Resources for Your Journey

Music Playlist

I’ve compiled many songs in what I call my Embrace Bravery playlist that consists of songs about infertility, trials, struggles, worship and more.

Book Recommendations

There are so many good books out there for infertility, spiritual health, marriage and brokenness. However, here are a few of my favorites you should check out (feel free to come back again, as I’ll be updating this list as I discover more resources):

• Embrace Bravery, by founder, Shannon Ketchum – In this book, you’ll discover how to embrace your infertility journey with bravery and strength. Infertility makes us feel weak like we failed somehow. Our bodies were created to produce children, yet, we struggle to conceive, causing feelings of failure and inadequacy. Though we may have those feelings, that’s not what God says about us. In fact, I believe He’s taking the brokenness of infertility and using it to maximize the bravery and strength He’s already given us. Women on this journey are some of the bravest women out there. From long waits, tests, IUI’s, IVF, and the like, we must continue to fight for our families more than anyone does. You’ll learn truths to walk through topics like waiting, grieving, having faith, trusting God, being brave in the face of infertility and so much more. Take this journey with me, as we dive into how you can embrace this journey with dignity and grace. 

• Wait and See, by Wendy Pope – Every woman struggles with times of waiting—for a spouse, a child, a job. In Wait and See, Wendy Pope guides readers to focus on the Person of their faith rather than the object of their wait. Pope draws on the story of King David, who was anointed king nearly twenty years before he took his throne. This hands-on guidebook invites readers to record their own waiting discoveries. With practical suggestions and real-life stories, Pope shows readers how they can be active in the present as they hope for the future.

• God is Able, by Priscilla Shirer – Got an IMPOSSIBLE situation? The anxiety it brings can wake you in the middle of a needed night’s sleep and then stalk you in the middle of broad daylight. It can sneak up on you and cast a cloak of fear and concern over your shoulders that you can’t seem to shake no matter how hard you try. It can take you down. Squash all hope. Stop you in your tracks. IMPOSSIBLE. IMPENETRABLE. UNCHANGEABLE. Maybe so . . . until God gets involved. No matter the details of your circumstance, His raw power potential and immeasurable ability refuse to cower in the face of any challenge. Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. Not even that thing. This is the uplifting, well-reasoned answer from New York Times best-selling author Priscilla Shirer—not a denial of life’s adversities and troubles, but a biblical reminder that God is always up to great things, even when His great things are greater then instant remedies and visible change. He is a God who cares . . . and a God who CAN. Believe it. Experience it. God Is Able.

• The Circle Maker, by Mark Batterson – According to Pastor Mark Batterson of The Circle Maker, Drawing prayer circles around our dreams isn't just a mechanism whereby we accomplish great things for God. It's a mechanism whereby God accomplishes great things in us. Do you ever sense that there's far more to prayer than what you're experiencing? It's time you learned from the legend of Honi the Circle Maker--a man bold enough to draw a circle in the sand and not budge from inside it until God answered his impossible prayer for his people. What impossibly big dream is God calling you to draw a prayer circle around? Sharing inspiring stories from his own experiences as a circle maker, Mark Batterson will help you uncover your heart's deepest desires and God-given dreams and unleash them through the kind of audacious prayer that God delights to answer.

• Counting Grains of Sand, by Natasha Metzler – How do you delight in a God-Who-Speaks-Promises when those promises seem as distant as the stars in the sky? Holding onto faith when everything is falling apart is a difficult task at best. Drawing from Scripture and her own personal walk through sorrow, the author of Counting Grains of Sand leads you through a journey of discovering the Lord's kindness, even from the middle of loss. Counting Grains of Sand takes a real look at faith, hope, and trust in the face of loss, heartache, and incredible joy.

• Braving Sorrow Together, by Ashleigh Slater – We all have “weeping years,” seasons where the trials seem to come one after another. For Ashleigh and her husband, their weeping years included miscarriage, multiple job losses, feelings of betrayal, panic attacks, anti-depressants, cross-country moves, and even suicidal thoughts. Loss is a constant of life, but the intensity of those years changed Ashleigh, altering how she understood and responded to grief. This book tells her story. Braving Sorrow Together: The Transformative Power of Faith and Community When Life is Hard explores loss and trial in a conversational, storytelling manner. It gently encourages those experiencing grief of any kind to seek comfort in God and in the “me too” of community.

• Every Bitter Thing is Sweet, by Sara Hagerty – Sara Hagerty found Him when life stopped working for her. She found Him when she was a young adult mired in spiritual busyness and when she was a newlywed bride with doubts about whether her fledgling marriage would survive. She found Him alone in the night as she cradled her longing for babies who did not come. She found Him as she kissed the faces of children on another continent who had lived years without a mommy’s touch. In Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet, Hagerty weaves fabric from the narrative of her life into the mosaic of a Creator who mends broken stories.

• Hannah's Hope, by Jennifer Saake – Hannah's heart beat with a mother's love long before she was blessed with a child. Through the years of waiting and longing, her gentle heart was nearly crushed under the weight of grief. You can meet Hannah in the pages of 1 Samuel, chapters 1 and 2. The Bible says she was "barren," and we know she suffered heartache, anguish, and grief because of her empty arms. Perhaps you do too. Hannah's Hope is for all who long for a child yet to be conceived, grieve for a baby too soon passed from the womb, or have lived through the no-man's-land of failed adoption. It is intended as a guide to assist you in making wise decisions as you struggle through your grief. And by the end of the journey, God may surprise you by the ways He uses to answer your heart's cry. Compassionately written by a woman who knows well these painful struggles, Hannah's Hope will direct you to the Source of strength, whose name is "the God of all comfort."