5 – Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Called to War (Shield of Faith)

August 18, 2018 by Jenna No Comments

Bridge of the Faithful

Called to War (Shield of Faith)

00:00
/

19:40

In our last episode, we talked about peace. So why are we now talking about war?! Peace and faith are pieces of the armor of God, which God made for us to wear in battle. When we wear peace as our shoes, they balance us and give us firm footing to stand firm in battle. But we also wear shoes to move. Ephesians 6 describes our armor pieces for battle, but what fight are we actually in?

We may be fighting a battle, but Jesus already won the war. What is this war?
- Satan declared war on God when he tricked Eve and Adam into sinning, and therefore taking all of humankind as hostages.
- Despite how broken this hostage situation makes us, God will do anything to get us back.
- Our ransom price was set high: the death of God through Jesus. However, because God is an all knowing all powerful strategist, he set a plot twist where the ransom price that was meant to be a trick against God actually completely 100% defeated Satan and death’s power over us.
So if Jesus won the war, why are we fighting a battle?
- A word that I’ve heard so many times but never actually understood was in Romans 8:37- We are more than conquerors through Christ.
- I used to think that it meant we were in a team with Jesus to win! But I wasn’t quite right.
  - Conquerors are the soldiers in the battle that come in after the battle was won. Their job was to clear things out, claim the plunder, and kill off anyone left behind from the opposing army.
  - Our job as conquerors in Christ is to come in after Jesus won the war to prove to the rest of the world his victory!
Another word that I thought I knew the definition for but wasn’t quite right is “faith.”
- Hebrews 11 is often called the Faith Chapter of the Bible and therefore I have spent some time over the past few months trying to understand it better. But for some reason, the very first verse was confusing to me. Hebrews 11:1- Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
- I was viewing faith as a noun, a thing, but I never thought to think of it as a verb-an action.
  - The Greek word used in Hebrews 11:1 and Ephesians 6 is pistis, which translates as an action, acts of faith, or works
- So it finally clicked: faith, our actions in faith, are the proof to other people that 1. We even have faith to begin with and 2. That what we hope for, the hope that we have in Jesus, is real!
Ephesians 6:16- In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.”
- The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer describes the Roman soldier’s shield this way: It was a large shield typically 2 feet wide by 4 feet long, shaped almost like a door, consisting of planks of wood fused together. The wood was covered by canvas, then by leather. Then iron was built into the center as a hub and also into the extreme edges of the wood from top to bottom. This made the shield able to withstand the hard-hitting strokes of an enemy’s broadsword during close combat. Ancient historians say these shields were so large that they were capable of covering the whole body of a solder when he was crouched down.
What is our faith shielding us from?
- The second half of Ephesians 6:16- the fiery arrows of the devil.
  - Roman soldier’s shields were covered with canvas, leather, and had substances poured on them to make them more fireproof.
  - In times of Roman battles, the fiery arrows were not meant to kill (though that would have been an added bonus) but to distract. Satan wants us to be distracted from moving forward, there is nothing that would make him happier than to keep us from conquering.
A real story from the Bible about how faith was used as a shield and the protection it gives can be found in Joshua chapter 2. The story of Rahab.
- Rahab was a prominent, wealthy prostitute in Jericho. However, when the Hebrew spies found themselves in her mercy she hid them and kept them safe. She was putting her faith in God and choosing His side of the battle.
- Because of her faith in God, she was given a scarlet rope to hang from the window as the walls of Jericho fell. This sign saved her life, as her house was the only part of the wall that did not fall. But not only was her life spared, Rahab is one of the few women listed in the direct lineage to Jesus Christ.
Faith is not something that we can make on our own, God gives it to us. He is our shield.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4- We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and destroy false arguments.
- Psalm 28:7- The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults. And with my song I shall thank Him.
- Genesis 15:1- After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision saying “Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great.
Please note, our shield of faith does not mean that we are shielded from calamity, disease, trauma, or even physical death. Actually, Jesus basically warns us that these are going to be a part of life. But Ephesians 6:11-12 describes what it does do- Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
All of this talk about a God of war seems distasteful and counterintuitive in our culture.
- in A Place of Healing, Joni Eareckson Tada says so poignantly- Admit it: when your heart is being wrung out like a sponge, when it feels like Morton’s salt is being poured into your wounded soul, you don’t want a thin, pale, emotional Jesus who relates only to lames and birds and babies. You want a warrior Jesus.
- We have a warrior Jesus who fights passionately for us, and he wants us to fight with him as well.
  - 2 Timothy 2:3- Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus
  - 2 Timothy 1:7- For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
  - 1 John 4:4- But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people because the Spirit who lives in you is great than the spirit who lives in this world.
  - Isaiah 54:17- But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken.
  - John Piper said “There is a war going on. All talk of a Christian to live luxuriously as a ‘child of the king’ in this atmosphere sound hollow-especially since the king himself was stripped for battle.
- Recap: when Paul tells us to take up the shield of faith, it is an action, a command. Unlike girding with a belt (another of God’s armor) which you wear all of the time passively, a shield is not pulled out unless you’re in the heat of the battle. It is a call to arms,l to actively fight, and God himself provided our protection. When we wear our peace shoes and hold up our shield of faith, we are given a full and powerful ability to move forward.
Please watch this video from the movie Wonder Woman to have a perfect visual demonstration of exactly what I’m trying to say.
Read this next passage as a battle cry: imagine you are hyped up on adrenaline, so excited because OUR GOD WON THE WAR!! Read this as an exclamation as we move forward and show the world the victory of Jesus Christ and how we are now free!
- Romans 8:31-37- What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even His own Won but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one-for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Infertility is Never the End of the Story

Called to War (Shield of Faith)

Subscribe

Follow Us On Social Media

Recent Episodes