Help me welcome author Audrey Shrive as she shares her journey to publication and to a deeper reliance on the Lord.

A Peek Inside The Empty Womb

Chapter One – Children are a gift from God

My Journey

The x-ray room was cold and dark. The only thing between me and the steel table I was lying on was a hospital gown. The TV monitors in the room were on so the ultrasound could capture what happened when the doctor pushed dye through my fallopian tubes. There were three men in the room with me; the doctor, the ultrasound tech and a male nurse to assist. There were no stirrups for me to rest my feet in for the procedure. I had to hold my legs up on my own. The doctor made the mistake of letting me see the needle which was now inserted between my legs and into my cervix. I swear that sucker was at least a foot long, maybe longer. And he wanted me to scoot my bottom closer to him. I refused. I was aware of the human anatomy and the basic size of a uterus.

“You’re going to puncture my uterus with that needle,” I cried out.

“No, I won’t,” he answered.

“I’m not moving until you take that thing out of me,” I responded.

“No, it’s in already. I just need you to scoot closer to the end of the table. It will make it easier for me to do the dye injection,” he explained. “Just an inch or so.”

I’m not easily embarrassed or humiliated. This was an exception. These three men, had no understanding or compassion for what was happening to me and what they were asking me to do. I fought back the tears and did my best to comply with the ‘bottom scoot’, in a hospital gown, legs spread, and a gigantic needle in my cervix. After two or three false starts, I finally got in the position that would make the procedure easier for him. Nothing about this situation was easy for me.

Finally, he pushed the dye through my cervix. Only one fallopian tube showed free spill. The right one was partially blocked. My infertility issue was made more complicated.

The doctor was a general practitioner. He and his wife struggled to get pregnant. He treated her and they eventually were able to have children. Rather than refer me out to a specialist, he was determined to ‘fix me’.

We were stationed at Ft. Bragg and he was an active-duty doctor at Womack Army hospital. Generally, I would say my healthcare from the military has been outstanding. Medical treatment by Dr. Know-It-All is the only negative experience I’ve had in 30 years of military healthcare. My first meeting with him was actually my first appointment ever at a military hospital. I was a brand-new Army wife and brand new to military everything, including being seen at a military hospital. I don’t know why it surprised me, but it did, when he walked in the room to do my annual pap and breast exam wearing BDU’s (Battle Dress Uniform). Doctors wear scrubs and white coats, not “I’m-on-my-way-to-battle” attire. It just set me back a bit.

After the pap, which in and of itself has to be one of the most humiliating cancer screenings ever devised, he moved to the breast exam. This BDU wearing doctor/soldier said this to me as he did the exam:

“When you do your self-exam each month, think of the breast as a target and the nipple as the bull’s eye. Work your way in from the outside of the target, into the bullseye, checking for any lumps or deformities.”

I actually looked at his face to see if he was joking. He was not. Dr. Know-It-All was as serious as a heart attack. I wanted to laugh so badly, but it just seemed inappropriate to laugh while he had both hands on my breasts, doing the exam. He’d just seen my huha, now he was referring to my breasts as a target.

Getting to know Audrey

Audrey Shrive is a storyteller who points people toward God, sometimes with humor, sometimes with the cold, hard truth, but always with love. A twice published author, she can feel the Lord’s pleasure when writing or speaking at women’s retreats or gatherings.

Her first book, This is from Me, takes you on her journey through date rape, spiritual rebellion, courtship, marriage, addiction and divorce. The book demonstrates God’s faithfulness to pursue all who rebel against Him. This is from Me on Amazon

Audrey’s most recent book, The Empty Womb, explores Audrey’s own journey with infertility told in a raw and captivating way. It includes a brave discussion about invitro treatments and her choices about adoption. This book presents some fresh perspectives into the barren women of the Bible and what scripture says about children and infertility in an engaging way. Complete with a Bible study in the back, this book is for all women, not just the barren woman. The Empty Womb on Amazon

Connecting Online 

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Get Joyful Gems with Audrey Joy in your in box and be entered to win your own copy of The Empty Womb (This link is to Audrey’s website, https://www.thisisfromme.com/. Scroll down just a bit to find the Vlog sign up. Drawing will be held May 31, 2024. US addresses only. Signed print copy from the author. Audrey will email the winner to get their address for mailing).

About Audrey's Journey:

I come from a family of writers. I’ve always thought I had books in me. I have a friend who is a published author. Nearly twenty years ago, she challenged me to write a book about my divorce. I handedly dismissed the idea as total foolishness. But a seed was planted. I spent time thinking about the idea every so often. Around 10 years back, God gave me the name of the book and how the book would start.

Fast forward to 2020. In the third week of March, this same friend, sent an email out to her writer friends asking this question, “If I led a free, four-week class on how to write a memoir, would you be interested?” After I got done laughing at the timing of God, using a worldwide pandemic to finally give me the time and space to write, I let my friend know I was whole heartedly in. That’s how This is Fr0m Me was born.

Once that book was published, I felt God leading me to speak to women’s retreats and gatherings to get book into the hands of the women who needed it. The first talk I studied out and wrote was The Empty Womb. As soon as that 30 minute talk was completed, I heard God say, “Now this.”

In the writing of The Empty Womb, and other topics I have researched and spoken on at women’s events, I have discovered a previously unknown gift of teaching! I truly love to dig into scripture and learn, then take what I’ve learned and put it in a book format or a speech format. Who knew!?

I wanted to try my hand at fiction. Since I’ve never done it before, I thought I would start with something short. I’m currently working on a Novella about the woman with the blood issue in scripture. I’ve given her the name Rhoda. As Rhoda and I have gotten to know each other, I’ve come to have a huge hope that she somehow knows the difference she’s made for countless women across the centuries – that the twelve years of pain and suffering was worth it for all of the women her story has encouraged, women like me.

If you enjoy my books there are some things you could do to make the book more successful. You could leave a review on Amazon. (Sorry, they’re not linked. Novice mistake) This is from Me     The Empty Womb You could also share your thoughts on the book(s) on your own social media pages with these links.

Lastly, I’m in the process of building my Vlog subscriber list. Joyful Gems with Audrey Joy is a short weekly video with Biblical insights, encouragement and inspiration. It will be from this distribution list I select my beta readers and launch team for future endeavors. Subscribing to Joyful Gems would be of great help to me! Here’s the link to my website to get in on these Gems. Don’t forget to scroll down a few pages to the signup page. Click here to get Joyful Gems in your personal inbox