Infertility affects nearly 6.1 million women and 2.1 million married couples in the United States. Additionally, 25 percent of women of childbearing age will experience a miscarriage and one in 80 pregnancies will end in a stillbirth. In Hope Deferred, we hear the voices of five female scholars from a variety of Christian denominations--Church of the Brethren, Disciples of Christ, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic--as they share their very private stories of painful loss in the hope of bringing comfort and a theological understanding to those who have experienced reproductive loss.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1959.

There is something about suffering for a long time that short bouts of pain cannot achieve. You simply get worn down. You begin to lose confidence in yourself to problem solve. Your ability to shoot from the hip keeps failing. Your friends have run out of advice, the faded instruction manual is dog-eared and you feel forever stuck on hold. Keeping me blindfolded and trusting God for every step would eventually force me to hang on tight and lean in to hear him whisper. That bridge, the transition from the life I knew to the one I am living now, was just plain tough. Nothing but the long weariness of the journey would rid me of my self-sufficiency and allow him to take the reins. Your sorrow either leads you away from God because you have your own sense of justice, or it drives you to him because he is a good God who has a wonderful plan for you and who can be trusted. I have discovered the latter to be true.

There was one thing in life Hawk Sheridan wanted, and that was to be a doctor. A few months short of his goal, he found himself in the baggage car of a train. He was kicked out of medical school and sent home packing""another dream up in smoke. Life had been one obstacle after another. Each time, he picked himself up and with God's help began again. He just didn't think he could do it anymore. His troubles were never about who he was, but of what he was. Lakota blood ran through his veins, and it was evident in his appearance. He could only get so far before someone made it an issue. Avery Stockton's life was one of deception. The only living witness to her family's murder, she lived in fear under a false identity. The killers vowed they would find her, and after seventeen years, they were getting close. Secluded in a Baltimore hospital as a nurse, Avery was under the watchful eye of her uncle Dr. Victor Stockton. When it became necessary to move Avery, there was no better place than the Dakota Territory. Hawk Sheridan had the means and the know-how to hide her in obscurity. Would Hawk be willing to help Avery when she suddenly showed up on his doorstep? Is Hawk ready for the climb of his life? Will the care of Avery stand in the way of fulfilling his dreams or destroy them?

Will Daniel and Anna be able to reconcile their faith struggles and their love for each other? Beloved Amish novelist Linda Byler once again writes a compelling and surprising love story, showing that even the Plain People struggle with complex feelings, questions, and relationships. David Stolzfus and Anna Fisher have been best friends as long as they can remember. Sure, it was a bit unusual in the Amish community for a boy and a girl to be so close, but nobody questions it with David and Anna—it has just always been that way. They live on neighboring farms in Lancaster County, they walk to school together (with all their siblings) every day, and when David learns to drive a pony, Anna is the first one to ride with him. Their lives are intertwined, the way the borders of their properties are joined by the Pequea Creek. As they approach their teen years, David and Anna's friendship turns quickly to deep love and attraction. But David is headstrong and full of an insatiable hunger for knowledge and new experiences. When Anna's conservative parents require that he join the church before the two can begin dating, he rebels, eventually taking off to Australia for the adventure of a lifetime, leaving Anna to sort through her feelings alone. When Anna receives a letter from Leon Beiler, a young man she can't deny she has feelings for, everything changes again. How can she reconcile a lifetime of love for David with this new potential romance? And what will happen when David returns home?

Is life not turning out how you expected? In the summer of 2007, Jillian Heerlyn and her husband found themselves counted among the 1 in 8 couples who have trouble getting pregnant. The first half of their 9-year battle with infertility included a considerable amount of depression and questioning God. A wrestle with infertility is ultimately a wrestle with God. Hope Deferred is the guidebook that enabled Jillian to rise above her circumstances with joy, peace, hope and a deeper relationship with God. What if turning to God is painful? What if fear and doubt are making it difficult to hope? Is God causing infertility in order to teach a lesson? Is God able to intervene, but choosing not to for some reason? Why is everyone else able to get pregnant so easily? Hope Deferred dives into these tough questions and more, and addresses the difficulties surrounding infertility, while offering the tools needed to have hope and peace even when circumstances are not resolved. The truths carefully presented will help heal the heart and mind of the one who is affected by infertility. Even those who are past child-bearing age will find salve to cover old wounds. With honesty and authenticity, Jillian shares the pain and trials that plagued her through infertility. She opens the door into her journey and invites you to join her in finding greater freedom, joy and peace while enduring difficult circumstances. You will quickly realize that, although your story is unique, you have a sister who understands. This book is a must read for anyone personally dealing with infertility and for loved ones to gain insight into the infertility journey. This book speaks to anyone who has ever lived with an unmet desire.

Hope Deferred, initially published in 1965 traces the history of girls’ education from Anglo-Saxon England to modern times, telling the story largely through the leading personalities whose opinions and prejudices shaped this history. It outlines the progress of popular education and the work of the pioneers who fought to bring girls’ education at every level into line with boys’; and it carries the story into the second half of the twentieth-century to discuss the problem of whether girls are really receiving the right kind of education.