My friend Emmy wrote this and posted it on Facebook. She gave me permission to share it.
"Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."Jer 1:5
"I was thinking tonight about when life begins, does it begin like so many people in our culture believe when a baby has been delivered from the womb and is free and independent of the mother's body? Does it begin at conception, when a sperm and egg meet and are safely implanted in the mother's uterus? Or does it begin in the heart and mind of the Creator? If an artist were to create a master piece where would we say it originated? If we tore up his canvas and destroyed his brushes can you imagine his frustration at having this desire to create and seeing his lovely creation in his mind's eye and but being unable to ever form it and see it become a reality?
Burdette and I spent a season of our lives thinking and praying about this very thing. We didn't want to feel trapped, having many children that we didn't really appreciate or know how to properly care for. We also didn't want to be deceived by the culture or an ungodly world view. We could not seem to get away from the verses in the word that say that God knew us before we were even formed (Psalm 139:16) or even while we were still in our father's loins (Hebrews 7:9-10). They spoke so clearly to us that people are God's creation, that it wasn't about our physical bodies but about our willingness to be a vessel for the Lord to create a living soul, a child that he would give us the wisdom and grace to care for if we would trust him. As far as providing for their physical needs we believed His promises that He even cares for the sparrows and that He has yet to see the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. We both had the testimonies of our fathers as well, who were honest, hard working men. They did not have college degrees or an earthly inheritance with which to raise us but they trusted the Lord and although Burdette's parents had 16 children and mine had 15 children we never lacked the things we needed. In fact we did not lack anything and both had happy childhoods, never even realizing the things we did not have because we had the important things that make children content.
My children and I were talking tonight about the Israelites in Egypt and how God multiplied them so greatly that Pharaoh became afraid and ordered the midwives to kill the boy babies. But the midwives would not obey and despite what the Egyptians would do to the Israelites God blessed them with health and children. Then I was thinking of all the blessings of the Lord through out the old testament and how many, many times he told his people that if they would obey him he would bless them with among other things fruitful wombs. (Duet 7:12-16, Isaiah 49:19-20, Jer 31:27 and 33:21, Ezekiel 36:37-38 and 36:10, Zach`2:4) Just to name a few! Also if you look up barrenness you will find that it was given as a curse.
I think it is sad that so many believers have taken a curse upon themselves and turned away God's blessings. What if the Israelites had thought, "This life is too horrible, I mean we are slaves! Why bring more slaves into the world? We better figure out a way to prevent pregnancy." God would not have had his large, healthy, victorious people to lead out of Egypt! I'm going to be like the midwives in Egypt. I'm going to refuse to obey the wisdom of this world that says to me that God's blessing is a curse and that I should destroy my children and prevent future generations from even existing. Instead I will pray that God will bless us and our children and if the world stands, our children's children with fruitful wombs and hearts that see God's gifts as good.
A while ago I heard one of our ministers read from Psalm 127 and he said he did a word study on the third verse. He said the word heritage in this verse means a heirloom, something precious and valuable that we would pass on from generation to generation. Isn't that beautiful? "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it, except the Lord keep a city, the watchman waketh but in vain......Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." If any of you haven't thought about birth control from a spiritual stand point I would encourage you to read Nancy Campbell's book Be Fruitful and Multiply. It is full of scripture and rather than being legalistic I think it is very freeing. All of my love and good will, Emmy"
A little girl with a small family said in the Above Rubies magazine that I subscribe to, to her friend with a large family, "your family seems complete, mine feels like there's people missing." What insight! How it isn't about us anymore when we commit to have taken up our cross and followed Him. It's about souls for Christ. What better way to win souls for Christ than to increase the numbers in His army? My will, my dreams, and my desires fade in comparison with what my Master has in store for me when I seek His will to run ALL areas of my life. Yikes, that's a tall order!
