Bearing the Unbearable: Coping with Infertility and Other Profound Suffering, or What to Do When Taking Charge of Your Fertility Fails

BEARING THE UNBEARABLE wrestles with two of life's most painful realities, the loss or diminishment of hope and the inability of human beings to fulfill their vocation, potential, and dreams. We will focus on perhaps the most poignant cause of this, infertility, but our discussion will include other major obstacles to fulfillment. There is an innate link between the futility of procreative and potential fulfillment efforts. We will integrate western civilization's most famous infertility stories, those from the Bible, and particularly the Old Testament, with contemporary stories and your own.

Why I Wrote the Book

I wrote this book for two main reasons. First, I wanted to make the timeless insights and therapeutic applications of the Bible's infertility stories accessible to a wide audience. These can heal painful emotions and experiences, provide guidance on key decisions, and open up new ways of looking at your challenges and life as a whole. These stories transcend denominational boundaries and showcase universal emotions and experiences. They can truly be classified as world literature and every person's story.

Most books on infertility focus on emotional, social, financial, physiological, technological, homeopathic (natural remedies), and ethical issues. The spiritual aspect, which is closely linked to the others, has been largely overlooked, even though it is the aspect we have the greatest control over. Second, I have dealt with infertility and other intimate suffering both personally and professionally, and have not found literary resources that addressed my experiences and concerns. I hope this book helps you to bear whatever is unbearable in your life, be it the lack or loss of children, setbacks, deprivations, or pain of any kind.

Karl A. Schultz is the director of the Genesis Personal Development Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is an author, speaker, and retreat leader on motivational, gender relations, biblical spirituality, time and stress management, wellness, pastoral care, and organizational development topics. He has presented programs in corporate, hospital, hospice, church, association, convention, and retreat environments throughout the United States.

Schultz is one of the world's most prolific authors and teachers of lectio divina (holistic spiritual reading), specializing in its applications to suffering, care-giving, lay spirituality, gender relationships (including conflict resolution and coping with infertility), and potential fulfillment topics such as journaling, inner healing, and stress and time management. He has discussed his work on numerous radio and television programs, including the EWTN programs Bookmark, Life on the Rock, and The Abundant Life. Using the book of Job, Schultz has developed therapeutic and pastoral care applications of lectio divina to suffering, care-giving, and infertility, and has presented "Job Therapy" workshops in a variety of health-care, parish, retreat, association, and convention environments. His "Building Up the Human" program was approved by the Pennsylvania Nurses Association for R.N. continuing education accreditation. Schultz has published nine books on applications of biblical spirituality and lectio divina to Bible study, suffering, care-giving, stress management, time management, journaling, wellness and potential fulfillment, infertility, and the teachings of Pope Paul VI.

For a listing of other books by the author, reference the bibliography at the front of the book. To purchase books, CDs, or DVDs by Karl A. Schultz, or for information on workshops, retreats, and presentations, contact Genesis Personal Development Center at (412) 766-7545 or at the email address karlaschultz@juno.com.