Beth Moore and Jackie Hill Perry recently offered words of comfort and hope to women experiencing infertility, encouraging them to remember that God cares for them and has a purpose for them.
Their words came in the context of a Q&A session at a Living Proof Ministries event. Christian Contemporary musician Travis Cottrell moderated the session, presenting Moore and Perry with questions that had been submitted by attendees.
The questions were wide-ranging and included asking Moore and Perry about their favorite books of the Bible, how they stay consistent in their devotional lives, and tips for parents.
In lighthearted moments, attendees also asked Moore how she gets her hair to be so bouncy, how she feels about false eyelashes, and how to season a cast iron skillet.
On a more serious note, one woman sought wisdom in the midst of her journey with infertility, asking Moore and Perry how she ought to pray.
“The fact that you are willing to pray is a blessing,” Perry encouraged. “Infertility is hard. That’s a hard weight to carry, especially in many Christian communities in which your infertility is blamed on you—that you haven’t prayed enough, that you haven’t fasted enough, that you haven’t believed big enough.”
Perry continued, “So I just want to encourage you to say that if you even ask the question of ‘How do I pray?’ that says, ‘I still have faith in God in the midst of troubles.”
Perry then pointed to the prayer of Hannah, as found in 1 Samuel 2. Hannah, known for eventually becoming the mother of the prophet Samuel, long struggled with infertility.
“The Lord is the one who closed her womb,” Perry explained, “so there’s a sense in which conception falls into the sovereign creativity of God. He decides when and when not to open the womb.”
“The discouraging part is that when we put the burden of barrenness on the Lord, that actually enforces some of the discouragement some of you may feel. And so I think you have to be reminded of what we mean by ‘Lord,’” Perry said. “What we mean by ‘Lord,’ in Exodus 33, is that he…is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding steadfast love, which means that even when my circumstances are difficult, he’s still good. He’s still abounding. He’s still steadfast. He’s still faithful.”
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“That does not eliminate the grief, but it does cultivate hope, where you don’t hate God in light of the difficulty,” she added.
