Shared experiences...

"Our sufferings may be hard to bear, but they teach us lessons which, in turn, equip us to help others." - Billy Graham

I have found that our experiences -- our lessons -- are meant to be shared. The books I have read are written by people who have walked this road. I thank God for their willingness to share their experiences and the lessons they learned along the way.

If this topic is one that you would like to read more about (because of your own personal experiences, or those of a friend) here are a list of books that I have appreciated on my journey:

Moments for Couples Who Long for Children by Ginger Garrett
Holding Onto Hope by Nancy Guthrie
Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart In The Midst Of Infertility by Jennifer Saake
The Ache for a Child by Debra Bridwell

Here is a very good article about miscarriage:
Mourning a Miscarriage

And here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Nothing touches me that has not passed through the hands of my heavenly Father. Nothing. Whatever occurs, God has sovereignly surveyed and approved. We may not know why (we may never know why) but we do know our pain is no accident to Him who guides our lives.” – Chuck Swindoll

"God whispers to us in our happiness but shouts to us in our pain."
– C. S. Lewis

“We have an unspoken expectation that a good God will bring only what we consider to be good things into our lives. We never expect him to allow and perhaps even bring difficulty into our lives. But he does. The world tells us to run from suffering, to avoid it at all costs, to cry out to heaven to take it away. Few of us would choose to suffer. Yet when we know that God has allowed suffering into our lives for a purpose, we can seek God in the midst of suffering. Accepting suffering drives us deeper in our devotion.”
– Nancy Guthrie

“If Jesus gives us a task or assigns us to a difficult season, every ounce of our experience is meant for our instruction and completion if only we'll let Him finish the work. I fear, however, that we are so attention-deficit that we settle for bearable when beauty is just around the corner." – Beth Moore