Guest Post from the Authors of "The Infertility Companion for Catholics"

I am beyond excited to be hosting Angelique Ruhi-Lopez and Carmen Santamaria, the two authors of "The Infertility Companion for Catholics."

The Infertility Companion for Catholics: Spiritual and Practical Support for Couples is the culmination of our shared resources and experiences journeying through infertility. We each had different experiences with infertility and have walked through it at different times but what united us is our desire to have the experience bring us closer to God and help other couples struggling with infertility to do the same.

In our book, we tried to include as many different aspects of infertility as we could, including the medical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of bearing this cross. We did not just want to present the facts about Church teachings on assisted reproductive technologies but also the whys, getting to the bottom of why our Church, in her wisdom, teaches what she does. As we discovered and share in the book, what struck us is that the Church is not arbitrarily saying “no” to the enticing illicit treatments we are often offered that promise us a baby at all costs – it is saying “yes” to a new way of viewing infertility; “yes” to respect for human dignity; “yes” to helping us understand the beauty of our bodies and heal and improve our health.

In addition to discussing Church teachings and including a myriad of resources, prayers, devotions and reference materials in the book, we openly share our hearts, our experiences, our frustrations and our hopes. We are not experts, just friends who hope to share in this journey with other friends and remind ourselves that we are not alone.

Providentially, as we were writing our book, a new song was released by contemporary Christian artist Laura Story entitled, “Blessings.” Carmen explains how this song could be considered an anthem of sorts for the journey of infertility:

“A recent gift from my husband was a subscription to Sirius radio.  I am a huge fan of the Catholic Channel and having Catholic programming in my car.  There is a Christian music station as well that features a segment they call Changing Tracks, as they say these are songs that have changed our lives in some way.  One of my personal Changing Tracks is Blessings by Laura Story.

The entire song is fabulous and has so much wisdom but here are some of my favorite parts:

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

I like how she turns ideas on their head.  What if all of this is God showing his incredible mercy for us?  We are all being sanctified and this is all part of the process, yet we doubt as Laura says, as if God’s revelation of His love was not enough.  We can be so dense sometimes only viewing things from one side. This song really helped me to think about all these difficulties in a new light.  What is a blessing?  Yes, a child is a blessing but isn’t infertility and the opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and others a blessing as well?”

Most days, infertility may not feel like a blessing but let us pray together that we can grow to see the blessings that have come through the raindrops and embrace His mercies in disguise.

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I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of Angelique and Carmen's book tour. I know that their book will be an invaluable resource for so many!
 

I also have a copy of their wonderful book to giveaway. If you are interested in being included in the giveaway, please leave a comment. The giveaway contest closes on April 29th. Good luck!