A unexpected blessing

We're we're getting ready to leave for my appointment, but I just wanted to share a neat story with you before I go.

So yesterday I attended a Li.fe Cha.in event here in Richmond. It's a pro-life event held around the country. I was shooting video of the event and not surprisingly, I believe God took an opportunity to speak to my heart. It's amazing how often this happens when I am behind my camera doing an interview! It's really bizarre.

Someone had mentioned to me that I should interview an older gentleman who had been coming for years, so I did. So I'm asking him why he comes out and strangely enough, his answers are sounding very interesting. See if you can tell what I'm getting at:




He went on to say how it would be sad for someone to never be a mother. So I'm thinking, of all the things he could say about being pro-life, this man is looking at it from the perspective of... someone with infertility! But it just couldn't be, right? I figured it must just be me looking at everything through the lens of my infertility-obsessed world again.

So then he says this:

Can you believe it? This 79-year-old man, at a pro-life rally, on a Sunday afternoon, manages to help put adoption on my heart (I should add that adoption is becoming very likely at this point. More on that in a future post). Hearing him say this was astounding (and if you listen closely, you can even hear me say "awwwww" at one point. I was tearing up). I got a chance to speak to his wife after the interview and she told me that they tried for four years before adopting. They also told me that I will love my adopted child more than I could ever imagine, and they even joked that sometimes they think they love their adopted children more than their biological one! (He said the biological son shares some of his "bad traits").

It's not even the miracle they ended up getting that gives me hope. It's the fact that I think God wanted me to hear this, combined with the thought that this man was a kindred spirit in the world of infertility. He talked about what his wife went through, the physical pain of getting shots, and the emotional pain we all know too well. It struck me to think of them, probably fifty years ago, going through what we are all experiencing, but with drastically fewer options. I would never have known this if I had just passed them on the street. It really makes you realize that people everywhere are walking around with the pains of infertility on their hearts, and we don't even know it.

This couple - fifty years later - is able to look back on their infertility with praise and gratitude for their three children. Their oldest just passed away this summer, and in the few short minutes we spoke, they told me all about him - his successful career, his accomplishments, his perseverance through previous health problems, and what a blessing it was to have him for as long as they did. And it was just so clear that they couldn't have been prouder, even if he had been their biological son.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I really feel touched by God in these unexpected moments. So thank you, God, for giving me this little reminder that things can be okay!