Heart of Wisdom Academy

"How is it possible that a mother can despise her own child? Despise means to undervalue. As much as adults may delight in children, we do tend to have a low opinion of them. How else is it possible for a mother to leave her precious children in the care of unconscientious care-givers during their most crucial years? Every act a child sees, or word he hears, leaves an impression in his mind in the same way that light leaves a permanent image on a roll of film. It isn't that a nurse [or daycare or babysitter?] is totally bad for a child; it is not always good for educated people to have their children around constantly. That might be too stimulating for the child, and the mother is more refreshed if she can enjoy time with other people, discussing things unrelated to children from time to time. But children should have their mother's best; her freshest, most alert time of day. The mother should also choose care-givers carefully, train them herself, and be vigilant about knowing what goes on while her children are in the care of someone else."
Charlotte Mason Volume I in Modern English

Reminds me of a quote I heard; "God bless the children, but keep them far from us!"

I'm not condemning working mothers or women who have chosen barrenness; I'm condemning our cultural attitude about children. I'm condemning a culture that thrives on devaluing what God values, and valuing what He abhors.

Isaiah 5:20-Woe to those who call evil good and good evil....

If our value system were Godly, we would value what the Lord values. Just one of the things that God values are children. He called them a blessing. Do you tell your children they are blessings from God?

Valuing our children affects how we interact with them. Most of us value our credit or debit card. It is valuable to us so we keep it in a safe place, we don't lend it out to strangers for hours at a time, or let friends and family take turns keeping it for a while. Our car is valuable. We keep in a garage to protect it from the elements, we don't let strangers test drive it, we don't rotate it amongst our friends and family.

Our culture has defined what is valuable.Things are valuable, people are not, and children are completely worthless. In the modern mind, children have absolutely no worth. Anyone will tell you that the only reason people had an average of 6-10 children a hundred years ago is because children were free labor. Children 100 years ago had a worth. But today, children have no worth. We don't "need" them. Abortion is rampant, legal, and communicates to our culture where children fit in the world. Children are optional, invaluable, and disposable.

We don't think it worthwhile to even raise them. We think that strangers (professionals) could do as good a job if not better, and we commit tiny children into the care of perfect strangers out of our eyesight for 8 and 10 hours a day. And we value children? We don't even do that to our car, let a lone our debit card! But we do it to our children.

Every conscientious mother can think of a thousand ways to provide these kinds of opportunities naturally as she goes about her daily routines.-Charlotte Mason Volume 1

This quote has been swirling round and round in my head the last few weeks. What role should textbooks really play in education? No one can argue that textbooks are the absolute most uninspiring, lifeless, tiresome, string of continuous letters ever to bore humankind. Yet, this is the preferred method of educating lively, rambunctious children. I must agree with Charlotte Mason when she said that:

Too often, school texts are written in a style of insufferable twaddle. That's because the people who wrote them probably never met a real child. -Charlotte Mason

But how else will children learn if they don't read it in a textbook, fill-in-a-blank, or take a multiple choice test?

The answer is by putting our children in contact with living books. I am starting to come out of the fog. Although I've never been a heavy user of textbooks, it has been the only method of "education" I've ever known. Therefore by default I would lean on the grammar textbook or assign some pages in a history or science book so that I could feel like we "did science" or "did history".

My thinking has shifted. Instead of picking up a Biology book and reading chapter after chapter about every plant and animal known to man; I can pick up 1 good, interesting, book. My kids don't need to know every insect in the animal kingdom. They need to know the ones in their backyard. After they have come in contact with real bugs in their own backyard, I can start to explain to them about various bugs all over the world. What could does it do them to name every animal in the Amazon, when they can't name bug that just bit them? Do you know how many "science" lessons I've created by looking around my house and backyard:
Do you know how a door knob works?
What makes a door bell ring?
Why do door keys have bumps?
How does water get into the faucet?
What happens when you flush the toilet?
What makes a clock keep the right time?
What makes a light bulb light up?
How does a toaster work?
How does the fridge work?
How does the microwave heat?
Where does the sun go at night?
What kind of weeds grow in our yard?
What kind of snake is that?
What kind of rock is this?
How do you find north?
How was this bridge built?
How was this tunnel built?
What is your scapula and how did daddy break his?
How does a telephone work?
How does a television work?
How do video games work/computers work?
How does the Internet work?
etc. etc. etc.

Is this not physics, biology, chemistry, geology, geography, engineering,anatomy, etc.

Do you know much fun we've had finding out the answers to some of these questions. They could easily read any 1 textbook that will give them all the answers, but they'd never remember it. Active learning is true learning especially for younger children.

"Education is the science of relations"

"Imagine how the alert, curious mind of the child must be stifled without real things from nature to handle. Children can't fully grasp the words-mere symbols of things-until they have something real in their mind to relate it to; therefore, mere lessons without the expereince of being out in the real word with real things will be largely wasted"

Yes, people think I'm odd because I haven't chosen barrenness for myself. One day a barren womb will come to me through disease, accident, or old age; I'll deal with it as it comes. But as I enter my 30th year, I have no desire to get "fixed". I'm not a dog-I'm a person, made in the image of God; who has the ability to bear children because that is how my Creator designed me. I fix what is broken. My tooth breaks, I fix it. My leg breaks, I fix it. If I get an infection, I fix it. If my womb breaks I'll fix it too. But my womb isn't broken. In fact I am blessed that my womb works exactly how my Father designed it to work. (no, I'm not pregnant) But it's sad that as a young wife and mother I'm an anolomy because I have 5 children and a working womb.

"Women whose bodies are doing what they were created to do have to explain why they aren't taking a synthetic drug[or getting a surgical procedure]that alters its normal function? Does this not seem odd?"-generationcedar.blogspot.com

The barren womb is constantly glorified and pursued; the fertile womb scorned and rejected.It reminds me of "How Birth Control and Catheters are Related".

"...our thinking has been so deeply affected that we don’t even realize that it is virtually insane that women even need encouragement regarding child-bearing. That’s not an insult to the mother…that’s an insult to our intelligence, having allowed a system to turn nature upside down in our minds.

What I mean is, the reproduction process works (usually) just like any other bodily function. It’s natural, it’s normal, it’s built-in. Our ability to tamper with it shouldn’t change that.



PROTECT YOUR WOMB!

Let’s see what God says about our womb in His wonderful Word which is called the "wisdom of God" (Luke 11:49). I like that name, don’t you? We can find God’s wisdom relating to every matter in His Word, even in such feminine matters as the womb and breasts.

1. IT IS OUR DISTINGUISHING IDENTITY

Genesis 2:21-24 says, "The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man."

The Hebrew word for man is ish
The Hebrew word for woman is ish shah

Webster’s 1928 dictionary explains that the word “woman” is a combination of the words, “womb” and “man.” Woman therefore means “womb man” or “man with a womb.”When God created woman, he put within her a womb. The womb is God’s beautiful gift to women. In fact, our whole reproductive cycle is designed especially for us by God. Because it is His design and purpose for us, we should embrace it with all our hearts. We should not resist it. We should embrace every part of our reproductive system--menstruation, ovulation, conception, gestation, parturition and lactation. God was preparing you for motherhood even in your mother’s womb. By the time you were born you had over a million eggs, prepared and waiting for your destiny of motherhood.

We should not reject the way God created us. Romans 9:19-20 says, "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"

We must positively seek to protect our womb. There is an unprecedented attack against the wombs of women today which is inspired by the enemy. We must be aware of his tactics. In fact, this war began at the very beginning of time when God said there would be hostility and enmity between Satan and the woman.

Genesis 3:15 says, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

The word, “enmity” is eyvah in the Hebrew.
It is a very strong word meaning, “hostility, hate, friction, animosity.”
One translation says, "There will be war!"

Satan hates the womb. He knew that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come through the womb of a woman, the one who would destroy his head. He knows it is through the womb of the woman that the “godly seed” still comes to destroy his works. Satan comes to "steal, kill and destroy." His attack is upon the womb through a number of areas:

1. Abortion where human beings, created in the image of God in the secret place of the womb, are cruelly torn apart limb by limb or slowly burned alive.

2. The Pill and IUD. Did you know that both the Pill and the IUD are abortifacients? Did you know that more babies are killed in the womb through the IUD and the Pill than the holocaust of abortion? Your doctor doesn’t tell you this. Your pastor or minister doesn’t tell you this. Thus, many God-fearing people are ignorantly aborting their own babies. The womb, which is a sanctuary to nurture and protect life has become an extermination camp. Satan is having a heyday! For more detailed information on this matter, read Be Fruitful and Multiply which you can order through www.aboverubies.org

3. Permanent contraception such as Tubal ligations where the barren womb is denied the life it was created to nurture. When we decide on permanent contraception such as tubal ligation we are actually saying, "God, I don’t appreciate the way you made me. You did the wrong thing when you gave me a womb. It doesn’t suit my present lifestyle so I will make sure it can’t be used." Now, I know that most women don’t say those words as they go for a tubal ligation. Most women do it in ignorance. They have been advised (often by pastors) that this is the most convenient way to go. But if we take time to think about it and are really honest, this is the bottom line of what we are doing. The womb never says, "It is enough" Proverbs 30:15-16. God has created the womb to yearn for life. Mothers who are unable to conceive experience the heartache of the truth of this scripture. I am constantly receiving letters from women who have had a tubal ligation, but now a few years later, their wombs are crying out again, and they long for another child. The truth of God’s Word is eternal and true. When we go against it, we do so to our own hurt.

4. Drugs and the curse of sicknesses upon our reproductive organs.

5. Unnecessary hysterectomies. Nearly one million hysterectomies are performed every year in the USA, one every 30 seconds. Only 4.7 per cent of these are necessary surgeries! All others could have been prevented by alternative surgery. Sixty per cent of these operations are performed on women under 44 years, women of child-bearing age. Most disorders of the womb can be repaired without a full hysterectomy. Only cancer or emergencies should necessitate such radical surgery. If you are recommended a hysterectomy, please seek a number of other opinions before making your decision. Protect your womb.

6. Curses. The sins of the parents from past generations can bring a curse upon the womb. It can also come upon us through our own sin or negative confession. We should be careful not to speak negatively about any of our reproductive organs. Guard how you speak about menstruation. When you call it “the curse” or other negative names, you give an opportunity for the curse of barrenness or other disorders to come to your womb. A curse on the womb can be a failure to menstruate, painful or irregular menstruation, cramps, cysts, tumors, continual miscarriage and inability to conceive--in fact, anything that affects your reproductive organs. Now please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying, that if you have one of these disorders that it is because of a curse. There are often other factors involved. But it could be a possibility. If you feel this is the case, you may like to pray this prayer:

"Dear Father, I come to you in Jesus” name. I confess I have not received my womb as a gift from You. I have ignored the power of my womb and my womanly functions. I repent. Please forgive me and cleanse me in Jesus” name.

Lord, I accept my womb as a gift from You. I accept the way You created me. I embrace it. I want to fulfill Your purposes for me as a woman.

In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, I renounce all negative words, even jokingly, that I have spoken about my womb, about menstruation, about pregnancy and about my womanly functions. I renounce any curse that has been placed upon my womb or reproductive organs from my parents, grandparents or great grandparents on both sides of my family.

I ask that You will now cleanse my womb and cover it with your blessing.

I receive your blessing in the name of Jesus. Amen."

7. Ignorance. Interestingly, as I have talked with mothers about this subject, many of them have shared with me that “ignorance” has been their biggest problem. “No one has ever informed me!” is their constant cry. The deceiver of our souls has effectively kept us ignorant about the power of our womb.

2. IT IS LIFE GIVING

Genesis 3:20 TLB says, "The man named his wife Eve meaning, The Life Giving One!"

Eve in Hebrew is Chavvah meaning, “Life Giver!" Eve was the prototype of all women - the first of her kind. She was a life giver. We also are life givers! We have the privilege of conceiving, nurturing and bringing forth a miracle of life from within our womb. Eve certainly obeyed God’s command to "be fruitful and multiply." Hebrew tradition says that Eve gave birth to hundreds of children! Wow, that’s hard to believe isn’t it, but remember, she did live for hundreds of years. The Bible only mentions the names of Cain, Abel and Seth but she gave birth to many sons and daughters and began the population of the earth. Genesis 5:4. No wonder she was called the "Mother of all living."

Isn’t it sad that when we are meant to be “life-givers” that many would rather be “life-stoppers”?

3. IT IS OUR BLESSING

Genesis 49:25 speaks of "The Almighty who shall bless thee with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb."

Do you believe the Scriptures? Do you receive your womb as a BLESSING from God? Before God gave conception and fruitfulness, He always BLESSED first. We need to affirm God’ s truth and confess that our womb is a blessing. We cannot receive conception without His blessing. Before God spoke the words to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth" He first BLESSED them. We see God doing this over and over again as we read the Scriptures. God wants to bless our womb. Pray for the health of your womb. A beautiful ministry that a husband can do is to regularly pray over and bless the womb of his wife.

Refer to the manual, Be Fruitful and Multiply, Chapter 3 for a list of 22 Scriptures which reveal that we receive conception through the blessing of God. You can order from www.aboverubies.org

4. IT IS OUR GLORY

Hosea 9:11 says, "As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception."

When Ephraim turned away from the Lord, God pronounced judgment upon them. His judgment was to take away their “glory.” What was their glory? It was the conception of the womb. Conception, pregnancy and motherhood are the glory of a nation and it comes through the wombs of women.

5. IT IS THE SEAT OF COMPASSION

Not only is the womb a place where life is conceived and nurtured, but the Bible also speaks of it as the controlling center of our emotions and the source of compassion. There are four different Hebrew words for the word “womb.” Each of these words is used to not only describe the womb, but also the emotions.

(a) BETEN – “the womb, the inmost part, the bottom of the heart, deepest

recesses of an individual.” Read Genesis 25:24; 30:2; Job 1:21 and Psalm 22:9.
•Job 20:19-20, “Because he hath oppressed the poor…surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly (beten).” When we feel guilt, we feel disturbed right in the very womb.
•Proverbs 18:8, “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, they go down into the innermost parts of the belly (beten).” When gossip or slander wounds us, we feel it in the depths of our womb.

(b) RACHAM - from the root word “to fondle.” It speaks of “cherishing the babe in the womb”. It also means “the bowels, to cherish, to love deeply, to be compassionate, to have compassion as God does towards men, to show great tender mercy and pity.” We understand this in the following Scriptures:
•Genesis 43:30, "Joseph...his bowels (racham) did yearn upon his brother.”
•Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion (racham) on the son of her womb?"

This word racham is used interchangeably for a woman’s womb and for God’s compassion. Here are further Scriptures where racham is used in relation to the womb or showing compassion to one another: Genesis 49.25, 1 Kings 8:50; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Proverbs 30.16; Isaiah 46.3; 49:15; Ezekiel 20.26 and Zechariah 7:9.

This word is frequently used to describe God’s mercies. Isn’t it absolutely amazing to realize that God uses the same word racham to describe His great mercy and tender compassions as He does for the womb?


• Psalm 25:6, "Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies (racham) and thy lovingkindnesses."
•Isaiah 54:7, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies (racham) will I gather thee."
•Isaiah 63:7, "I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us...according to his mercies (racham), and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses."
•Daniel 9:9, "To the Lord our God belong mercies (racham) and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him."

Here are further Scriptures where racham is used: Genesis 43:14; Deuteronomy 13:17 30;3; 2 Samuel 24:14; 2 Kings 13:23; 1 Chronicles 21.13; Nehemiah 9:19.27,28,31; Psalm 40.11; 51.1; 69.16; 77.9; 79.8; 103.4; 106:46; 119.77; 119.156; 145.9; Isaiah 47.6; 63.15; Jeremiah 12:15; 16.5; 42.12; Lamentations 3:22; Daniel 9:18; Hosea 2.19 and Zechariah 1.16.

We see from this how the womb is more than physical. It is the control center of our emotions. It is from our womb that compassion and pity emanates. This is why it is important to protect our womb. It is not just an organ, but the seat of compassion.

(c) RECHEM. It means “matrix.” This is the masculine equivalent of racham and includes the same attributes of tender compassion and pity.
1 Kings 3:26 says, “Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels (rachem) yearned upon her son…”

Look up these Scriptures: Genesis 29.31; 30.22; 43.30; Exodus 13.2; Numbers 8.16; 12.12; 1 Samuel 1:5,6; 1 Kings 3.26; Job 3.11; 10.18; 24.20; 31.15; 38.8; Psalm 22.10; 58.3; 110.3; Jeremiah 1.5; 20:17,18 and Hosea 9.14.

(d) MEAH. It means “the heart, uterus, also to be soft and have sympathy."
• Song of Solomon 5.4, "My beloved put his hand in the hole of the door and my bowels (meah) were moved for him."
•Jeremiah 4.19 and 31.20, "Ephraim...my bowels (meah) are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord."
•Lamentations 1.20 and 2.11, "My bowels (meah) are troubled."

It is also used in Genesis 15.4; 25.23; Numbers 5.22; Ruth 1.11; 2 Samuel 7.12; 16.11; Psalm 71.6; Isaiah 16.11; 48:18,19; 49.1; 63.15 and Ezekiel 3.3; 7.19.

Notice the portrayal of deep emotions in the following Scriptures where the word meah is used:
•Job 30:27, ”My bowels boiled, and rested not.” Here it describes anger.
•Psalm 22:14, “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” This Scripture is a picture of discouragement.

Here’s how some women felt after their womb was removed... "It was like a curtain going down over my feelings. The highs and lows of my emotions simply flattened out." Another says, "The most I felt was a certain emptiness in the abdominal area, not like a great empty space, but a space empty of feeling."

It is especially important to protect your ovaries. Not only do they release the egg each month, but they release estrogen which has a big bearing on your emotions. Don’t allow a doctor to take out your ovaries just because they “might” become cancerous. Protect them at all costs. It is interesting to note that depression is two to three times more prevalent after a hysterectomy operation than any other surgery. I know a mother of a large family who was a wonderful mother. Later in life she had a hysterectomy and an oophorectomy. It was astounding to notice that after this operation she no longer had the warmth and feeling that she once showed to children.

6. IT IS A SEXUAL ORGAN

Love, yearning and sexual desire can be felt from the womb. The Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 5:4 said, "My beloved put his hand in the hole of the door and my bowels (meah) were moved for him."

A line from an ancient sacred-wedding poem says, "He is the one my womb loves best."

Many women confess to loss of sexual satisfaction after their womb has been removed. Here are some quotes from various studies.
•In a study of 171 women who had undergone hysterectomies, 69.2 per cent complained of a decrease in the ability to reach orgasm.
•A marriage counselor revealed that 98 per cent of her patients were women with extreme sexual difficulties following hysterectomy.
•A study by Dr. Niles Newton discovered reduced sexual drive in 60% of women who had hysterectomy and oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) 40% never resumed marital relations.
•A study in the United Kingdom reports 33 - 46% have decreased libido after hysterectomy and oophorectomy.
•A Japanese study states that 59.2% complained of decrease in ability to reach orgasm after hysterectomy.
•Another research found 20 - 42% of women abstained from sexual intercourse following hysterectomy.

A woman that experiences uterine orgasm rather than clitoral will be more severely affected by a hysterectomy. Sadly, one in five hysterectomies is for sterilization, without any medical reason. Some women think it will be advantageous to them to have no more periods or worries about contraception, but are ignorant of the serious repercussions. A woman in New Zealand shared with me that after her womb and ovaries were taken, she no longer had any sexual desire for her husband. She now realizes that the operation was unnecessary and wishes that she had got further opinions before immediately obeying her doctor.

7. IT IS A SUPPORT STRUCTURE

The womb supports other ligaments and organs in the pelvic area. When the uterus is removed, surrounding organs may cave inward or collapse causing pelvic pain, sexual difficulties and pressure on the bowels and bladder.

8. IT IS A HAVEN FOR MIRACLES

The greatest miracle in history took place in a womb! It was here that God became man! Jesus Himself was conceived in a womb! He identified with the womb of a woman. Read Luke 1:35; 2:21.) It is in the womb that miracles continue to take place. Every child that is conceived in the womb is a miracle of God’s creation. How blessed we are as women to have miracles take place in our body.

9. IT IS A WORKSHOP OF GOD”S CREATION

Isaiah 44:2, 24 and 49:5 "The Lord that made thee, that formed thee from the womb."

The word formed means to be “molded into a form as a potter does.” God molds each individual child in the womb.

Psalm 139:13-17 TLB says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complete! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous."

10. IT IS A WEAPON AGAINST SATAN

It is the womb that conceives and nourishes the “godly seed” who will come forth to be the light in the darkness and who will destroy the works of Satan in this world. God is looking for an army. The greatest threat to Satan in this world is godly parents who understand God’s intentions and who will bring forth and train a godly seed to fulfil His eternal plans. God’s people have unwittingly decreased God’s army in this hour. The womb is a powerful weapon against Satan. Some women fear to bring babies into this evil world, but this is one of the greatest reasons for having children--to be the light in this dark world!

11. IT BRINGS FORTH GOD’S REWARD

Psalm 127:3 says, "Children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward."

God chooses the womb to reward His people. In Hosea 9:16, God calls children the "dearly beloved fruit of the womb." The context of this passage is that God was going to destroy the “rewards” that He had given them because of their continual disobedience, but it shows how God views children and also how the early Hebrews felt about their children.

Here’s what some of the other translations say…

NIV CHERISHED OFFSPRING

RV BELOVED CHILDREN

NAS PRECIOUS ONES

NEB DEAREST OFFSPRING

JER DARLINGS

NAS TREASURES OF THE WOMB


Ruth 2:12 says, "The Lord recompense thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel." What was the full reward? Ruth 4:13 gives us the answer: "The Lord gave her conception and she bare a son."

12. IT IS A SPHERE OF INFLUENCE

The Hebrew word rechem for womb is “matrix” which means “a place within which something originates or develops.”

Exodus 20:5 says, "I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." Iniquity is willfully following our own way rather than God’s. Rebellion in the parents can also be passed on to the children. Psalm 58:3 says, "The godless are perverse from the womb." Also read Isaiah 48:8.

Recent studies clearly show that an unborn baby is affected deeply by the attitudes of the mother. If the mother rejects the child in her womb, her child will suffer from this rejection at some stage in his/her life. If the mother is full of fear, that fear will enter her unborn child. If the father who gave the seed of life or the mother is willful, that iniquity will touch the unborn baby. Tempers, unforgiveness and bitterness that are not dealt with will be passed on to future generations.

The following are a few examples of how the mother’s attitude to her baby in the womb had a detrimental affect upon the baby. I know these women personally. A mother had a horrific birth experience at her second birth. It put such fear into her that when she was pregnant with her third child she was paranoid about giving birth again and was full of fears. Somehow these fears entered into this child, for this baby who is now grown, is still struggling with fears today and they have plagued her all her life.

A backslidden girl fell pregnant. She wanted this child to grow up with a mother and a father and so decided that she would give this baby to a loving family. She was naturally a very loving person, but in order to not get too attached to her baby as she planned to give it away, she thought of it “as nothing” or as a “bit of stone.” However, at the very end of her pregnancy she met the father of the child again and at the last minute they decided to get married. And so of course, they kept the baby! The baby was born and received with love and joy and was totally mothered. However, as this baby grew into her second year, she became abnormally affected and screamed with terror if her mother even went out of the room. As their pastors (the husband had come to the Lord and the wife had been restored to the Lord), we prayed about it, and wondered if she was suffering from rejection of not being accepted during her time in the womb. We prayed over this little child and asked God to heal her from this rejection and from that moment she never had the problem again.

There is an interesting story mentioned in The Secret Life of the Unborn Child by Dr. Thomas Verny. When this particular baby was born, it would not move its head toward the breast of the mother but would turn away. The doctor thought she may be ill, but when she drank milk from the bottle in the nursery he ruled that one out. Next day the same thing happened so the doctor thought he would try an experiment. The next day he gave the sleepy baby to another mother who had consented to try to feed her. Immediately the baby rooted for the breast and sucked for all she was worth. The doctor was now more than interested. He went back to the biological mother and asked, “Did you want this baby?” “No,” she replied. “I wanted an abortion. My husband wanted the child. That’s why I had her.” That was news to the doctor, but not to the baby! She had been rejected and was now rejecting her mother.

Mothering starts in the womb,
not just when the baby is born!

13. IT IS A SITE OF JUDGMENT

Because the womb is sacred and precious, God uses it as a place of judgment.
•2 Samuel 6:20-23. Michal received judgment upon her womb when she despised her husband and she did not have a child.
•Deuteronomy 28:15, 18 and Leviticus 26:21,22. Disobedience brought the curse of barrenness in these Scriptures:
•In Numbers 5:11-31 we read of how adultery brought judgment upon the womb. It says, "the curse shall go into thy womb!" The womb should be kept pure. It should not be defiled through fornication or adultery. If this has been the case, there should be repentance, confession and prayer for the cleansing of the womb. The womb must be kept pure and holy for the nurturing of the "godly seed" that God desires.

14. IT IS A BIRTHPLACE OF DESTINIES

Psalm 139:16 TLB says, "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!"

God’s destiny for a child is upon them in the womb. We see many examples in Scripture.
•John the Baptist was "filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother’s womb"
•Luke 1:15 and 16:41.
•Paul says that God "separated me from my mother’s womb...that I might preach Him among the heathen" Galatians 1:15, 16.
•Samson said, "I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb” Judges 16:7.
•The prophet Isaiah said, "The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name " Isaiah 49:1 and 49:5.
•God said of Jeremiah, "Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations" Jeremiah 1:5.

Start praying daily over your baby as soon as you know the wonderful news of conception. In the last three months of pregnancy, the baby in utero is able to hear. This is an important time to speak lovingly to the baby and welcome this little one to your family. It is time to start reading the Word of God to your baby. It is a good time for the baby to get to know the father’s voice. When our sixth grandchild was born at our home, we were all amazed to notice that the moment her father took “Meadow” in his arms and began to speak to her that she was arrested by his voice. She already knew it. He had been speaking to her daily, putting his mouth right on his wife’s womb.

15. IT IS A SECRET PLACE

The womb is a sanctuary of protection. Psalm 139:15 says, "I was made in secret." God has planned for the womb to be a sanctuary. It is a “secret” place where God forms life away from the eyes of man. It is not to be interfered with by man. Satan wants to tamper with the womb and destroy it. God initiates life and performs miracles in this secret place.

Just as parents love to give surprises to our children, so our God loves to give us surprises! He loves secrets too. His gift of a baby is a special surprise and I believe that He wants it to be kept secret until the time that He is ready to deliver it to us. Ultra sound can be necessary in times of emergency, but I wonder about using it just to find out the sex of our baby. I think we take away from the wonderful surprise that God wants to give us. One mother suggested that it is like the molding of a stature. No one is allowed to see it while the sculptor works on it until the day of the special unveiling ceremony.

Another mother shared that when she was expecting her third baby, friends and family pressured her to find out the sex of her coming baby. Was it going to be another boy, or was she having a girl this time? To satisfy their cajoling, she went for the ultra sound and found she was having another boy. She was happy about this of course. However, she said that at the time of the birth it was a let down! The baby came and everyone already knew that it was a boy and even knew his name. The only thing left to say was, “He’s here!” After getting surprises for her first two births, she noticed how she missed out on much of the suspense and excitement by already knowing God’s secret ahead of time.

16. IT IS A HOLY PLACE

The womb is a holy place and the entrance to the womb is holy. It is a type of the temple in the Old Testament where the Holy Place was separated from the Holy of Holies by a thick veil. The only person who could enter the Holy of Holies was the High Priest. God has also created the hymen in a virgin to protect the entrance of the womb. It is a type of the veil that protected the Holy of Holies and could only be entered by the High Priest.

The hymen, the protection to the womb, should only be broken by one man. God’s plan is that on the wedding night, two virgins come together and the hymen (the veil) is broken by the one who will become her husband--the priest of her home. Read Deuteronomy 22:13-21; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and 2 Corinthians 6:17-18.

17. IT IS A HOSPITALITY ROOM

As we discussed the importance of our womb at our Mothers Bible Study, one of the mothers received another understanding of the womb. I will let her share in her own words: “The womb is actually a room. We are walking around with a special guest room in our body which is a temple. Just as the temple of King David’s time had a Holy of Holies, so our womb is a sanctified place for God to bring forth life. I was challenged to realize that just as I prepare a guest room and have it ready for when guests come to stay, so I should prepare my womb and dedicate it for whomever God sends my way. “Yes, Lord, I will take in whoever you choose to send and I will nurture them with food, love and safety for the amount of time they are here. Sometimes, it might be three months, or six, but hopefully nine months. After the door to that special room is opened, they will be with us for a short time or a long time. That is up to You, Lord. My part is to welcome with a hospitable spirit any child You choose to send to my womb home.”

18. IT IS A PLACE OF DEPENDENCY

David said in Psalm 22:10, "I was cast upon thee from the womb." The womb is where we learn our first and most important lesson--reliance upon God. Independence, which comes from pride and rebellion was the sin that caused Lucifer to be cast out of heaven. We are cast upon God from the womb and this should be our attitude right through our lives. Read Psalm 71:6 and Isaiah 46:3-4.

NANCY CAMPBELL

Above Rubies, www.aboverubies.org

And the fruit of the womb is His reward, or a reward from God. He gives children, not as a penalty nor as a burden, but as a favor. They are a token for good if men know how to receive them, and educate them. They are "doubtful blessings" only because we are doubtful persons.Where society is rightly ordered children are regarded, not as an encumbrance, but as an inheritance; and they are received, not with regret, but as a reward...Yet even here, with all the straits of limited incomes, our best possessions are our own dear offspring, for whom we bless God every day. Charles Spurgeon

“Those who have no children bewail the fact; those who have few children see them soon gone, and the house is silent, and their life has lost a charm; those who have many gracious children are upon the whole the happiest. Of course a large number of children means a large number of trials; but when these are met by faith in the Lord it also means a mass of love, and a multitude of joys...[Spurgeon observed] that he had seen the most frequent unhappiness in marriages which are unfruitful..He has known a family in which there were some twelve daughters and three sons, and he never expects to witness upon earth greater domestic felicity than fell to the lot of their parents, who rejoiced in all their children, as the children also rejoiced in their parents and in one another. When sons and daughters are arrows, it is well to have a quiver full of them; but if they are only sticks, knotty and useless, the fewer of them the better.” Charles Spurgeon
Begin early to teach, for children begin early to sin. Spurgeon
Not to cross our children is the way to make a cross of them. Those who never give their children the rod, must not wonder if their children become a rod to them. Spurgeon
We could well put up with the little mistakes, and petulancies, and follies, and even sins of their earliest days; but the sting is when, having left our roof, they leave our teaching; when, having gone from our trainings, they do not abide in them, but plunge into sin, and prove to us most sadly that grace does not run in the blood, but that natural depravity most certainly does. Spurgeon
If we never have headaches through rebuking our little children, we shall have plenty of heartaches when they grow up. Spurgeon
I have heard of one man who said that he did not like to prejudice his boy, so he would not say anything to him about religion. The devil, however, was quite willing to prejudice the lad, so very early in life he learnt to swear, although his father had a foolish and wicked objection to teaching him to pray. If you ever feel it incumbent upon you not to prejudice a piece of ground by sowing good seed in it, you may rest assured that the weeds will not imitate your impartiality, but they will take possession of the land in a very sad and shocking manner. Where the plough does not go, and the seed is not sown, the weeds are quite sure to multiply; and if children are left untutored and untrained, all sorts of evils will spring up in their hearts and lives. Spurggeon

We cannot impart to our children new hearts, but we can see to it that there shall be nothing within our gates that is derogatory to the religion of Jesus Christ. I charge you see to it. But you cannot control your children, you say. Then the Lord have mercy upon you! It is your business to do it, and you must do it, or else you will soon find out they will control you; and no one knows what judgment will come from God upon those who suffer sin in children and servants to go unrebuked. Spurgeon

No cross is so heavy to carry as a living cross. Next to a woman who is bound to an ungodly husband, or a man who is unequally yoked with a graceless wife, I pity the father whose children are not walking in the truth, who yet is himself an earnest Christian. Spurgeon
Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
There have been so many failures in religious training that many parents doubt whether a principle like this can be regarded as holding true in all circumstances. With such doubt we undermine God’s covenant. Instead, let us believe that the failure was man’s fault. Either the parent did not make “the way in which he should go” his one aim in the child’s training, or the training in that way was not what God’s Word had ordered it to be…Andrew Murray-"Raising Your Children for Christ"
There are many Christian parents who are anxious to see their children saved, but they do not choose this way for them. They do not decide on it distinctly as the one and only way in which they are to walk. They think it is too much to expect that their children should walk in it from their youth, and so they do not train them in that way. They are not prepared to regard the walking in this way as their primary objective. It is not their first aim to train whole-hearted devoted Christians. They will not give up their worldly interests. They are not always ready themselves to walk In that way only and completely-“the narrow way”. They have chosen it, but not exclusively and finally. Andrew Murray-"Raising Your Children for Christ"

Genesis 17:7-I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

It is here that a difficulty arises with many people. They see that God’s promise of mercy to sinners are free and sure and find in believing them, that they come true. However, regarding their children, the promise does not appear so simple and certain. They cannot understand how one can so confidently believe for another. They know that the only sure ground for faith is God’s Word. However, they have not yet been able to realize that the Word of God really means that they are definitely to believe that He is the God of their seed. Their impressions are in accordance with views that are commonly held concerning child-rearing. They think that the salvation of their children depends upon faithful parental training. This attitude provides no absolute certainty of success. It excludes God’s promises and His sovereignty. It is evident that such a general principal, with its possible exceptions, cannot give the rest of faith the parent longs for. Faith needs the assurance that God’s purpose and promise are clear and unmistakeable. Only then can we trust completely in His faithfulness…Wherever God comes with a promise, He expects faith to accept it at once…As I stand in covenant with my God, and see how He offers to be the God of His peoples seed, I have the right in faith to claim this promise. I can be assured of my child’s salvation as firmly as my own, through faith in the God of truth. Andrew Murray-"Raising Your Children for Christ"

Because the physically imperfect are not considered worthy of life.

Our society in general views children as objects of our own making. Once the birth control pill made its appearance 50 years ago and was embraced by all, including the church, the message was clear: I, the mother, will determine when life is created. It was a pretty short walk from there to the abortion statistics we now see. We can do anything we want with objects of our own making.

But the Bible teaches that children are a gift from Him: the Creator of life, the Giver of life and the Sustainer of life.

In North America right now, 92% of Downs Syndrome babies are aborted. Many predict that Downs babies will eventually be non-existent, as prenatal testing grows more advanced and abortions grow more accepted as the norm. Also chilling is that more and more babies are now being aborted for abnormalities such as cleft lip or palate, or club foot. It’s the basis of evolutionary thought: the strong kill the weak.

But in Christ’s kingdom, the strong carry the weak.

Each one of my seven children have been born without any physical abnormalities. But if one or more of them had been, would I not still count them as blessings? Of course I would! What if one of them contract a terrible illness or have an accident that leaves them mentally challenged? While tragic, would that child then cease to be the blessing that he/she once was? A baby born to us physically perfect is no guarantee that he will always be that way. Furthermore, I know that the Lord may be pleased to give me a child with “special” needs anytime He desires. I have an abiding peace about that fact because I realize that the body is not as important as the soul. Our bodies, whether physically capable or not, are only the temporary wrapping paper our souls are housed in.Read full article here: Designer Baby Only, Please

The Word of the Lord says: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil". Isaiah 5:20

The Lord calls children a blessing and a reward. He calls them good, yet the world calls them evil. I don't want to get into all the things in this world that are evil, that the world calls good!! (that's another post)

4 Legacies of Feminism
Dennis Prager

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan's feminist magnum opus, "The Feminine Mystique," we can have a perspective on feminism that was largely unavailable heretofore.

And that perspective doesn't make feminism look good. Yes, women have more opportunities to achieve career success; they are now members of most Jewish and Christian clergy; women's college sports teams are given huge amounts of money; and there are far more women in political positions of power. But the prices paid for these changes – four in particular – have been great, and they outweigh the gains for women, let alone for men and for society. The first was the feminist message to young women to have sex just like men do. There's no reason for young women to lead a different sexual life than men, they were told. Just as men can have sex with any woman solely for the sake of physical pleasure, women ought to be able to enjoy sex with any man just for the fun of it. The notion that the nature of a woman is to hope for at least the possibility of a long-term commitment from a man she sleeps with has been dismissed as sexist nonsense.

Phyllis Schlafly, the original "anti-feminist," teams up with her niece in a tour-de-force defense of traditional womanhood -- don't miss "The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know -- and Men Can't Say" As a result, vast numbers of young American women had and continue to have what are called hook-ups, and for some of them it's quite possible that no psychological or emotional price has been paid. But the majority of women who are promiscuous do pay prices. One is depression. New York Times columnist Roos Douthat recently summarized an academic study on the subject: "A young woman's likelihood of depression rose steadily as her number of partners climbed and the present stability of her sex life diminished."

Long before this study, I had learned from women callers to my radio show (an hour each week – "The Male-Female Hour" – is devoted to very honest discussion of sexual and other man-woman issues) that not only did female promiscuity coincide with depression, it also often had lasting effects on women's ability to enjoy sex. Many married women told me that in order to have a normal sexual relationship with their husbands, they had to work through the negative aftereffects of early promiscuity – not trusting men, feeling used, seeing sex as unrelated to love and disdaining their husband's sexual overtures. And many said they still couldn't have a normal sex life with their husbands.

The second awful legacy of feminism has been the belief among women that they can and should postpone marriage until they develop their careers – and that only then should they seriously consider looking for a husband. Thus, the decade or more during which women have the best chance to attract men is spent being preoccupied with developing a career. Again, I cite women callers to my radio show over the past 20 years who have sadly looked back at what they now, at age 40, regard as 20 wasted years. Sure, these frequently bright and talented women have a fine career. But most women are not programed to prefer a great career to a great man and a family. They feel they were sold a bill of goods at college and by the media.
And they were. It turns out that most women without a man do worse in life than fish without bicycles.

The third sad feminist legacy: So many women – and men – have bought into the notion that women should work outside the home that for the first time in American history, and perhaps world history, vast numbers of children are not primarily raised by their mothers or even by an extended family member. Instead they are raised for a significant part of their childhood by nannies and by workers at day care centers. Whatever feminists may say about their only advocating choices, everyone knows the truth: Feminism regards work outside the home as more elevating, honorable and personally productive than full-time mothering and homemaking.

And the fourth awful legacy of feminism has been the de-masculinization of men. For all of higher civilization's recorded history, becoming a man was defined overwhelmingly as taking responsibility for a family. That notion – indeed the notion of masculinity itself – is regarded by feminism as the worst of sins: patriarchy.
Men need a role, or they become, as the title of George Gilder's classic book on single men describes them, "Naked Nomads." In little more than a generation, feminism has obliterated roles. If you wonder why so many men choose not to get married, the answer lies in large part in the contemporary devaluation of the husband and of the father – of men as men, in other words. Most men want to be honored in some way – as a husband, a father, a provider, as an accomplished something; they don't want merely to be "equal partners" with a wife.
In sum, thanks to feminism, very many women slept with too many men for their own happiness; postponed marriage too long to find the right man to marry; are having hired hands do much of the raising of their children; and now find they are dating boy-men because manly men are so rare.
Feminism exemplifies the truth of the saying, "Be careful what you wish for – you may get it."

All I can say to this video is Wow!! Best 33 minutes I've spent today! Go to heartchanger.com

I'm overwhelmed, but not shocked. There are so many things on my mind after watching this video:

-double standards: how we hate them in others, but never see them in ourselves
-be CONFRONTATIONAL! We as Christians are too "nice", (which is a "nice" word for coward, read Revelations to find out what happens to cowards)to expose lies and stand for righteousness. Many of us have gotten so involved in personal piety that we say "Am I my brother's keeper?" The fields are ripe for harvest, but oh, the workers are few.
-we MUST evangalize, this world is under judgement and they don't know and don't care
-must teach the children to think biblically, defend the gospel, and persuade men
-teach our children and to recognize lofty, deceptive, worldy philosophies
-Teach and equip the saints and our children to understand and deny the culture
-we are all without excuse
-quote by Adolf Hitler "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future!" That should make us all tremble.
-Who is it who owns are youth? school, peers, the media, music, marketers and advetisers? Bob Pittman founder of MTV said to Ralph Nader: "we don’t influence 14-year-olds we own them.” God forbid!!!!!!!!

I too have very few regrets. Zsuzsanna posted today.
She said:
I can honestly say that as our children continue to grow older, I have few regrets. I am not wishing I would have cherished them more as babies, because I did -they each spent pretty much their first year of life in my arms or by my side in some form. I am not regretting having shipped them off to babysitters, nurseries, daycares, and schools, because we don't do any of that.

I am not at all boasting. I am so thankful in the Lord that he gives me good gifts, AND allows me to enjoy them; ever mindful that cirumstances are subject to change at anytime. I live all the more, ever thankful, praising God, seeking my Savior, loving my family, saving the lost, admiring His mercy, resting in His grace.

My friend recently went to Amish country and brought me back a souvenir. Oh... I could go on and on about my love for Amish country. But I don't have time. So I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from the book she gave me of Amish proverbs and sayings.


A plump wife and a big barn-never did any man harm.

Nothings more beautiful than a woman working.

No woman be happy with less than seven to cook for.

"Our Susie wants marryin'--don't you think? already she's gettin' on in years-she ain't so long 18."

"If I leave you hold the baby be careful you don't make her awake."

"Aunt Min is wonderful heavy-she sits broad."

Kelly reminds us here.

And this being…it is constant, with no reprieve. Which is, in fact, the heart of the matter…that you are always transferring who you are to your children and so it matters who you are–who you are becoming, far more than it matters what you mean to teach them.

Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express. ~Joseph Addison

Author: Rachael Jankovic

Everywhere you go, people want to talk about your children. Why you shouldn’t have had them, how you could have prevented them, and why they would never do what you have done. They want to make sure you know that you won’t be smiling anymore when they are teenagers. All this at the grocery store, in line, while your children listen.

The truth is that years ago, before this generation of mothers was even born, our society decided where children rank in the list of important things... Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get. In fact, children rate below your desire to sit around and pick your toes, if that is what you want to do. Below everything. Children are the last thing you should ever spend your time doing.

If you grew up in this culture, it is very hard to get a biblical perspective on motherhood...

Do we believe that we want children because there is some biological urge, or the phantom “baby itch”? Are we really in this because of cute little clothes and photo opportunities? Is motherhood a rock-bottom job for those who can’t do more, or those who are satisfied with drudgery? If so, what were we thinking?

Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.

Christian mothers carry their children in hostile territory. When you are in public with them, you are standing with, and defending, the objects of cultural dislike. You are publicly testifying that you value what God values, and that you refuse to value what the world values. You stand with the defenseless and in front of the needy. You represent everything that our culture hates, because you represent laying down your life for another—and laying down your life for another represents the gospel.


Please read the entire article here!!!

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Hurricane Update: No major damage to the house, a lot of fallen limbs and branches. Still without electricity and phones.