Mother of 14 continued

Question: That is beautiful Barbara! I cannot wait to continue reading the rest of this thread!I was thinking today about family planning matters and our family. I had our fifth child in January and we said we would stop there, but there was something about me saying that and taking measures to prevent another persons life...that just felt like it wasn't my choice. I know the Lord opens and closes the womb and have been searching for His answers. I was thinking for the first time that I don't believe He ever mentions that we are to want for more or less than He gives us in anything...so why children? It dawned on me that so many things serve as idols to us and even good things can be idols. Such as wanting more children to a point that the thought consumes us. On the flip side of that, not wanting the ones he may give b/c we want a certain lifestyle could also be idolizing. There must be a reason He gives us fertility for a certain number of years. Maybe whatever happens in those years should be up to Him and we should just leave our cares about patience, money, and the opinions of others to Him. I know the more children I've had the closer I've come to know Him. I need Him more now. I need His strength, I need His wisdom, I cannot do it alone, and I wouldn't want to!Do you have any specific scripture that made you feel it was the Lord who needed to decide the size of your family?

Answer: I can only speak for us. I would not presume to tell anyone else how to walk out scripture. God has a plan for each of our lives. At different times different scriptures will have new meaning for a person. Something you may have read many times, all of a sudden is for YOU. Do you know what I mean? Psalm 127 and 128 is part of the answer for us.Children are our heritage and are God's blessing. What other blessings do we limit?As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children...Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them...Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine...For us, those scriptures were to be walked out- literally. And we have been blessed indeed. Others get another call on their lives. Maybe the call to be missionaries when they read of going into all the world. Maybe to be preachers as they read scripture. Maybe to adopt. This was our call.Hugs, Barbara