“Children are a heritage from Him, a gift, a reward, a blessing, a fruit. That is the language that He uses….We recognize things that are gifts from the Lord: food, family, shoes, house, home, our neighbors. Well, children are another one of those gifts — even when we don’t want them, even when we don’t appreciate them. I think, in the Church, we have abandoned this use of gift language at some point. And that makes it difficult to talk about barrenness. Because if we don’t recognize the Source of life, then we have a hard time talking to people who are not being given that gift of life. We have faulty language that fails to deliver comfort. It fails to deliver truth, and it definitely fails to deliver babies…The language we’ve been given as a culture is not right. It’s not going to speak the Gospel to the barren.”

-Listen to the full interview with author Katie Schuermann on KFUO Faith & Family, where she discusses adoption, the cross of barrenness, and our identity in Christ

The revised and expanded second edition of He Remembers the Barren by Katie Schuermann is now available for shipment! Find details on purchasing, our bulk discount, how to get a giclee print, excerpts, and reviews here.

“Rarely have I met a woman so eloquently able to describe the valley of the shadow of death with such honesty. Even rarer to find someone who can thus acknowledge that even there, ‘Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.’ Having traveled that valley, those of us who ‘mourn in Israel’ are deeply moved and also comforted by Katie’s stubborn faithfulness, which turns our hearts and minds not only to the reality of the cross, but also to the greater reality of God’s unfailing love, which made that cross necessary. Katie reminds us again and again that Christ will give us ‘beauty for ashes, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness…’ This book is a must read for those of us who need to know that there are fellow travelers who will rejoice as we will to be where there is ‘no more crying or pain or sickness or death anymore.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
-Dr. Donna Harrison, MD, OB/GYN;  LCMS member

“In He Remembers the Barren, Katie Schuermann comes alongside barren couples on their lonely way through their specific challenges and crosses, including the plethora of ‘solutions’ that often turn out not to be, the pressures that come with them, and the ‘people problems’ those pressures aggravate. In the end it is both a vividly personal and theologically reflective study in the cruciform life, lived in faith in Christ and in that love that sees what is not and brings good out of it. For couples struggling with barrenness, those struggling to know how to support them, and those who just want to grasp in a real way how the body of Christ — in suffering together, in believing together — is built up together in that hope that will not fail, Katie proves, especially in this new edition, to be a faithful, forthright, and full-hearted companion.”
-Rev. Dr. John and Heidi Sias

*Tomorrow is the last day of the Summer Reading Sale with all books up to 25% off!