Hope in the Face of Infertility and Miscarriage, with Glenna Marshall and Jessalyn Hutto

Children are a blessing from the Lord, but what happens when that blessing is withheld? Hear from guests Glenna Marshall and Jessalyn Hutto on the tender topics of infertility and miscarriage in this hope-infused episode of Grounded.

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Episode Notes:

Get your copy of The Wonder of His Name by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth for your gift of any amount

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Portia Collins: Hey, friend, it's Portia Collins here. I wanted to pop in to give you an inside scoop on the episode that you're about to watch. We actually pre-recorded this episode and planned to air it at the end of February. But we needed to preempt it to go live last week and respond to the crisis that is happening in Ukraine. So you may hear some February references as you watch and listen, but we think this episode has something to offer, no matter what month is on the calendar. Enjoy.

Dannah Gresh: Children are a blessing, a heritage from the Lord. But what happens when that blessing is withheld? I'm Dannah Gresh. I expect this to be a very tender edition of Grounded.

Portia: Me too. I am Portia Collins. I already have a lump in my throat because I know that for so many women, these two words—infertility and miscarriage—can cause an avalanche of pain.

Dannah: So true, Portia. It's often silent pain. I think it's something women struggle to talk about even with each other. But our mission here at Grounded is to give away hope and perspective, and I am sure that some of you watching or listening need that hope today as you grieve the loss of a child or your inability to carry a child. I'm actually going to share some of my own journey with that pain today when we open the Word of God in just a few minutes.

Portia: We will also have two very special women with us who know your hurt, and they have applied the hope of God's Word to it. We have with us Glenna Marshall and Jessalyn Hutto. So, this is gonna be a packed episode. I'm ready. 

Good News: Life 

Dannah: I'm ready too. First we need to hear some good news. And I think Erin Davis has some pretty great good news for us this morning. Erin, are you with us?

Erin Davis: I love it when I get to be the good news bearer here on Grounded. This good news story actually begins more than 14 years ago, when a young mom was pregnant with her very first child. Moms, you can remember all of the excitement and fear and worry that comes along with that first pregnancy. But that mom got a phone call. It was a phone call that no mom ever wants to receive. 

The doctor on the other line told the woman who was just 12 weeks pregnant at the time that something was wrong with her baby, that he was unlikely to survive the pregnancy, and that she and her husband were going to have to make a decision, a hard decision about the life of the baby she carried in her womb. 

Well, this couple loves Jesus, they loved Jesus 14 years ago, and they love His work. And so, they believe that every life is precious, because every person bears the image of God. So there really was no decision to make; they would choose life. 

But what that meant was for six long months, they saw a neonatologist every other week, and for six long months, the news was grim. The baby's bladder was blocked; his lungs were not developing correctly, they thought. And his chances of survival were slim. But oh, you know, we're pivoting to the good news when I get to the “but.” But God's people, especially the women in this young mom's life, they stood in the gap. They prayed big prayers, and they asked God for miraculous healing.

So, in the middle of all that, the parents decided to change their unborn baby's name as a step of faith. They changed his name to Elijah, which means, “my God saves.” And on February 22 2008, Elijah was born. It's true. He was born with some serious issues with his kidneys, but otherwise, a happy, healthy, baby boy. And I want you to know what makes this story extra sweet for me. Let me tell you his name again. 

This time, I'll tell you his full name. His name is Elijah Linwood Davis. He is my very own baby boy. There he and I are when he was just a little peanut, and I am that young mama in the photo, though I'm not so young anymore. I remember what God did with such fondness. And here's an extra special layer of the story. One of the praying women that got me through that season, and I believe through her prayer stirred Jesus to heal my boy, well, is our very own Dannah Gresh. 

And here's the really, really good news and why I'm telling you this story. This morning. Eli just celebrated his 14th birthday. And maybe some moms don't look forward to their children becoming teenagers. But what a miracle it is. Look how handsome he is. We've both changed a lot since that first photo. But today he's thriving. And the good news that I want you to hear from me this morning is, that God can do so much with our stories of suffering and loss—especially but including those that are related to pregnancy and our children. My boy, Eli, he's living, breathing proof. And that's good news. Dannah.

Dannah: That is some great news. Erin. I remember the day that you had that first meeting with the doctor who said, “I don't think this baby's going to make it.” 

Erin: It was a big day. 

Dannah: I remember kneeling in Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth’s house around her little leather ottoman. We just called out for God to bring healing and what a rejoicing it was. I remember the day when I heard that baby was born, and that he had a fighting chance, and just continued to heal day after day after day. 

I hope that brings hope and perspective to some of you who maybe are in a crisis pregnancy right now or have a granddaughter or grandson coming into this world soon. Just remember Heaven rules, whatever the doctors say. God gets the final say. 

Grounded in God’s Word: Romans 8:26–28

Now, maybe you have been there in that place where you feel the great pain of a crisis pregnancy or miscarriage or infertility. Maybe you've been in that place where your prayers were on the verge of accusation. God, what are You doing? Are You there? Is this part of Your plan? Help me understand.

Or maybe you're in a place right now that you didn't even know how to pray or what words to use. Your petitions have just dried up along with your hope. Well, it's time to get grounded in God's Word. And let me tell you the passage of Scripture I'm about to give you four such times. This is fair warning; it could appear to be trite. It's certainly familiar, but I assure you, it comes from the heart of a woman who's learned to treasure it through a season of grief.

Briefly, here's my story. I could see new family photos in my mind, new family photos on my walls, no longer a family of four, we were about to become a family of five. I was four months pregnant . . . only I wasn't. Something was very wrong. I went to find out what it was. And the doctor told me, it's a blighted ovum. “What's that mean?” I asked. I was already crying. I realized that the news he was about to give me was grim. He explained, “Your body developed a gestational sack.” Then he paused for a long time. “But there never was a baby there.” 

I remember laying on the sofa later that night covered in my grief. And I thought, How can this grief be so deep when there was nothing to grieve? This doesn't make sense. But grieve I did, deeply. But I'll tell you what I didn't do. I didn't pray, because I didn't know how to pray. I didn't know what words to bring to this grief. 

I want you to know that it's okay if you're grieving right now. Jesus wept over the loss of a friend, and you can weep over the loss of a baby. It's even okay if you don't know how to pray. But let me say this as gently as I can. Remember, this is from someone who has been there. At some point, I invite you to decide if you trust God's sovereign or not. And that will make all the difference between whether you stay in a place of grief or you move through it into a position of hope.

For me, that decision came when I was worshiping at a women's event. Just a few days after I got this grim news, at least I was trying to worship. You see, my friend, Tippi Duncan, who had earned the right to speak straight with me. She looked at me, noticing that my worship seemed forced, and she just whispered into my ear. “Dannah, it's okay if you're still too sad to worship. Maybe you need to use this time right now to just sit and soak in the worship of other sisters, and then decide what you believe about God right now.” I sat down. 

I remember thinking, What do I believe? What do I believe about this pain, this circumstance? And as I sat there, listening to the worship all around me, a favorite saying of mine from my college years came into my brain. And it was simply, “Jesus is enough. God is sovereign.” I said that all through my college years, Jesus is enough. God is sovereign. I know that's true. I thought, Jesus is enough. Even if the number of babies I do or don't have doesn't seem to be what I want. God is sovereign.

He can be trusted, even when I don't like the way the plan of my life is unfolding. I remember thinking, But do I trust Him? And today I want to ask, do you? You see, trust, my friend, is not an emotion, it's a choice. So, I guess let me rephrase that question. Will you choose to trust the God of the universe?

The verse I want to give you today is an invitation to trust God's sovereignty, but it is also loaded with comfort. Let me read to you Romans 8:26 and 28, and help you see how maybe it applies to the pain that you might be in right now. It begins, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.. . . .”

I want you to know that even in the weakness of your body, a body that maybe won't make or keep a baby, even in that weakness, the Spirit will help you. Then it goes on to say, “For we do not know what to pray as we ought . . .” 

Right there it is. Sometimes we run out of words to carry to Jesus. But listen, here's the hope. “. . . but the Spirit Himself intercedes with us with groanings too deep for words.” 

When we don't have the words, you can rely on this. The Holy Spirit Himself carries on with the task of praying for you with groans, because sometimes the pain is just too deep for words. Imagine the Holy Spirit is talking to the Father about your pain right now. And then the verse goes on, and, “He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” 

These verses tell us He not only knows your pain and the words to speak on your behalf, but He knows the Father's will. He knows what's ahead for you. And here's what we can know. The verse continues, “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” 

Somehow, someway, God is able to make even this deep pain good. Good. What does that mean? How can this be good? This grief, this loss, this brokenness in your body? Well, to be good means to be useful. God can use this. He can. I promise you this pain, this disappointment, this grief, will you let Him use it? 

For me that day, when I was standing next to my worshiping friend, Tippie, I realized, I do love God; I love Him. And He says, He can make all things work for good if I love Him, and I'm called according to His purpose. I know that I have purpose in Christ. That means I can and must choose to trust Him. 

I knew that I believe Jesus is enough, and God is sovereign. So, with that settled, I chose to stand up. I chose that day to worship, and my worship meant something this time when it was coming out of my mouth. It was my choice, my decision to trust Him. 

I did not know how God would make it good. I could not see into the future. I did not know the plan, but I knew He would make it good. 

Now, here's a confession. For many years, those family photos I mentioned earlier, the ones where I could see there were five, not four. Well, it always seemed as if someone was missing after that. Even though I was choosing to trust God, I felt a twinge of pain every now and then when I thought of those photos. Until . . . it was a lot of long years later, a big until, when God in a twist of events to be told on another day, showed Bob and Dannah that there was, in fact, someone missing from our family photos. We adopted her when she was 14 years old. 

But 11 years earlier, when nothing was growing in my body, God started growing love for Autumn Gresh in my heart. That was my good. This was my good that God began to plant in my heart, a desire for a teenage girl that didn't have a mom. I was her mom. That was my good. I wonder what your good will be? I know it'll be beautiful. Will you choose to trust Him? Jesus is enough. God is sovereign. He works all things together for your good.

Portia: Amen, amen. Dannah, that was such an encouragement to me. So, thank you. Thank you for sharing. I did not know about your story. So, thanks. 

Dannah: Thanks, Portia.

Interview with Glenna Marshall on Infertility

Portia: Alright, guys, we have Glenna Marshall with us. She's been with us before. She is a pastor's wife, a mom of two precious boys, a musician, and an author. I am excited to have her. So welcome, Glenna. 

Glenna Marshall: Thank you. It’s great to be here.

Portia: Good deal. So, let's get to it. I told you this before we got started, but I have been stalking your blog lately—just so much good stuff there. I love that you describe your journey into motherhood as a gift through adoption. And so, you actually came to adoption through infertility. I’d just like you to share a little bit of your story, your journey with us this morning.

Glenna: So my husband and I pretty well tried to grow our family within our first year of marriage. I always expected it to go exactly the way that I thought it would go. About a year into that, we realized that nothing was happening. We saw doctors and had tests. I really thought that this was something that could be fixed with a prescription. 

Quite honestly, I didn't know anyone who couldn't have children. I just really thought I'd go get my test results and everything would be fine. We'd get some medicine and fix it. I walked into this doctor's appointment and the doctor looked me in the eye and just said, “Glenna, it is really unlikely that you will ever have children.”

I was 24, almost 24 years old. I didn't have a way to process that kind of news. I was absolutely stunned. And I really felt like, Okay, all I've ever really wanted to be is a wife and a mom. I never really had career aspirations. Even in college, I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. I really wanted to be a mom. I wanted two boys and two girls. I had this idea of what my family would look like. 

I felt like my whole future had just been completely emptied. It just seemed dark and bleak. I could not imagine a life without children and life without being a mom. We grieved for quite a while. We did try some things with some specialists and just didn't really love the options that were presented to us. 

Adoption had always been in my heart. My father was adopted as an infant. It's a very natural part of my family to talk about adoption. And so, I always thought someday, maybe I would adopt. But now that we realized we could not have children, my husband and I prayed about adopting. About five years into our marriage, we brought home our oldest son, Isaiah, he's now 13 and a half and six foot tall. It’s so funny to think this tiny little baby we brought home. 

We're so blessed to actually get to be in the delivery room when he was born. It was really a beautiful story that I'm thankful for. And then seven years later, we adopted our second son, also a domestic infant adoption and brought him home from the hospital. His adoption was a little bit trickier. It took us nearly a year in court to finalize his adoption. But yeah, we're, I'm so thankful. I mean, I love our family. I now think back to that day, when I looked at my future and thought, I can't even picture what my life is gonna be like now. 

And now, I look at these two boys that God has given me through adoption, and I'm very thankful for the road of infertility that led to this. But you know, I will also say that adoption doesn't necessarily fix the pain of infertility. I'm 40 now. It’s been 18 years since we started. We've got 18 years of infertility behind us. I've never been pregnant ever, not once. And that still rears its head sometimes, and it hurts us.

Portia: I was gonna say, it makes me want to ask this, because I'm so glad that you went there. You said that adoption is not like the Band-Aid that fixes it. So really, how do you reconcile your longing to have children with the truth that God is good enough? And not trying to whitewash the hardness of the situation, but also being hopeful in Christ? 

Glenna: Yeah, it's a hard question. I think for those of us who are believers, who believe that God is sovereign, and believe that God is good, and we believe that He is the one who opens and closes wombs. I absolutely believe that. It's very hard to reconcile, then why He won't do it, when you know that He could. I think that's really where my struggle just kind of ebbs and flows there throughout the years. 

I believe God can, so I struggled with why He says “no.” And so, then you get to verses like Psalm 84:11, that says, “No good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly.” You're thinking, Okay, children, motherhood, these are good desires. And so, if they're good things and God is saying no, how does this come together? And how do all these things be true? 

I think you have to go back to what Dannah was talking about in her passage from Romans eight, which is talking about good. I think, in my mind, good means God giving me what I want. That that is not always what is good. God gives us what we need. And in so doing, He does that by saying “no.” It's not like it would have been a bad thing for Him to allow me to become pregnant and grow my family that way. That seems like it would have been a good thing, but I don't know the whole story. You know, only God sees everything sovereignly and perfectly only He is weaving together a tapestry of history. He can see it all. From His point of view, it must be good to say no to this desire, and so I honestly, as hard as it is, have to submit my desires to His.

And though it is hard, that is where peace lies. Peace in infertility comes in, like just regularly submitting that desire to His and knowing that He's not out to punish me. My infertility is not a punishment, because all the condemnation for my sin has been poured out on Jesus, there's nothing left for me. And so, this is not a punishment. This is God using difficult things in my life for good. When I can step back from that edge of pain that infertility brings, I can see the way He's working, and not always as clearly as I would like. But I have learned through infertility to come to him often with my request, and then trust Him with the results. 

Portia: Amen, amen girl, you are preaching to my heart. I think that when going through any struggle, community is so necessary. I've been so blessed by my community, local, and brothers and sisters afar. I want you to coach us up. You shared on your blog good stuff about how you been loved through your infertility? I want you to share with us how can we love our neighbors well, through infertility and even other difficult struggles.

Glenna: Yeah, I think that what we're tempted to do is try to fix it for people and sometimes even fix it with a Scripture passage. The truths of Scripture are always true, and they're always right. But sometimes the way that we apply them to people can be a little dismissive or a little hurtful. We sort of want people to just grin and bear it, suffer well, if you want to use those terms. 

I think the best way to love someone walking through infertility is to really make it clear that you are with them in it as much as you possibly can be. And so, for me, that has looked like people coming alongside me and committing to pray for me regularly and telling me that and saying things like, when you feel like you don't have any strength left to pray the same prayer request over and over again, know that I am praying it for you. “I'm going to carry that burden for you when you feel like you can't carry it in.” 

And that is really comforting to me. Because sometimes like in that passage in Romans 8, sometimes we don't know what to pray, and or we get weary of praying the same thing. And so, it's such a comfort knowing that the Holy Spirit is interceding for us, but also when the body comes around us and intercedes with and for us is a huge gift. That requires that we share our burden, like we have to actually talk about it with other people. I think we're starting as personal as infertility; it's tempting to hold it really closely. You don't have to give all the details. But you can share that this is your struggle so that your church and your sisters in Christ can pray for you regularly. 

I think another thing is to acknowledge hard days. Before we brought home our oldest son through adoption, I just really, really hated Mother's Day. I just hated it. And being a pastor's wife, missing church that day was just never really an option for me. And so, it was just painful to have a day set aside to celebrate something that I would just give anything to be able to be a part of, and had absolutely no control over. 

And so, there was this lady at my church who every year, she would just slip a note into my hand, and she wouldn't say anything. It was always a note telling me, “I know this day is hard for you. I am committed to praying for you, and you’re loved. And the Lord loves you.” Very simple, but she remembered the days that would be hard. 

And you know, I even had some close friends who kept track of things when we were trying procedures and things like that with the doctors. They kept track of days and weeks and months with me, and that was such a gift. Just to know that people were invested in acknowledging that this is hard without trying to fix it, because they can't.

Portia: Yes, amen. I'm so glad that you've been loved well by your community. I am so glad that you have taken the time to share your story and to give us some hope and to feel perspective today. So, thank you so much for being with us, and God bless.

Glenna: Thanks, Portia.

Erin: Love me some Glenna, Portia.

Portia: Me too, me too, girl.

Erin: It’s a good time to tell people that Glenna is one of the breakout teachers at True Women ’22. She's not gonna be easy on infertility, but she's gonna be teaching on Scripture memorization, so I know you’ll love her, too. 

Interview with Jessalyn Hutto on Miscarriage

Well, Jessalyn Hutto is with us as our second guest. She's the wife of a church leader, she's a mom, and she's written a book, catch this title: Inheritance of Tears. The subtitle is Trusting the Lord of Life When Death Visits the Womb. Let's hear from Jessalyn. Welcome to Grounded.

Jessalyn Hutto: Hello, thank you for having me.

Erin: Okay, first, I think by looking at the spelling of your name, you're probably used to people mispronouncing it, but how do I do it? Is it Jessalyn Hutto?

Jessalyn: It's Hu-do. But that's normal. 

Erin: Oh Hu-do, so close. Thanks for grace on that. 

Hey I bet you get asked as all women do, how many children do you have? I bet you get asked that question a lot. And that question carries some sorrow for you. So right off the bat, I'd love to know, how do you answer that question, Jessalyn? How many children do you have?

Jessalyn: Well, I think that's gotten easier for me over the years. It was difficult for me after our first miscarriage. And even after our second. Our second miscarriage was in-between two of our living children. And it was a later miscarriage. And that later miscarriage was harder in that sense as well, because we delivered her, and we're able to see her and bury her. But I typically answer the question with how many living children I have. 

That depends on the person, and what they know from my history. But I don't want to burden them with going through an entire story of my losses and all of that. But I typically say I'm a mother to four children, because I cannot be a mother to those two children who are with the Lord right now. The Lord is a much better lover and care-er for them than I am.

Erin: So true. Hey, I read in a description for your book that your own miscarriages have opened up this whole new world of suffering to you. Isn't that what God does with our suffering? He lets us see other people who are suffering. But it's something we don't talk about much, which is even as I'm listening to this episode, just among these five women in this podcast, several miscarriages, struggle with infertility, several crisis pregnancies, and I had a failed adoption. 

So, from your perspective, how many women if you just look out at the sea of Christian women, how many women do you think suffer with this pain of miscarriage? And why don't we talk about it more often?

Jessalyn: Well, many more than we know, suffer from the pain of miscarriage, and infertility for that matter. What's interesting is that when I said about writing Inheritance of Tears, it was still a topic where there wasn't a lot written about it, even on the mommy blogosphere. All of the discussion about miscarriage was about our emotions and our feelings and how hard it is to walk through. There weren't a lot of resources to walk through it biblically from a biblically suffering perspective, how the Word of God applies. It wasn't on TGC or Revive Our Hearts necessarily often. 

And so, it's been wonderful to see over the past 10 years or so, it has become more of an open topic. I see so much more. And there have been many more books written even since my book was written that are wonderful resources and help to open up this topic. But I think if you look out in your congregation and you think no one has suffered from a miscarriage or from infertility, you're deeply mistaken. 

We know just statistically that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. And for some women, they're the ones who are experiencing all those miscarriages, you may be seeing birth after birth after birth in your church, and celebrating these wonderful blessings to your congregation. Well, there's a woman sitting in your church who has had nothing but the pain and the tears and the sorrow that comes from the fall, the outworking of sin in our bodies and in our own children's bodies. 

Erin: Yeah. It's an interesting way to look at it. I sort of had goggles to see that glued onto my eyes when I was the women's ministry director at my church. I would hear those stories because as a staff member, we were often the ones who would counsel or be at somebody's bedside when something went wrong. 

I'd sit there on Sunday morning and be like, I know what she suffered. But I've never heard a sermon on miscarriage. I don't think I don't immediately know where to turn to in my Bible to encourage women walking this road. So, I'm hoping you can help us out. Where do you turn to in your own Bible? When you were maybe grieving your own miscarriages, or you have this ministry to women who have miscarried. What are some of the go to places in Scripture for you?

Jessalyn: Well, first of all, I think it's really important that we all have a theology of suffering. 

Erin: Amen.

Jessalyn: I did not understand how blessed I was when I experienced my miscarriage to have a theological foundation, and to understand things like Dannah was talking about, about the sovereignty of the Lord. But not only the sovereignty of the Lord, but that going hand in hand with the goodness of the Lord at the same time, because if He is sovereign, sovereignty is not comforting, right? 

So, because He is both sovereign and good . . . A little further down in that same passage she was reading from Romans, He says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all How will he not graciously give us all things.” 

That's a reminder that, like the last speaker was talking about, that’s good. We miss identify what good is in our lives. And we miss identify what the purpose of our own lives are, in general, the Lord has purchased us with the blood of Christ. He has poured out His love for us through Christ's death. And if He loves us in that way, then there is nothing that comes into our life that is not in some way showing His love for us. He's a good Father. He is both sovereign and good, at the same time, and so we can accept what He gives to us. 

But as far as where I go to help women to see where a miscarriage fits into the storyline of Scripture, I think we have to always, always go back to the Fall. We have to go back to Genesis 3, and see that when sin entered the world, even in the words that God spoke to Eve, that she would have pain in childbearing. It was something that is so felt by women who miscarry, because they don't just experience the physical pain of bringing a baby into the world, who is fully formed, and who is a blessing the day after, she experiences the pain of bringing forth children in her body, in that her children don't always make it. She has to feel that pain and have no blessing on the other side. She experiences death inside her body, and that death is a result of the fall. 

And even in another passage in Romans, we see that our bodies are a part of the creation that are eagerly longing for the return of Christ. All of creation is affected by the Fall.

Erin: You’re giving us the gospel, the gospel, the gospel, and like wanting to drink it with a ladle. Sometimes we think of the gospel as what we needed for the moment of salvation, which of course, it has impact there. But we need the gospel for every moment of suffering, every moment of questioning, every moment where sin and death wreaks havoc on our lives. 

So, I love, I love that you're giving us the gospel. I don't know that we have a habit in the church of pointing women at any point of suffering to the gospel. I know God's still writing your story, but I'd love as we wrap up here, what are some ways you're seeing Him redeem the loss of those precious babies? Are you already seeing His redemptive hand in your life?

Jessalyn: Yes. So my last miscarriage was quite a few years ago. Now, I'm getting old, apparently. 

Erin: Me, too. 

Jessalyn: But it was about eight or nine years ago, when we lost our daughter at 17 weeks. The biggest effect that my miscarriages have had on me is a trust in the Lord. Because until you have been tested with deep suffering, until you have had the thing that you longed for more than anything else ripped from you, and you're able to say like Dannah was saying, “Your will, Lord, not mine.” 

And to see Him carry you through that time, that builds a trust that nothing else can. And it builds an affection in you for the Lord who carries you through and who will always be with you, and who will never leave you and never forsake you. And that is a goodness, that I would not trade for anything.

Erin: It gives us that hunger for heaven when no longer will anything be a curse. This is not our home. Right? 

Jessalyn: And He will wipe away every tear. 

Erin: Every tear. What’s your daughter's name? 

Jessalyn: Anastasia. 

Erin: Anastasia. What a beautiful name. Jessalyn thanks for being with us on Grounded. 

Jessalyn: Thank you very much. It's a privilege.

Erin: Well, when we don't understand the plan of God, whether that's the size of our family, or if and when we get married, or our career, or health. When we don't understand the plan of God, we can trust the character of God. I want you to listen to this short clip of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth teaching on one of Jesus' names: Emmanuel. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Emmanuel that name for Jesus, Emmanuel, comes from two Hebrew words: God and with us. Jesus is the with us God. This is God coming to earth in human flesh. And that's what we celebrate at the incarnation of Jesus. He came to earth. God came to earth in the form of this baby named Jesus. John 1 says that this way: in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh, thank God, and dwelt among us. 

So, we have a God who is with us, who came to share the experiences of our lives and our humanity. 

This promise, “I am with you,” that God gives to us is a promise found all the way through God's Word. And here's the good news of the gospel: that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, as God was with His people in the Old Testament—Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Joshua and Gideon and Jeremiah. 

So, God is with those who know and trust Jesus. Emmanuel, God with us, transforms ordinary moments and mundane tasks into opportunities for God's glory to be displayed. Listen, if you taking care of three kids at home, God is with you. If Jesus is your Emmanuel, then what you are doing in your everyday work, in the workplace, in the home, in your church, and in your relationships, then that is an opportunity for God's glory to be displayed in every situation. In every season of life, in every circumstance, in every conversation you have, in every gathering of believers, God is with us. That affects everything.

Portia: Amen. God is with us. Well, you know, we are in the Lenten season. It's that time of year when many of us take time to intentionally prepare our hearts for Resurrection Sunday. And if you don't already have a reading plan, or maybe you have never observed it before, guess what, we've got your back. We have the tools to help you stay grounded. We want to recommend to get this book, The Wonder of His Name, which is a resource from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. It is our gift of any amount offer for the month of March. So, check it out.

Erin: Only the followers of Jesus can get to the end of an episode about infertility and miscarriage with joy and hope smiles on our faces. We've heard from women who have walked this path and the Lord has met them and walked with them. If that's you, I would say if you are suffering from miscarriage, if you are suffering from infertility, if something about you as a woman in your childbearing years is causing you grief, tell somebody. 

I ran to Dannah after that first phone call from the doctor. I ran to Dannah and got her praying, and it made all the difference. 

Well, why is everybody so angry? We have the answer, and I think it's gonna surprise you. Don't miss Grounded and next week. We've got a friend, Shannon Popkin, stopping by to help rethink our anger. Let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded.

Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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