Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

One of our readers posted a reply to the post below: WHAT I WOULD HAVE MISSED. I would like to make some comments.

"God does give us the wonderful blessing of children. But he also gave us the wonderful blessing of free will. And I think this includes being able to make a decision that you have had enough children . . . When you as a family decide that you want to focus on the children you have, on raising them up right, on listening to your body when it says 'enough,' on listening to your husband when he says 'enough,' I truly believe this is ok."

I will admit that these words sound logical and wise. But dear ladies, this is how the enemy tempts us. He does not tempt you with that which is blatantly evil for he knows you would take no notice. Instead, he tempts us with that which sounds wise and good. This was his first temptation to Eve in the Garden of Eden? How could the enemy tempt someone who personally walked and talked with God each day? He did it by sounding "good," "wise," and "pleasant" (Genesis 3:6). The above words sound so good and pleasant to our ears because they cater to how we feel. What we think is best. What fits in with our lifestyle. What fits our plans. This is humanism.

We don't know what is best for us. Only God who created us knows what is best. It is only right that we listen to Him. Job said, "For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment" (Job 9:32). Who are we to argue with God? He is the Creator, we are the created. He is the Planner; we are the planned. He is the Savior and Deliverer; we are the saved. He is Infinite; we are infinite. Isaiah 29:16 says: "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed It He had no understanding?"

And where in Scripture do we read that we are to listen to the dictates of the body? God does not speak to us through the dictates of our body, but through His eternal word. There are those who listen to their bodies and commit fornication! Of course I know that our bodies get tired. Motherhood is a powerful and all-engaging career. But anyone who is doing a great job gets tired. That's why God gives us the night to sleep and refresh our bodies (Psalm 127:2).

And dear ladies, God created our bodies for the purpose of childbearing. Childbearing does not wear out your body, it preserves your body. 1 Timothy 2:15 (NASB) says: "Women will be PRESERVED through the bearing of children." For scientific proof, go to: http://tinyurl.com/PreservedThroughMotherhood

This lady also commented: "I think He is far more interested in the quality of your children as opposed to the quantity." I think you could only make this statement if you haven't experienced the joys, plusses, interaction, input, and loaded blessings of a larger family.

Jesus Himself was part of a family of at least seven or maybe ten or more. In Matthew 13:55, 56 it tells about Jesus' five brothers "and his sisters." That means there had to be at least two sisters, but the inference is that there were more. What if there were five? That would have been ten in the family. Do you think that God, the Potentate of the universe, the Creator of all, and the Father of His Beloved Son would allow him to live in a large family if it was not going to allow quality? Of course not. This was normal family size in God's eyes.

We must all ask this question. When does quality stop? Is it after two children? Or perhaps after three? If you were to ask parents of six or more children if their youngest child receives less quality because they are part of a larger family, they would laugh out loud!

Children of smaller families have far less attention than those in larger families. A baby coming into a large family is overloaded with love, cuddles, and constant attention--more than parents could ever give. They receive unbounded love, teaching, and interaction from all different ages, often from eight, nine, or ten people each day. They receive far more stimulation than a first or second child could ever receive.

And this is how God plans family to work. Children learn and receive so much from one another. They also learn that they are not the only one in the family to expect attention, for all are receiving love and attention. They grow up secure, and yet without selfishness and the entitlement mentality of so many today.

Plus, if we should only have so-called "quality" rather than "quantity," does that mean that younger children born into a family are not fit to be born? Well, what about a few examples of hundreds that we could write about?

President George Washington was the 5th of ten children.
President William Harrison was the youngest of seven children.
President Benjamin Harrison was the 5th child of thirteen children.
President Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son of a youngest son for five generations, although he also had two younger sisters, and was actually the 15th of seventeen children.
By the way, seven of our presidents came from families of ten or more children. Did they not have quality in their family life?
Jonathan Edwards was the 11th child of eleven children (he had 10 older sisters doting on him).
Dwight L. Moody was the 6th child of eight children.
Nate Saint, one of the missionaries who was martyred as they sought to bring the Gospel to the Auca Indians was the 7th of eight children.
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was the youngest child of eight children.
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (by the way, his full name is Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart!) was the youngest child of seven children.
King David, the great king of Israel, was the youngest of eight children.
King Solomon, David's son grow up with at least twenty brothers and one sister is mentioned, but there were most probably so many more.
And so we could go on.

Another mother commented: "I thank God for every one of our nine children, 42 grandchildren, and 17 great-grands--many serving GOD FULLTIME ALREADY!" Did we read, "Many of them serving God FULL TIME? But they come from a large family where there is no "quality"! Don't you think we better re-evaluate?

God bless you today, Nancy Campbell

Below you can read a story of how a couple shared the news they were pregnant with all their friends. I know many of you have thought of unique and ingenious ways to tell your husband, your children, and your friends that you are having a baby. I would love to hear these wonderful stories. If you would like to share your story, can you please send it to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.? Thanks.

Write PREGGIE STORY in the Subject Heading. Make sure your email is at the end of your story. I will share some of them on Facebook, but ultimately I would like to gather some for printing in the next Above Rubies. I can't wait to hear of all the original and exciting ways you thought of to tell the great news.

~ Nancy

TOP SECRET EXPERIMENT

By Bridget Welch This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Before I found out we were pregnant, my husband and I had three beautiful children--Alyssa (9), Josiah (7), and Emma (6), and they were all about to have birthdays. We had been wanting another child since our littlest Emma was a baby, but the Lord had other plans.

During these infertile years, God brought a beautiful young mother with three young children to live us for a time while she transitioned out of an abusive relationship. She became integral part of our extended family. We watched her go from a hurting lost young lady to a Jesus-loving, homeschooling mom.

Shortly after we setup our young mom in a house of her own, a precious girl named Katherine came to live with us. She had left home under some very stressful conditions, and God opened doors for her to come live with us. Four years later, she is now a full time member of the Welch family. Even though we did not have a newborn child these last six years, God gave us others to nurture.

As the years went by, I began to cry out even more fervently to the Lord, "Please Lord, Emma will be seven soon. Could You please give us another child?" One night I was at a Above Rubies Bible study group with some of my closest friends and I began to cry. I poured my heart declaring how much I really wanted a little one to hold. We petitioned God for a miracle during that time of fellowship, and a few days later I noticed that I had not had my monthly cycle in a while. I had been late before, so I did not get my hopes up until a friend of mine gave me a unused pregnancy test she had lying around the house. I had taken many tests over the last six years, but I prayed that this test would be a positive one.

I waited until the next morning after my husband had gone to work to take the pregnancy test. After he left for work, I snuck downstairs before the children were awake to take the test. With my eyes firmly shut, I waited a minute for the results to materialize. I slowly opened one eye and peered at the result. It was positive! I fell on my knees and cried out, "Thank you! Thank you, Jesus!" I felt like Hannah who cried out and the Lord heard her cries.

When the children awoke from bed, I immediately told them the exciting news. The children began brainstorming on how we could break the news to Daddy. We stuffed the pregnancy test, a rock, and a bunch of tissue paper in a box we had just received recently in the mail. It still had all the postal markings on it, so it looked very official. I then called my husband and advised him that a surprise package had arrived for him, and he needed to come home at lunch time to open it because it looked important and the children were dying to look inside. Luckily my husband only works about eight minutes away, so he was more than game to come home for lunch.

When my husband, Byron, came in, the children gave him the box and he gave it a shake. Then he cut it open and pulled everything out of the box and finally saw the test. He had a happy look on his face, but not an overly surprised one. My husband has a gift for knowing when women are pregnant, so he probably already knew in the back of his mind. After loving on me for a moment, my husband asked, " So how are we going to break the news to everyone else? "

While he was thinking about how to break the news to our friends, he swore me to secrecy to not tell anyone else until the big reveal. Now I have a big personality and I am a social butterfly. This request of his was very hard to keep, but I did! I was even at a swap meet with a friend who I consider a close sister to me. She noticed I was purchasing baby clothes, and I would like to think I was able to make a generic enough reason that would not have her suspecting anything.

My husband decided to inform all of our friends and loved ones at the upcoming Saturday House fellowship gathering. From the dollar store he purchased 20 pregnancy tests, and a large white poster board which he emblazoned with the title, "TOP SECRET EXPERIMENT.".

He asked me to take 18 pregnancy tests over the period of two days and asked Katherine, our adopted adult daughter to take the two remaining tests. He then pasted all my tests on the poster board in labeled chronological order. He labeled a small portion in the bottom corner of the board, "OTHER TEST SUBJECT" where he pasted Katherine's two negative pregnancy tests.

Saturday came around, and my husband brought out the board and told everyone he had been doing a "Top Secret Experiment" for the last few days. He explained it all to them and explained it in big words so it sounded official. The funny thing was that tests which were purchased from the dollar store were just small little sticks and no one could really make out what they really were. So everyone was squinting trying to see what he had done, because he was being very serious. After a number of perplexed looks at the board, the whole gang clued into what we announcing.

Today Jeremiah is eight months old and he has changed our lives so much! He is truly a blessing from the Lord. God has given us four blood children, one adopted child, and four very close spiritual children, and we love all of them as our own.

~ Bridget * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

After reading my post yesterday of TWELVE BIBLICAL REASONS WHY GOD GIVES US CHILDREN a number of mothers shared that it was hard for them to read because they struggle with the pain of infertility. Dear precious ladies in this situation, I want you to know that I agonize with you. The ache and longing for children can be unbearable. After many years of barrenness, Rachel, Jacob's wife, cried out in despair, "Give me children, or else I die" (Genesis 30:1).

Please don't despair, dear mothers. Can I encourage you to trust in God's ultimate sovereignty? You cannot understand the pain and heartache you endure. You cannot understand why you cannot conceive. "Why is God not blessing me?" you cry out. There is so much we go through that we will never understand this side of eternity. We do not live in a perfect world. But one day we will see the big picture. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says: "For your light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a FAR MORE EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." The Knox translation says: "This light momentary affliction brings with it a reward multiplied every way, LOADING US WITH EVERLASTING GLORY."

God is in control of every situation of our lives. He is God. He is the I AM THAT I AM., He is not the God we want Him to be. That is a false God. He is not a God we can put in a little box to toe the line to our desires. That is a false God. He is the sovereign God of the universe. He is the sovereign God of eternity.

Please trust Him, dear precious hurting ones. Yes, the blessing of children is one of God's very precious blessings, and the first blessing He gave to mankind (Genesis 1: 28). But God continually blesses us. He blesses you moment by moment. God's blessings are myriad. Look for His blessings in your life. Count them one by one. Never give up thanking Him for the blessings He gives you. God understands your heart and He will comfort you and minister to you and show you His will for your life.

He blesses you with His divine Presence. He blesses you with His sustaining, life-giving Word. He blesses you with your husband and a home to live in. He blesses you with family and friends. He blesses you with the gift of a new day to live for Him and glorify Him, for isn't this our ultimate goal? The shorter catechism says: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."

And above all, He blesses you with the gift of salvation. To have the blessing of forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life is beyond anything we ever deserve. Every other blessing is only icing on the cake.

Although to conceive a baby is the longing of every woman, our ultimate joy is found only in God. Press into Him, dear sweet mother. Draw close to Him. He is your Sufficiency. He is your Source. He is your Refuge. He is your Joy. He is your Savior. He is your Comforter. He is El Shaddai, the God who is Enough, the only One who is able to satisfy the longing of your heart. Nothing can take His place.

And never give up hope. I know mothers who have conceived after waiting ten and even more years. God has His perfect timing. Keep trusting Him and as you wait for His blessing of a baby. I just heard this morning of another couple who have suffered the pain of infertility, but now, after ten years of waiting they are having a baby! Praise God. Do you remember that Rebecca, Isaac's wife was infertile for twenty years before she conceived?

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,
Trust Him when thy strength is small,
Trust Him when to simply trust Him
Is the hardest thing of all.

I loved reading Rachael Stokes' comment to yesterday's post. Rachael is the grandmother of the beautiful new baby Jackson pictured in the post. She says: "I suffered and struggled with infertility for quite a number of years and it was indeed very painful. I waited nine years for Seth and then another eight years for your youngest, Ruby. I came to the point where if someone made a pregnancy announcement in church I would fall apart. I could not attend baby showers --they were too painful.

Finally, God convicted me that I was bitter. If I couldn't feel joy for someone else, I was selfish. With God's divine help I surrendered to Him and found joy whether or not I had a baby. My joy and peace comes from the Lord. Then God did bless us with a baby. He doesn't always do this, but it was our testimony and I have also heard it many times from others. God is good, whether or not he gives us exactly what we believe we want and need. Surrendering our fertility is just that--surrendering to His sovereign will, whatever the results."

Others commented how they have adopted and how God has blessed them through receiving children this way. One mother shared: "Just because you did not birth your child does not mean God does not love you. He loves you enough to know that you can take a child born to someone else and raise that child as your own. God blessed us with our daughter whom we adopted and we wouldn't have it any other way. She truly was meant to be our daughter and we feel so blessed each and every day."

May you nestle in God's comfort and love and His divine plan for you.

~ Nancy Campbell