Kelly Crawford

Birth Control….doesn’t the very term indicate man’s undermining of God’s sovereignty? What if it were called “Life Control”. We wouldn’t be OK with that…I hope. Because that creeps to the brink of euthanasia, assisted suicide, genocide and other unthinkable atrocities. Hitler even comes to mind. Compare the two phrases…birth control/life control. Yikes…they are not really that far apart, are they?

OK, you say “there’s a difference in taking a life and preventing one”. Is there? Is it really OK with God for us to be “in control of birth”? Well, to answer that question, we must establish the cause of “birth”, or life, if you will. Do we cause it? If so, then I guess it’s OK to control it. Problem: we do NOT cause it. We CANNOT cause it.

Today I felt the need to just encourage all the mommies out there, who are devoting their lives to God’s highest calling for women. With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, I would love to see Motherhood being exalted everywhere, and mothers being encouraged and supported. I urge you to do your own encouraging...you never know how a short note to a frazzled mom can re-fuel her. Or I know I’ve had a stranger in public who simply smiled and commented that we had a lovely family, and it really combated the negative comments we are prone to receive. I’m trying to get my nerve up to be able to say to any pregnant woman I see in public, “you are blessed among women”. Or, get really bold, and submit a Mother’s Day editorial to your local newspaper.

We all, banded together, can fight the opposition of our culture to Motherhood. We must be more verbal, more enthusiastic about our God-given role. Young mothers especially, need to hear our words of support. They are not getting very much, even from their local churches. We can’t complain about our society’s negative propaganda toward children if we are not willing to do something about it! So, let’s do! Feel free to begin by e-mailing this post to a mother you know! And, here’s a poem for you!

Devotions, Advice & Renewal for When Motherhood Feels Too Hard

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“The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”…that famous quote (was is Winston Churchill?) holds a profound truth. At the time, of course, that “hand” was referring to the mother. It made perfect sense that when a mother, from the birth of her infant, poured her life into the teaching, training and instruction of character of her children, those children would grow up strong and highly influential in their world. It was this vision that lent such value upon a child…knowing that a child was a new generation in the making.

The fact is still true, but we have handed over that tremendous influence and power to others…to “the system”. The National Education Association is pushing for “academic programs from birth to graduation”. If that doesn’t scare you, you are being deceived. Why do you think they want our children “from birth”? Because the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. We are headed quickly toward a socialistic, government-controlled society. If you don’t believe me, do some research. The Marxist movement is still alive and well, cleverly-disguised as “no child left behind”. And we all clap and cheer for the great job our government is doing of taking care of our children. Baloney.

Mothers and Fathers…that’s the hope of a future generation. If we want to remain a free, prosperous nation, we will snap out of our apathetic stupor and regain control of our children. We will lay aside our selfish pursuits and embrace the brief opportunity that is given us with our children. We will pour our lives into them, passing on valor, honor, responsibility, and the love of Christ to them.

We have but a small window of opportunity to impact this world. When our lives are over, only that which we have done for the Kingdom of God will last. Only that which we have imparted to our children will last. Only the part of us that we have transferred to them will continue to live and be passed on to another generation.

One of my readers posted a comment about the tragedy of the church’s opposition to families who are receiving their children. She mentioned that their ministry had actually lost supporters because they “had too many children”. Her comment fertilized a seed that had already been growing as an idea for this blog. Apparently, many churches feel that a couple can be more effective in evangelizing sinners if they are not “hindered” by children. I’m not going to even beat around the bush here…that is LUDICROUS! It is an absolute mockery of God to refuse His heritage in the name of “His work”. And not only a mockery, but it doesn’t make good sense. The children God so wants to give us are our “arrows” in this battle of winning the lost…they are a powerful tool in reaching out to a lost world… a vital part of God’s evangelism plan!

It’s a two-fold plan: First, I embrace the call of God to bringing up a godly family, where my very family becomes my ministry and my children grow up witnessing the heart of real evangelism. Then, as I accept God’s gift of children, I exponentially increase the fold, thus multiplying the power of evangelism through the sheer numbers of my children! If we could seek after the heart of God, in everything (including our children), we would see an advancement of His Kingdom that would tremble the very heart of Satan.

Now am I suggesting that winning the lost and evangelizing the world is not the mission of the Christian? Absolutely not! But we are trying to use our own strategies while forsaking those of God, and the evidence is showing our failure. Despite the enormous outreach efforts of most churches, less people now proclaim the name of Christ than ever before in the history of our nation. Statistics are alarming. There are more divorces than ever, more teen-pregnancies than ever, more apostasy, more evil. This may hurt feelings, but we’re not doing a very good job.

Imagine a nation where the people of God live like the people of God. They seek first His Kingdom, they commit to loving the Lord with all their hearts and their neighbors as themselves. Then imagine those people receiving the children God wants to give them. And they bring those children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And those families, TOGETHER, begin to evangelize; inviting people into their homes where the sincere love of Christ is evident in every member. Where husband and wife are loving, where children are honoring, and others are loved. Reaching out in love through simple hospitality and compassion to those around them. Then the world looks on and says, “Now there is something I don’t have. They have a genuine faith and I want it.”

And THEN, that house full of children who have spent their whole lives learning to truly evangelize others, go out, and establish their homes, and receive all their children, and repeat the above scenario. WOW! Imagine what this nation would look like in a few generations? (It gets really exciting if you do the math!) We didn’t have to establish a new youth group or limit our family size so it wouldn’t hinder our ministries. We would have done it God’s way…in God’s time….now that’s evangelism.

In trying to understand our culture’s current attitude toward children and the common practice of birth control, one has to dig, if you will, or peel back many different layers of thinking.

In speaking about a friend of mine who has seven children, another friend (strong believer) commented, “I just don’t think they know what they’re getting themselves into”. The comment has played over in my mind all day, because it reveals a strong delusion that even Christians have suffered. The delusion is that we cause children to be born. And if you believe that humanistic idea, then it completely changes your perspective on children. If WE cause children, then we obviously have the right to prevent them. And her statement insinuates that “they” have made some kind of mistake by having all these children, and “they” are going to pay for it.

Biblically speaking, WE do not create children. To think so is arrogant and grossly pompous. We can only prevent them, nothing more. And if God indeed is the One who creates our children, and gives us our children, and calls them gifts from Himself, then only those who prevent them should have to give an explanation. Don’t ask me to explain why my body is doing exactly what God created it to do! You explain to me why you are refusing to let yours! How it must grieve the heart of God to hear a child of His talk about His gifts as some kind of mistake (“they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into”)! THEY have nothing to do with it!

We have to regroup our thinking, push away the culture’s brainwashing, and get back to the basics: God created male and female. He said it is good for them to marry, share an intimate relationship, and reap the natural results of that relationship. In case we have forgotten, he did not give us a “what if” option of turning off our ability to bear children if the circumstances are not just right, or if we just don’t want the responsibility of raising children. It was man’s idea to prevent the birth of children; those who haven’t chosen to work against their body’s natural design should certainly not have to give an answer…no more than I should have to give an answer for why I breathe.

And let me clarify: in case you think I feel hostile toward those who practice birth control, I do not. Rather, I am angered at the lie that Christians have bought into and inevitably use against those who do not practice bc. It is interesting to note, most people who believe that it is OK to practice birth control have at least some problem with allowing God to be sovereign over your family size. Why is that? Feel free to enlighten me.

I type this with love in my heart and a smile on my face :-)…Practice birth control if you wish; but understand that it is not God’s natural design, and stop treating it like it is. I love my fellow BC users, but I would like to experience the joy of having a full quiver without all the disdain. Spread the word!

I spend a lot of time puzzling over why children have become so devalued in our culture. Why is it so easy for mothers to drop off their infants with a stranger to raise for the better part of the day? What is the enormous pull of career over raising children? Why are mothers so exasperated with one or two children?

Of course lots of reasons come in to play, but I think the greatest reason is lack of vision. “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. And “the people”, I’m afraid, begins with our children, and then trickles down to the perishing of the whole nation. What vision do we lack? The long-term vision of the importance of raising up children into God-fearing, serving adults.

Raising children is a slow, patient process, where immediate rewards and gratification is not often the results. It’s easier to go to the office each day, and receive my pats on the back for a job well done. When I taught school, I was constantly being rewarded for “making a difference in the lives of the children”. Thank you notes, brief conversations with grateful parents, a pat on the back from my employer–it fed the human desire to be good at something.

The daily raising of children is a much different kind of work, where Mom must be content to wait for much of the fruition of her labor. And yet, if she embraces the vision that these little ones are grown ups waiting to happen, that every word and every minute she spends pouring into their lives will have life-changing effects, her job begins to be full of joy. I think most mothers believe that being a good mother means seeing to it that their children are physically taken care of–it doesn’t really matter who does it. If they can find a responsible, caring day care worker, or relative, who takes care of the child’s physical needs, they feel good about leaving them behind. And if the care-taker teaches them to count while she’s at it, well, Mom has really done her homework and, perhaps, is even a step ahead.

Raising “healthy” children is mainly about building strong relationships between parent and child–a condition that is virtually absent in most American homes. Because building strong relationships doesn’t just happen because you live in the same house. It happens because from the time he is an infant, Mother is smiling at him, Mother is listening and talking to him, and Mother is saying with her every action that he is important.

It is by watching Mother’s responses that he learns so much about relating to people and circumstances; it is primarily her devotion to him that allows him to grow up feeling secure and loved. It is the constant, dailyness of routine that gives him comfort, and allows hime to flourish as an individual. Mother’s work is the hardest of all…but, I believe, it is the most influential work any human has ever done.

What do we expect when we look around and see the devastation that is our American youth? You can’t throw an acorn on the ground and expect it to instantly sprout into a strong oak tree. That acorn has got to be nourished and fed underground for a long time before it can flourish for others to see. No one sees all the important first beginnings of that acorn…but it is crucial for a healthy tree.

Oh, what will it take to turn the tide again and see value placed upon the people of the next generation? When will we be willing to sacrifice instant gratification for the long-term, much deeper reward of raising up a secure, responsible, serving army of adults? We will only receive what we have given. “Suffer not the little children to come unto me…for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

(A note regarding the last blog: Just to clear things up, my last post was fuzzy about Sanger being the “inventor” of birth control, which she is not. Sanger was merely the mother of the movement…the one who campaigned to make the use of birth control a common, accepted practice.)

For those who didn’t know…

• Most methods of birth control are damaging, in some way, to a woman’s health. The Pill, specifically, carries a host of dangers with it, and increases a woman’s chance of getting cancer.
• Pregnancy hormones are believed to combat illness such as cancer, in women.
• Breast-feeding has been found to decrease a woman’s chance of getting breast cancer. The more she breast-feeds, the less her risk.

Contrary to the language many doctors use regarding pregnancy (“at your age”…), pregnancy is a state of HEALTH. I praise God for His perfect provision regarding our health. His ways our true and right!