Approximately one in eight couples in the United States will experience infertility, oftentimes traveling a road filled with heartaches, frustrations, disappointments, and fear. For some couples, there are answers and solutions for why they are unable to conceive that can be addressed through wholistic medical treatment like that offered by Natural Procreative Technology (NaPro) practitioners. For others, there may be no answers, or answers that don’t ultimately lead to a successful pregnancy.
For Christians, facing infertility can lead to a crisis of faith at some point in the journey, as couples ask God why He hasn’t granted them the gift of a child. A Catholic organization called Springs in the Desert, which seeks to “spiritually and emotionally support[] women and couples as they navigate the frustration, pain and difficulty of infertility,” according to the group’s website, is hosting its first ever virtual healing retreat — Springs of Hope — over Mother’s Day weekend.
READ: Those struggling with infertility need ethical treatment options
Women or couples who enter their email and name on the Springs in the Desert website will receive a passcode to access a series of presentations that will be released from May 8-10, and can be accessed after the weekend as well. On Mother’s Day, May 10th, participants will also have access to a Facebook Live Q&A.
Topics will include grieving infertility as an actual loss as well as “some practical ways to address it to care for ourselves and our marriage,” growing closer to God while dealing with the apparent “purposelessness” of infertility, and discovering God’s plan for marriage while navigating different grieving styles and difficulty relating to couples with biological children.
One couple will share ten things they’ve learned from their infertility journey, and another will address the difference in grieving that couples who experience infertility followed by miscarriage may experience, versus couples who are never able to conceive. There will also be a “meditation on infertility that addresses how each person’s unique experience of this suffering is an invitation to deeper intimacy with Christ – an intimacy that embraces all the particulars of their sorrow and transfigures them in joy.” Another couple will share their experience “taking the leap” to foster and then adopt children, and more.
Click here to register.
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