Review: Three Decades of Fertility

When I received my Kindle copy of Three Decades of Fertility: Ten Ordinary Women Surrender to the Creator and Embrace Life for review, I really had no expectations. As a woman at the tail-end of three decades of fertility, I simply thought it might be an interesting read.

The main body of the book consists of the first-person stories of ten different Christian women, ranging in age from forty-three to fifty-five. As each story unfolds, we learn how marriage, family, and love for the Lord transformed these woman. After telling her story, each woman's answers to a survey on childbearing are shared.

The book closes with two bonus chapters on keeping our bodies healthy during the childbearing years. One is written by a doctor and deals with maintaining the physical structure of the body, the other is written by a an amateur herbalist and deals with nutrition.

The positives:

• As a mother, I found myself drawn into many of these women's lives as they dealt with various aspects of pregnancy and motherhood, including miscarriage and adoption. 
• It was obvious that each woman desired to honor God through her testimony, even as she shared her struggles and failures along the way.
• The bonus chapters include numerous links for further information, including tips that even a woman in my stage of life might find helpful.

The negatives:

• This book is written from a "full quiver" perspective. While I realize the book was not intended to explain this perspective, I did find myself desiring a more complete biblical explanation of this presupposition since it was an integral part of each woman's story.
• In one woman's story, her life seemed to be transformed when she began attending church and a ladies' group, but I did not read any mention of salvation. I felt a gospel opportunity may have been missed here.
• I was a bit troubled by the perspective on miscarriage shared in one chapter, "What if miscarriage was God's means of showing mercy and love on a human soul, and if He chose you to be the honored vehicle to usher that child into eternity?" (Quote by Doug Phillips, shared by Carmon.)
• I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed to find that the chapter on nutrition was written by a 32-year-old amateur herbalist. She provides lots of information, but most of the references she provides point you to her own blog or book.

I think this is a book that will be enjoyed immensely by those sharing a full quiver viewpoint. For many of the rest of us, while we may enjoy sharing in the sisterhood of maternity with these women through these stories, questions will be raised and remain unanswered.


Cross Focused Reviews provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review; however, the views stated here are my own. This review has also been posted on Amazon.com and Goodreads. This post contains affiliate links.