Today we had the most beautiful lesson at church about the Abrahamic Covenant.
I love Abraham …he and his wife are infertility survivors. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born. Their story speaks to me in a different way every time I study it. I am in no way an expert when it comes to Abraham (or his covenant for that matter), but I am a student.
Today I realized something new and it stuck with me.
God promised Abraham and Sarah some very specific things. God promised a couple struggling with infertility some very specific things.
Among other incredible promises, they were promised a large posterity, a huge one! “As innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore ye could not number them.” -Doctrine and Covenants 132:30
That’s pretty big.
And now, what like 4 millennia later, those promises are still being fulfilled. Still.
There is a lesson there that touched my heart.
A lesson of patience.
Of trusting that God will fulfill his promises …even if it takes millennia.
“Some blessings come soon, some come late and some don’t come until Heaven. But for those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.”
-Jeffrey R. Holland, An High Priest of Good Things to Come
Last week, I asked my dad some doctrinal questions and in our conversation, he sent me the following quotation from Brigham Young. It fits perfectly with my thoughts from today.
Let me here say a word to console the feelings … of all who belong to this Church. Many of the sisters grieve because they are not blessed with offspring. You will see the time when you will have millions of children around you. If you are faithful to your covenants, you will be mothers of nations. … and when you have assisted in peopling one earth, there are millions of earths still in the course of creation. And when they have endured a thousand million times longer than this earth, it is only as it were the beginning of your creations. Be faithful, and if you are not blest with children in this time, you will be hereafter.
-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:208, as quoted here.
I need to move into your ward. What a beautiful lesson to learn and liken to your own life. I struggle doing this.
Beautiful, Linds.
Lindsey,
I have been doing some studying in Genesis and found this quote regarding the sacrificing of Issac but it really made me think about the journey of infertility and adoption.
” It is not for His own knowledge; for He knows all things beforehand. He knows all your lives and everything you will do. But He tries us for our own good, that we may know ourselves. . . . He required Abraham to submit to this trial because He intended to give him glory, exaltation and honor; He intended to make him a king and a priest, to share with Himself the glory, power and dominion which He exercised” (George Q. Cannon, in Conference Report, Apr. 1899, 66)
I like the part that says “that we may know ourselves” the experience of infertility and also adoption have stretched me to know myself more…and through those experiences I have found that I am able to do things I never thought I could do in the past.
I love that Brigham Young quote. What a peaceful comfort. Ten years into infertility I take great comfort and peace with the law of compensation. I hated it at first though. It was hard in the beginning to adjust to the thought of not having a cute baby to dress up and pumpkin patch photos and Christmas mornings with children and family vacations. I didn’t want a child “in the next life” , I wanted one NOW! I didn’t want innumerable posterity. I wanted ONE warm and squishy baby NOW. The joys of parenting came through adoption and now that I “get” the purpose of life on a deep DEEP level (because of my suffering, not in spite of it) I can accept the peace and comfort God provides us. Patience. Calming down, digging deep and anchoring your soul to Christ helps us survive the waves of grief and allows the pain to dissipate into HOPE!!!
Beautifully said.
really great insights, thanks for sharing. i especially love the brigham young quote
Thanks for the insight. We have been looking for something like this. almost 11 years now, still kicking and moving on.
They never answer the question I have. In the next life do we give birth to children. I mean real children, in addition to adopting those whose parents were not righteous enough to raise there children who died early and I am not talking about populating millions and zillions of worlds with spirit children. I mean do I ever get to become pregnant and get big and fat and where really neat maternity clothes and give birth? Or is that blessing lost forever? Do I ever get to be a young woman again who is pregant?
I don’t know, Gail. I really don’t. But, I know that Heavenly Father loves His children and in the end, He will make it all right.
Hugs!