January 29, 2012 | Author: Kelly Crawford

Foolishness and wisdom seem to be a recurring theme in our family right now. Partly due to circumstances around us, and partly due to, what I think, is just the way God loves to shout messages at us to get through to our hard-headedness.

“He who walks with the wise will become wise; but a companion of fools suffers harm.“

So simple, isn’t it? But we DON’T GET IT! Even aside from the issue of children spending the majority of time with peers in school (another topic altogether), we have the church which holds the Bible as its authority, and then sets up a paradigm that competes with the very instructions therein.

And though I’m certainly not saying that all peer-segregated activities are negative, we’ve made it the standard for virtually all interaction. From babies to the elderly, most churches separate its members upon entrance in the door and we miss the precious “walking with wisdom” opportunities meant to grow believers. Why do we disregard the wisdom of the very Word?

I think of how the constant segregation has robbed us from the wisdom of the elderly, and robbed them of their perceived value and worth.

But I think “walk with the wise” has deeper implications than even the people with whom we spend the most time. What about the people I read? Listen to via sermons, etc.? Magazines, books, music–am I being saturated–am I “walking with” wisdom? Are my children?

“And whatsoever he does shall prosper.”

Who is the guy that will prosper in all things? He who “doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly…but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates in it day and night”.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen foolishness so rampant as now. Sometimes I’m listening to the news or the latest political rhetoric or, unfortunately, sometimes another believer, and I’m speechless for the foolishness that abounds, masked behind intelligent-looking and sounding adults! Do you know what I mean by the apparent “check your brains at the door” trend?

(So I had to ask my husband, “Why are fools running the country?”  And he said, “Easy.  Fools voted.”)

This lack of wisdom has massive implications for the quality of our lives. It affects our relationships, our finances, our values, our time–everything. And as we suffer for lack of wisdom, we become a people less and less able to discern truth or divide the Word. And that has resulted in a church full of brokenness, much of which, frankly, could be avoided.

The more I live, the more I see the need to pursue wisdom and teach my children to do the same. It’s easier to be “simple”. But it’s deadly.

“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares…”

Will we listen?

Category: Mothering, Training Children | 1 Comment »
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January 20, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

From Suzanne Venker:

A new report by Pew Research Center shows that barely half — 51 percent — of adults in the United States are married. In place of marriage are nontraditional living arrangements — including cohabitation, single-person households, and single parenthood — that may likely continue. The share of adults who are currently married could drop to below half within several years….

Indeed, it isn’t a coincidence that marriage rates have plummeted alongside America’s fascination with the feminist movement. Empowerment for women, as defined by feminists, neither liberates women nor brings couples together. It separates them. It focuses on women as perpetual victims of the Big Bad Male. Why would any man want to get married when he’s been branded a sexist pig at “hello”? In the span of just a few decades, women have managed to demote men from respected providers and protectors to being unnecessary, irrelevant, and downright expendable….

Feminists assured women their efforts would result in more satisfying marriages, but that has not happened. Rather, women’s search for faux equality has damaged marriage considerably (some might say irrevocably, but I’m an optimist) by eradicating the complementary nature of marriage — in which men and women work together, as equals, toward the same goal but with an appreciation for the unique qualities each gender brings to the table. Today, men and women are locked in a battle. The roles have changed too drastically, and the anger runs deep.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t call that progress.

Read the full piece at THIS LINK.

Category: Feminism & Related Issues, Marriage | No Comments »
Tags: feminism, marriage

January 20, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

Several share-worthy posts have come through the newsfeed this week:

• Anti-Baby Pill Father Laments Bulgaria’s Demographic Bust ~ Djerassi, now 88 years old, was one of three researchers whose formulation of the synthetic progestagen Norethisterone marked a key step in the creation of the first oral contraceptive pill. He has repeatedly said that young Europeans who fail to procreate are committing national suicide. The fall in birth rates in Bulgaria, Djerassi forecast, will lead to a real catastrophe for the country in 2050 when its population will not exceed 5,5 million. “In 2050 some 35% of Bulgaria‘s population will be aged over 65. Who will be working then? This is a real catastrophe because Bulgaria will be not only a small, but also a very old country.”

• Contraception’s a problem, not a fix~ Free birth control pills are not the solution to any of our social ills, as suggested by recent letters to the editor. Universal availability of effective contraceptives in the United States over the last 50 years, including free access to government welfare recipients through the Medicaid program, has obviously not resulted in a happier, healthier and more prosperous America as promised…. The real solution is simple, but not easy. The success and strength of America is founded upon moral virtue: courage, justice, fortitude, temperance, self-discipline, diligence, generosity and yes — chastity.

• American Evangelicals beginning to rethink birth control, argues author of new book ~ A new book from one of the world’s foremost scholars in family issues examines how mid-twentieth-century evangelical leaders followed the mainstream and bought into birth control, and, briefly, abortion. The book, titled “Godly Seed: American Evangelicals Confront Birth Control, 1873-1973,” by Dr. Allan Carlson, comes at a time when some American evangelicals are rethinking their position on birth control….At a Christian conference last October in Chicago, Carlson spoke about what he called a simple truth, namely that “faithful Christian communities produce an abundance of children, and in doing so, they change this world.” He also pointed out that since the inception of Christianity there has been what he called a consistent “reproductive consensus” that those of Christian belief oppose abortion, infanticide, a contraceptive mentality, and easy divorce.

Category: Eugenics/Demography, Feminism & Related Issues, Hot-Button Issues | No Comments »
Tags: birth control, birth rate, children, demography, family

January 15, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

This is just amazing and shows once again how children can be literal, physical blessings to their mothers for a lifetime:

Science has been studying the phenomena of fetal cell microchimerism for more than 30 years, after researchers at Stanford University were shocked in 1979 to discover a pregnant mother’s blood containing cells with Y sex chromosomes. Since women only have X chromosomes, they concluded that the cells must have entered into her body from the male baby she carried within her.

Drawing on studies in biology, reproductive genetics, and epigenetics, Pincott outlined in her book what science has learned since the Stanford discovery.

“During pregnancy,” she wrote, “cells sneak across the placenta in both directions. The fetus’s cells enter his mother, and the mother’s cells enter the fetus.”

Scientists have discovered, she said, that a baby’s fetal cells show up more often in a mother’s healthy breast tissue and less often in a woman who has breast cancer (43 versus 14 percent).

Pinctott pointed out that as the quantity of fetal cells in a mother’s body increase the activity of autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis decreases. She called the evidence “tantalizing” that fetal cells may offer the mother increased resistance to certain diseases.

Read the entire piece HERE.

Category: Mothering | No Comments »
Tags: children, health, motherhood

January 15, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

This excellent piece came recommended by a reader in Australia:

Why is it that all the things that taste so sumptuously savoury and sweet are bad for me?

Why is it that a soft fatty camembert or an extra-bitey mature cheddar is so harmful to my heart? I thought that maturity was a good thing.

Why is it that chocolate is so bad for my health? I thought it was full of life-prolonging antioxidants.

And why does gossip taste so delicious when the Bible says it’s so destructive?

“The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s most inmost parts” (Proverbs 18:8).

At times it feels so good I think that, like the antioxidants in my favourite chocolate (who am I kidding, all chocolate is my favourite chocolate), it has some therapeutic value?

Sometimes I wish the Bible wouldn’t put a dampener on some of the most delectable delights. Why is it so down on gossip?

Read the full piece at THIS LINK. Thank you, Mrs. E.!

Category: Biblical Womanhood, Hot-Button Issues | No Comments »
Tags: gossip, scripture

January 15, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

This post is intended as a lament of sorts, a lament for something in the culture that is dying and may never been seen again.

Pretty, pretty is dying.

People will define pretty differently.  For the purposes of this piece, I define pretty as a mutually enriching balanced combination of beauty and projected innocence.

Once upon a time, women wanted to project an innocence.  I am not idealizing another age and I have no illusions about the virtues of our grandparents, concupiscence being what it is.  But some things were different in the back then.  First and foremost, many beautiful women, whatever the state of their souls, still wished to project a public innocence and virtue.  And that combination of beauty and innocence is what I define as pretty.

By nature, generally when men see this combination in women it brings out their better qualities, their best in fact.  That special combination of beauty and innocence, the pretty inspires men to protect and defend it.

Young women today do not seem to aspire to pretty, they prefer to be regarded as hot. Hotness is something altogether different.  When women want to be hot instead of pretty, they must view themselves in a certain way and consequently men view them differently as well.

Category: Femininity & Modesty | No Comments »
Tags: femininity, modesty, womanhood

January 15, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

From Families Alive comes this heart-wrenching but beautiful post:

Susan…accident…waterfall…fatal. The words hit like a ton of bricks. Tears streaming down my face. Kids questioning, “Mom, what’s wrong?”

My heart screamed, No, God – this can’t be right! There must be some mistake!

There was no mistake. That family vacationing in Maui went from celebrating the joys of life on Friday to experiencing the deepest kind of sorrow on Sunday.

As I tossed, turned and prayed Monday night into Tuesday morning, I was reminded of a man from long ago who was blessed immeasurably by God. Great wealth, a large family, unprecedented renown. In fact, Satan asked this of the Lord – “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land” (Job 1:10 NIV). Job was “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3 NIV).

In a matter of minutes, this blessed-beyond-belief man went from celebrating the joys of life to experiencing unimaginable sorrow. If you’ve never read the Book of Job, read it. It’s moving and powerful.

Read the entire piece HERE.

Category: Biblical Womanhood, Family, Personal Testimonies | No Comments »
Tags: family, grief, scripture

January 14, 2012 | Author: Jennie Chancey

From Doug Phillips at Vision Forum:

In 2010 Vision Forum Ministries held a national conference entitled ‘“The Baby Conference” which examined past, present, and future trends in eugenics and the battle for the future of childbirth, life, and the family in America. One of the key issues on the table was the ongoing influence of evolutionary thinking and its horrific consequences for life and death, both as to public policy decisions and the decision-making of modern Americans. The legacy of forced sterilization and the vision of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger continues and is reflective in the issues behind the following report from today’s news.

Read the full piece HERE. Also see the following stories about parents who chose to give birth to “non-viable” babies rather than aborting them as their doctors recommended:

• The devastating choice: to abort or not to abort our unborn child with a lethal condition ~ Brad and I were expecting our first child and received some potentially devastating news at our 20-week ultrasound on November 11, 2005. Up to that point, the pregnancy was textbook. We had been joyfully anticipating the arrival of our new baby and all the things that go with being first-time expectant parents.
• Our Son Never Took a Breath, But His Life Was Worth Living ~ After the ultrasound, we met with a genetic counsellor who kindly but bluntly told us that our baby had 0% chance of survival outside the womb. He told us he was required to let us know that termination of the pregnancy was an option, but once again we said that was not even an option in our minds.

Category: Eugenics/Demography, Hot-Button Issues | 2 Comments »
Tags: abortion, birth control, children, eugenics

December 27, 2011 | Author: Jennie Chancey

This is a wonderful post I just discovered this evening:

We all know her. She is the woman who has it all together. She has the love of 1 Corinthians 13 down pat and she never falters. She always smiles at her husband and is his constant encouragement. She is gentle and kind and practices unwavering patience with her children.

And when difficult times come? She never doubts or even dares to question the Lord. Her faith stays strong and steady. We can almost bet on it that her home is orderly and constantly peaceful. She never reaches her limit.

And her children!! So polite and helpful are the older ones, and the little ones so obedient and cheerful! Her husband adores her and is never cross at her. He must make a sufficient living, too, so they never go without.

We think about her, watch her and are amazed, but after a while of doing so we grow discouraged. “I can never be like her,” we say. “What is wrong with me to be lacking all of that in my life?” We compare. We grow frustrated and we may even begin to judge her. We may even go as far as deciding we do not like “little miss perfect”. Yes, jealousy is usually the root that begins to grow deep in this soil here.

But what if…just what if she was able to ask us if she could come off of the pedestal, please. After all, she did not place herself there, we did. What if she could tell us that she does not have it all together and though she does long to live 1 Corinthians 13 out in every area of her life, she will never perfect it this side of Heaven. She will not stop trying, but she grows discouraged too.

Read the full article at THIS LINK. Thank you, Tina!

Category: Biblical Womanhood, Personal Testimonies | 1 Comment »
Tags: friendship, motherhood, parenting, scripture, womanhood

December 27, 2011 | Author: Jennie Chancey

From Mark Steyn over at National Review Online:

We now live in Elisabeth’s world — not just because technology has caught up with the Deity and enabled women in their 50s and 60s to become mothers, but in a more basic sense. The problem with the advanced West is not that it’s broke but that it’s old and barren. Which explains why it’s broke. Take Greece, which has now become the most convenient shorthand for sovereign insolvency — “America’s heading for the same fate as Greece if we don’t change course,” etc. So Greece has a spending problem, a revenue problem, something along those lines, right? At a superficial level, yes. But the underlying issue is more primal: It has one of the lowest fertility rates on the planet. In Greece, 100 grandparents have 42 grandchildren — i.e., the family tree is upside down. In a social-democratic state where workers in “hazardous” professions (such as, er, hairdressing) retire at 50, there aren’t enough young people around to pay for your three-decade retirement. And there are unlikely ever to be again.

Read the full piece at THIS LINK. And if you haven’t seen it yet, get “Demographic Winter” and watch it.

Category: Eugenics/Demography, Family, Feminism & Related Issues | No Comments »
Tags: birth control, birth rate, children, demography, family

December 23, 2011 | Author: Stacy McDonald

Originally published on December 20, 2011

Denise Sproul surrounded by her greatest ministry...her family

Last night, James and I were contemplating the loss of our sweet friend, Denise Sproul. We know that while Denise is experiencing unimaginable joy in the presence of our Savior, her husband and children still have a difficult road ahead learning to live life without this precious woman of God—this faithful wife and mother. (more…)

Category: Family | 1 Comment »
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December 23, 2011 | Author: Jennie Chancey

Last week, the Duggar family (20 Kids and counting) made headlines when they held a funeral service and shared photos of their stillborn 19 week-old baby.

Here’s why I think it was right, and important for them to show their child to the world. Our culture is fighting against itself- on one hand, we tell women that their babies are “products of conception” or “tissue,” and on the other hand, we cheer the tiny ones, the premature babies that beat the odds and survive despite being born weighing a pound or less. We fight for the prosecution of abusers who end an unborn baby’s life through their violent acts, while fighting for doctors and policies that end the life of the unborn by the thousands, ever day. We’re at war with our own conscience.

Read the full piece HERE.

Category: Family, Mothering | 5 Comments »
Tags: children, family, motherhood

December 13, 2011 | Author: Jennie Chancey

I have been reading through J.R. Miller’s Homemaking lately, and I must say that it is one of the most poetically written books on the function of the home that I have ever read. The words in it are precious, and it makes my heart swell to feel the attitude of love this book was written in.

When I first read the quote below, I almost cried!  It tugged on my heart and poured a conviction on me that was overwhelming. The message it is conveying is one that is incredibly true, but the illustration that J.R. Miller gives, is priceless.

“The young maiden goes smiling and singing to the marriage altar.  Does she know that if she has not Christ with her she is as a lamb going to the sacrifice?  Let her tarry at the gateway till she has linked her life to Him who is the first and the last.  Human love is very precious, but it is not enough to satisfy a heart.  There will be trials, there will be perplexities, there will be crosses and disappointments, there will be solicitudes and sorrows.  Then none but Christ will be sufficient.”

How phenomenal is that?!  Honestly, the depths to which this reaches entirely amazes me! We, as young women, think that if we can run a home, we are somehow prepared to be married…but there is so much more to it than that. We have a noble calling; but we need to ask ourselves what the purpose of that calling is. This statement made me take a step back and evaluate the extent of my dependence on Jesus for fulfillment.  Even though I cling to Him for my redemption, do I cling to Him for everything else, or do I rely on my own abilities? Do I look to the Lord to fulfill all my needs in life, or do I think that I somehow possess the power to accomplish everything I need to get done?  If I were to be married tomorrow, would I have strove for that union in my own strength, or would I have trusted and rested in the arms of my beloved Savior to accomplish that work on His watch?

Would I be as a lamb going to the sacrifice?

Click HERE to read the full post. Excellent!

Category: Biblical Womanhood, For the Unmarried | 5 Comments »
Tags: daughters at home, homemaking, marriage

December 12, 2011 | Author: Mrs. Eva H.

I first noticed it on the entertainment pages of CNN. I keep up with showbiz, because I work with teens, and whether we want to admit it or not, current culture has a huge influence on them. Since we can’t lock them up, it’s better to teach them to interpret and put things in a context of values. But I was not sure how to approach this. Some rock star was holding a party to celebrate his divorce. With his ex-wife. They were divorcing, and a number of friends were invited to join in the celebration of how they wished one another well in the next part of their lives and how they would always work together for the good of their children. So many people in the comments were indeed congratulating them, sincerely, on how responsible they were, and how happy they were to see such good examples. I do not remember who that first star was, but then I found it happening again. And again. Divorce parties and amicable split ups with people saying how wonderful their now ex-partner is, are in.  People proclaim themselves not a failure in their marriage, but a wonderful person in their way of divorcing.  It sounds so much better.

And not just with celebrities. I have seen several acquaintances recently who in one sentence announce their divorce or split with the father of their children and in the same breath assure us that everything is wonderful and that they are dealing with this like mature adults who like each other and want the best for the other and for their children. And children want their parents to be happy, of course!

Really? Have you ever tried to finish something, a book, a chore, a bit of work, while your child wants you to refill their juice or read a book for the fiftieth time? Toddlers don’t care about your happiness, unless it affects them. They are not supposed to worry about your happiness, but you about theirs. When they grow and become more mature, they are supposed to grow in care for others. Because care and self-sacrifice is what they have seen modeled all their lives before them. The problem is that this generation of children has not seen that modeled to them. They learn the lesson early that if something makes you unhappy it is your responsibility to change it, no matter how it affects others. (more…)

Category: Biblical Womanhood, Marriage, Training Children | 6 Comments »
Tags: marriage

December 12, 2011 | Author: Sarah L. Bryant

What a beautiful season we have been given, as daughters and sisters at home, to serve others through the resources God has given us. Ecclesiastes reminds us of the brevity of each season in chapter three, verse one: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” We are called to redeem the time, fruitfully bringing Christ glory through our service. Whatever the Lord calls us to do—whether it be reading to our siblings or assisting our mother in her household duties—we should joyfully and contentedly do these things to the best of our ability, as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23). (more…)

Category: Biblical Womanhood, For the Unmarried | 1 Comment »
Tags: daughters at home, family, homemaking