Mother's Day: 5 Day Bible Plan 预览

The fruitfulness of a childless life

Nothing is irredeemable. I remember when I first discovered this truth in the pages of a book by Dallas Willard; until that moment my understanding of redemption was limited to rescuing, believing the only way my childlessness could be redeemed was by having children. It was my goal, my aim. I wanted healing. I wanted a solution. But in that desire, I still saw pain as an interruption to my life, stopping me from being the person I wanted to be because I wasn’t living the life I’d dreamed of. But redemption isn’t about God giving you what you want; redemption is God’s collaborative work of taking your pain and turning it into something beautiful and often something that can benefit way more people than just yourself.

Throughout the Bible, the stories of pain, suffering and struggle were never seen as interruptions or a waste of a life, but rather a pathway to something better. From Joseph to Jesus, the pain, suffering, imprisonment, abandonment, infertility, grief, betrayal, torture and death resulted in the transformation and salvation of many lives. My suffering has taught me and changed me for the better; I no longer feel bound by other’s expectations. I know my worthiness does not come from a role or job title, and as a result I feel so much freer. But the redemption of my infertility has not stopped there. It has created new and deeper friendships. It has given purpose to my suffering. It’s also the reason why I began to write about my experience of miscarriage and infertility – to redeem my suffering by sharing my story with others and supporting them on their journey.

There is a lot of injustice in suffering, but the lives of faithful God-followers have shown me that redemption can turn it into something beautiful. It’s not a quick process, and it’s not easy. But rather than just abandoning God as unjust and our lives as a failure, I believe we need to be willing to embrace the potential greatness of the story we’re actually in and invite God, the master storyteller, to help us redeem it.

It is also redemption that brings fruit from our pain, and God, the master gardener, works in our lives because He wants us to bear fruit. We so often assume that fruit can only be produced when we’re comfortable, but that’s not how vines produce grapes. The vine only produces grapes when it is threatened. When the vine is comfortable it just produces leaves, which looks great on the outside, but that’s not what the vine was created to do. Vines are most fruitful when planted in rocky ground because they produce the most grapes when they’re under attack which illustrates the potential redemption of our pain. Over the years I have come to believe that there is a tremendous privilege to be found in suffering. It’s taken a long time to get to this place, and while I wish I hadn’t had to experience the pain and loss I’ve gone through, the decision to take hold of that one last freedom and choose to let my pain change me for good has transformed my heart and my soul in ways that I know I would not have experienced if I hadn’t suffered. Because I now believe there’s nothing God can’t bring fruit from.

What would the redemption of your pain look like?

Are there ways in which you can already see how God has changed and transformed you in good ways through the suffering you have gone through?

Spend some time in prayer, bring your pain to God and ask Him to bring fruit from your suffering.