Your Journey to becoming Quiverfull

[KorahRose]

How did you come to the conclusion that you should be quiverfull? I have a story that I'd like to share. It's about my parents and their journey and, at least in my opinion, it's very interesting.

My parents married when my dad was 28 and my mom was 25. They were not quiverfull at that point. My mom went on the birth control pill and they lived 2 years without children. This weighed heavy upon my mother. She said it had to have been the Holy Spirit, because no one ever told her and she never had heard that she shouldn't be on birth control. Yet, every time she took a pill it bothered her greatly.
She spoke to my father about this a few times, but he wasn't open to change. He wanted children when they were more "stable" (although they both had great jobs and barely any debt). My mom wished to be submissive, but she felt that she could no longer prevent children. She secretly went off of the pill without telling my dad.
Well, she got pregnant. She told my dad and he wasn't upset at all. He was confused, but thrilled. They knew that birth control is never 100% effective, so he accepted that she was pregnant and they planned for the baby.
The baby (my oldest sister) was born and a year and a half later my mom found that she was pregnant again. When she told my dad he was, again, happy. Still, he was irritated that the birth control (that she secretly wasn't using) wasn't working.
A week after my oldest brother was born, my dad started discussing using a new form of birth control. My mom then confessed to him that she had not been on birth control, and that she had deceived him.
Amazingly, my dad wasn't angry. He says that he looked at his children, and he knew they were meant to be. He kept thinking that if she HAD stayed on birth control, his children would not be with them now. That thought stuck with him and they completely stopped using birth control.

My mom openly admits that she didn't go about things the right way, If she had it to do over again, she says that she wouldn't deceive my dad how she did. But she sees God's hand in how everything worked out.

My mom has since given birth to 5 more children. And last year they adopted 4 more. They are the grandparents of 18 children now too.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

That is an interesting story KorahRose.

A couple close to us has a very interesting quiverfull story too. They are in their 60's now, and He was our the pastor of our old church. They are good family friends. When they got married more than 40 years ago, they decided straight off that they would trust God with their fertility. They had 2 girls, then 3 boys, then she fell pregnant with number 6. Their oldest was 8. So 6 children in 8 years. They suffered a lot of hurtful comments during this pregnancy, but she was faithful and trusted in God. During the pregnancy she received a lot of messages from God (during prayer and bible study) about especially trusting in Him through hard times, so she got the feeling that something bad was coming - and thought it may have something to do with the labour or the new baby. Nope! Everything went beautifully and she had a new perfect baby girl.

When their new daughter was 3 weeks old, their youngest son fell ill. He was 14 months old. Within 3 days, he died. God had prepared her, and she was able to trust in Him and come through the grief. She said that family members were just waiting for her to break down, it never happened. They went on to have two more children, and then God decided that that was enough for them.

All 7 surviving children are Christians, all 20 grandchildren are being raised in Christ.

They truly amaze and inspire me as a couple.

 

[KorahRose]

That is an interesting story KorahRose.

A couple close to us has a very interesting quiverfull story too. They are in their 60's now, and He was our the pastor of our old church. They are good family friends. When they got married more than 40 years ago, they decided straight off that they would trust God with their fertility. They had 2 girls, then 3 boys, then she fell pregnant with number 6. Their oldest was 8. So 6 children in 8 years. They suffered a lot of hurtful comments during this pregnancy, but she was faithful and trusted in God. During the pregnancy she received a lot of messages from God (during prayer and bible study) about especially trusting in Him through hard times, so she got the feeling that something bad was coming - and thought it may have something to do with the labour or the new baby. Nope! Everything went beautifully and she had a new perfect baby girl.

When their new daughter was 3 weeks old, their youngest son fell ill. He was 14 months old. Within 3 days, he died. God had prepared her, and she was able to trust in Him and come through the grief. She said that family members were just waiting for her to break down, it never happened. They went on to have two more children, and then God decided that that was enough for them.

All 7 surviving children are Christians, all 20 grandchildren are being raised in Christ.

They truly amaze and inspire me as a couple.

That's wonderful!! How amazing that she was able to trust God... I have to admit that I'm not sure how well I would have done in that situation.

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

me neither, I knew that they had lost a child, but it was a long time before I heard the full story from them, I had no idea it was within 3 weeks of their next child being born, and it blew me away...

 

[Sabertooth]

Our story is here.

 

[Rivella]

I'm from Switzerland I have never heard of being quiverfull before I joined CF. I think there isn't even a German word for it. Also, in Switzerland we consider four children A LOT and if you have more than four children, people think you're strange or part of cult or something. But I really like the idea and I wish to be quiverfull when I will be married one day.

God bless your famillies!

 

[Sabertooth]

..., in Switzerland we consider four children A LOT and if you have more than four children, people think you're strange or part of cult or something...

We get the same response in the U.S...

 

[sparassidae]

And in Australia, depending on the area.

 

[ChristianMama84]

My husband and I have always wanted a large family, somewhere between 5 and 7. We could never agree, so we decided the best thing to do is to leave it in God's hands. Right now we have 1 together and he has a daughter in heaven, we've been married 4 years. So, we'll see what happens.

 

[ilovepurple]

We were convicted about using birth control a few months ago. I feel very strongly about not using birth control ever again and my husband feels for us to hold off for now and try for baby #1. So far we have been "trying" for 8 months on and off (4 months in 2007 and 4 months recently).

For me, I think it is easier to trust God with not using BC when getting pregnant would be easy than trusting Him with the timing of conception when it doesn't seem to be happening.

 

[Birbitt]

We became qf after getting pregnant twice while on bc. So hubby and I talked and we decided that nothing we did was going to prevent God from giving us children when he wanted us to have children so why waste our money on bc? So we are now cf we currently have two children and would love to have more if the Good Lord wants us to.

 

[hopefulinfaith]

My husband has always been adamant about having two children. We decided to start trying for no. 2 a couple of months ago. During this time, we have talked to several people with "large" (4-5) children. Then I started researching "large Christian families." That's when I hit all the Quiverfull sites. I am definitely interested in becoming Quiverfull. I think he is still thinking we will have a few. But, more and more I am conviced that birth control is not in God's will. I have had this feeling in the back of my mind for some years, but I am becoming more and more sure each day. I think he is beginning to accept that I want to trust God completely with our family. I do think he will eventually come around. Our son is such a blessing, and he is one of the best fathers I have ever seen. I pray that the Lord will bless with several more children before I experience the change. I will be 31 soon.

 

[PegasusOnFire]

we fell pregnant on BC and condoms so we threw it all out and gave our fertlity to God. In our 6 years of marriage we have been pregnant 4 times and have 3 beautiful daughters.

 

[R.A.IN]

I've been very blessed by reading each of your stories.

 

[Sabertooth]

So, what finally convicted you about being Quiverfull?

 

[jgonz]

When DH and I got married, we'd already had #1. Shortly after we got married, I got pregnant and had #2. After that, DH insisted that we use bc. I went on the pill, but after a few months it was Clear that I was not someone who could do synthetic hormones. We went to barrier methods instead. About 3 yrs later, I had the "baby wants" REALLY bad. DH kept saying it wasn't time. I pushed and pushed~ even got our pastor to talk to him! He finally gave in, even though he honestly didn't believe that it was the right time. I got pregnant immediately, and had #3, who was born with birth defects. She passed away from complications from her 4th surgery at 4.5 months old, having only been home from the NICU for one week. Now I always tell women to ALWAYS be in agreement with their DH's about having children. You just don't want to open that door for the enemy to be able to come in and attack.

Anyway, after that, I was Scared to Death to have another baby, but at the same time the desire for another baby was Overwhelming. DH was scared to death (the doctors had told us all sorts of horrible things about possible future problems with possible future children). I spent a lot of time with God, crying, praying, throwing my Bible... and had to deal with the possibility that God may not want us to have any more children. I gave up. Then a friend of mine got pregnant on 2 forms of bc.... I told God, "If you want me to have another baby, You're going to have to do that with me because we're way too scared." And He did.

#4, #5, #6... all healthy babies. DH was still of the mindset that we should use barrier bc, but all the while being completely open to however many children God wanted us to have. God gave me a break after #6, I believe, to get myself healthy again. He taught me about herbs, vitamins, and chiropractic care. When #6 was almost 4 yrs old, I had #7. Then #8 came along 2 yrs later, and #9 came along 2 yrs after that. At that point I was 42 and sure that God wasn't giving us anymore children. I had a peace that we were done. I guess it was a peace that we were done "for now", because I had a miscarriage at 45, then got pregnant again and had #10 at 48! LOL God has such a sense of humor... My youngest is 19 months old now.

Overall, we don't fit the typical QF mindset.... We did use barrier bc on & off during our marriage, but after #3 passed away, we knew that our fertility (using bc or not) was in God's Hands. He is ultimately in control. We were open to however many children He would give us (or not). God ended up giving my DH his heart's desire~ which was to have 10 children (which I laughed at back when we got engaged. Never laugh. )