My thoughts

I full recognize the next post isn't going to be about what you expect, but while I have you checking back to read more about Thailand I wanted to make sure this post didn't get forgotten.  :)

It was 2:45AM Monday morning and we were getting ready to board a plane to leave Thailand.  Although I was exhausted to the core, I was praying hard because I knew back in Seattle the first church service of the morning was letting out.  The service, dedicated to infertility awareness, was heavy on my heart since this issue has forever changed me.  I know you might think I'm being dramatic, but going through this experience has made me a different person and has affected every part of me-emotionally, physically, and too often, unfortunately my relationships with others.  I now have a passion to help others experiencing infertility as well, and I was anxious and hopeful to hear how my church home would address this issue.  

We got home after over 24 hours of flying on Monday, but before Jon and I went to bed that night we both listened to this service on podcast.  So did you listen to it, too?  I know what you might be thinking:
A) I am really busy and just don't have time.
B) Listening to sermons are boring. I can't even imagine listening to any/more than one a week/etc
C) This sermon doesn't effect me. Why do I need to listen to it?

All great questions...really!  Let me try and address those concerns. I think you should listen to this because it is only 40 minutes (think of it as less than your favorite hour long drama), and my pastor's sermons are anything but boring.  Even I don't enjoy listening to things on podcast as much as seeing it live, but trust me when I say you'll be engaged (I was listening intently after traveling all.day.long.)  And here's the kicker to address the last question...the sermon was done in such a way that anyone could relate to it because we have all experienced things in our lives that just plain suck.  And Richard addressed that in this sermon.

With that being said, I really do hope you find some time to listen to it, if not all in one setting but bits and pieces throughout the week.  Surely you have four 10 minute chunks of time, right?

Okay, I'll stop pestering you now.

So what did I think?  

I thought the sermon was great. Richard's three main points were:

1. We can have gaping holes in a meaningful life. 

2. The nature and timing of fruit is God's prerogative.
3. Hannah's prayer shows us about real fruit-thanking God for what we've been given.

I wish that I had this sermon to grab onto a year ago when I was in the thick of my infertility and felt so isolated and alone.  God felt so far away during so much of this trial, and I kept trying to figure out why this was happening to me. I didn't feel like I deserved any of what was going on.  His plan seemed elusive, and at times it felt like God had turned His back on me.  Richard's sermon talked about praying for fruit, but not getting the fruit you want. Yes(!), this was how it was to me, especially since so often it felt like everyone else easily got that very fruit, sometimes without even trying (and certainly not trying like we had been trying).

The fact is that many pretty much everyone who is loved by God experiences heartache at some point. Paul was perhaps the greatest theologian of all time, but God never took away his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12).  Joseph was loved by God but sold as a slave by his own family (Genesis 37). Yet ultimately we are still called to be fruitful and embrace the life God gave us, even in the midst of the pain and the crud of life.  I don't mean to say this is easy, and I don't think my pastor or God are implying that it is, but this is a truth we have to try to hold onto the best we can.  Richard calls the thorn we have in each of our lives a "gaping hole," but we can still have meaning in our lives.  In other words, we have to look for the blessings we have been given instead of focusing on the thing that eludes us.

Of course much more happened during the course of the service that isn't included in the podcast. A great video was shown that I think helps people begin to understand the pain related to infertility.  A time of prayer was offered for not only couples experiencing infertility but others going through a difficult time.  And of course there was a time of worship with music.  I'm thankful I am part of a community that recognizes there is pain, but remembers to points His people back to the Truth with Love.