A long-time Above Rubies reader writes her thoughts regarding the BABY BUST.
The article “Baby Bust” struck a chord with me for many reasons. As someone who grew up in and out of the church, I never heard that God had anything to say about children or family size. I was married young, had the average two children and said, like the culture, I'm done!
The only large family I knew in church had five children and they definitely stood out. As a teen I heard the “baby machine” jokes about the mother and saw the eye rolls of church people on hearing that she was “expecting again.” (Like, doesn't she know what causes that?)
I was in my mid-twenties when I started asking some questions about having children? My husband and I came up with a list of reasons for not having any more, but I wasn't convinced that these reasons were biblical. They all seemed to be selfish or fearfully motivated.
I prayed for months that God would show us what to do. After seeing all over the Bible that children were a gift, blessing, and inheritance, we stepped out in faith and asked God to give us the faith and provision we needed to have as many as He would provide.
It seemed fruitfulness was everywhere in creation, but we had fallen prey to the ideals of the sexual revolution, sex without fruitfulness or responsibility, i.e. the pill. Feminism taught me, even in church, that as a woman you should find your worth through education, sexual attractiveness, economic contribution, and living the feminist’s utopia.
After surrendering the hardest part of my life to God—at that time, my life and my womb, I saw with each baby how the church viewed fruitfulness. I wish I could say it was pretty. I cannot tell you how many times I was scolded, derided, and even mocked for being pregnant again. Many in the body of Christ are anti-abortion but not pro-life.
I learned that Margaret Sanger and the radical sixties feminists had convinced the church that homemaking and women who have many children should be pitied, deemed backwards, and seen as repressed. I wish I could say that through the joy, pain, and sacrifices of bearing nine children, which I've laid down my life to disciple, the church has supported me, but I can't.
I think in so many ways the church has followed the culture instead of leading it, particularly regarding family, roles, children, etc. This I suspect has less to do with a biblical inerrancy/infallibility issue but rather an authoritative one. This goes back all the way to the beginning in the garden, with the serpent’s seductive voice: “Hath God said?'
A great study on how the church shifted ,after hundreds of years on this issue,, and why is the documentary called “The Birth Control Movie.”
MOTHER HUBBARD
Valerie Hubbard *This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
P.S. The Birth Control Movies, No. 1 and No. 2 are available at the Above Rubies online bookstore.
There was a time in our history when we had a Baby Boom. The years from 1946 – 1964 were baby boom years which caused rises in the demand for homes, automobiles, roads, and services. The more births the more the country expands financially.
Where is your mind today? Dwelling in the past? Or even in the present as you mull over the difficulties you face? To dwell in the past or the present can be depressing unless you are doing it with joy and thankfulness.
Amen. 
Oh how blessed we are to serve a God who cannot lie. It is impossible for God to lie. He is the changeless One. His promises are immutable. We can trust them with our lives.
What is the thing you dislike doing most in your home? What is the "very little"? Jesus says that when you are faithful to do the VERY LITTLE you will be faithful in much.
Serene and Sam have four big window seats in their lounge and the children love them for reading nooks. Last night when we arrived for the weekly prayer meeting at their home Breeze was reading in one seat and four little ones were cozied up together in another one. The walls of their home are about two feet thick so they can have these gorgeous window seats. 
Do things seem all on top of you? You wonder how you can keep going? Can I encourage you dear, Mother, to keep plodding on? Take one step at a time. You can’t solve your problems in one moment. Your challenges won’t go away with one magic flick of your finger. Everything takes time. Instead, you keep plodding on.
No career woman would think of going to her job in her pajamas. Why then do mothers and homemakers who have the most powerful career in the nation hang around in their pajamas? It’s important to dress for your job. When you dress appropriately, your brain acts accordingly.
Do you sometimes feel like a servant in your home? You are at everyone’s beck and call. You have no time for yourself! You’d love to be out doing something really great. Instead you are stuck in your house serving everyone else. Well, praise the Lord! You are on your way to greatness. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 20 26, 27: “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, And whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.” You are in the very right place for greatness! 
Yes, life is precious! Yesterday my lovely granddaughter-in-law gave birth to a stillborn baby at 28 weeks. The loss of a baby is unbearable. It’s soul shattering. And yet many discard life as though it was nothing. May the preciousness of life come back to our nation. 
Today we talk about the last point in the Scriptures that speak to us about our duties and obligations.
10. WE SHOULD BE TEACHERS
Our finite minds cannot fathom the heights and depths and breadth of our glorious redemption. I can never fail to thank God for His great salvation each morning as we pray together as a family. We can never thank Him enough, can we? And even eternity will not be enough to show our gratitude.
We are currently looking at the Scriptures in the Bible which specifically mention a duty. Do you remember that the word for duty is “opheilo” and means “to owe, to be morally obligated, pay the debt, express human and ethical responsibility, to fall in duty, it’s a must”?
Today we continue to check out more Scriptures where duty is mentioned:
Here are some more biblical “duties” for you today:
In reply to my podcast about TABLE TIPS Virginia Caron wrote:
Isn’t this so true? A big part of parenting is building character into our children but we certainly get shaped along the way too. 
God’s Word is never out-of-date. His Word is true from the beginning; and from the beginning His Word is true! It’s as up-to-date as tomorrow’s newspaper. God revealed His plan for the way He wanted us to live in the beginning of His Word and it’s the same for 2020! Family—a husband and wife raising their children together. No change. Strengthen your marriage and family today. That’s God’s will for you.