The following is an excerpt from chapter ten, “Through Children’s Children,” by Yvonne Harink in Three Decades of Fertility.

“God will be faithful through the generations to children’s children who with dedication uphold his covenant and obey his laws.” (From Psalm 103, Book of Praise)

I look at my family tree; my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and countless generations brought children into the world.  It was not unusual for them to have 8, 10, 12 children or more.  When I read the stories in our community history book, I paid special attention to family size and age of motherhood, and I read of many families with mothers who bore children right into their 40s.

Yet, when I was expecting my last baby at the age of 45, I longed to relate to other women making the same journey. At this time in history, we’re walking a road less traveled, and it’s  comforting to walk along with someone else. While my story may have been ordinary a few generations ago, today it has become extraordinary to have so many children, and to keep having them in one’s 40s.

We are living in times when marriage, family, and motherhood are under intense attack. Satan has always hated children, and particularly children of believers. He uses every cunning tactic to prevent them from being born.  While this has always been true, I believe a student of history will find that our age stands out as militantly anti-child. What we are witnessing today is really the death of a culture. The despair of our age is marked by addictions, abortion, euthanasia, divorce, suicide, and gender confusion. It’s the time Rudyard Kipling described in his poem “The God’s of the Copybook Headings”: “The women had no more children, the men lost reason and faith… for the wages of sin is death.”

As human beings, we are driven by our ideas, our beliefs, and our faith. History and culture flow out of our thoughts. All our life we are sorting the ideas that are thrown our way, either openly or subtlely. Are they good ideas? Are they true? Or, are they lies, couched in convincing rhetoric? We grow in courage when we know that what we are doing is right and true. The problem is, there is so much confusion out there, and it can be hard to sort through. Our feelings toward the birth of babies has a lot to do with our worldview. The most fruitful idea for us to dwell on is the knowledge that God gives us promises. These promises are held up throughout Scripture, for all believers. Isaac Watts formulates this thought in one of my parents’ favorite hymns, “Thus Saith the Mercy of the Lord”:

“Thus saith the mercy of the Lord; ‘I’ll be a God to thee; I’ll bless thy numerous race, and they shall be a seed to Me.’”

Children aren’t our idea. They are God’s idea. Before they are conceived in the womb, they have already been conceived in the mind of our Heavenly Father. (Romans 8:28-29) God assures us repeatedly that He will be a God to us and to our children. As believers, we are all spiritual heirs of the promises made to Abraham and confirmed throughout the Word, “I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.” (Genesis 17:19) This promise is confirmed in numerous places, including Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:39, “For to you is the promise, and to your children…”

Most of my ideas about family and children were formed in my first six years of life, the years of observing and imitating; feeling secure, loved, and part of the team; and feeling that life was perfect and whole. I was a very blessed child as I grew up with the distinct privilege of having not only a mother at home but also a dad. This is a very special experience in today’s society as few children have both a mom and a dad at home.

I was born seventh in a family of eleven children.  It was shortly after I was born when my parents made a leap of faith, buying a 100 acre piece of land to try to make a living off of it. Giving up his sawmill business, which had swallowed up all his time, my father came home, planted a large vegetable garden, raised livestock, and kept busy with numerous enterprises enabling our family to live off the land.

When I was 2 years old, my oldest sister, at age 12, drowned in the river that bordered our land. While I don’t remember the event, my earliest memories include a lot of talk about Margaret, visits to the graveyard, pondering about heaven, and yearning to peek through the clouds to see her. A time of great sorrow for my parents, it was also a time where they drew near to God. I was a quiet, reflective child, taking it all in, and thinking deeply about the meaning of life.

There is so much magic and security in growing up in a big family. I remember the overwhelming feeling of being loved and cherished by older siblings, and later loving the little babies who were added to the team. Oh, the thrill of having a new little sister! I was 10 when my mom had her last child at the age of 42.

Our family was not wealthy. We didn’t go on many vacations. But I have many rich memories of summer days, when everyone was working on the farm, picking berries, hauling hay, butchering chickens, feeding livestock, and building farm structures. The family discussions, read-alouds, crafting times, baking in the kitchen, meals, picnics, walks, tree huts, hay houses, hide and seek, hours of play— life was full of security, adventure, and fun.

Childhood memories are the strongest glue to form convictions. The idea of having a large family grew out of my upbringing very naturally. It was God’s way of showing me love, and in later years it would be my greatest motivation to pass on His love.

You can find out more about this book by visiting our Three Decades of Fertility page.

Help spread the word about this book by pinning our Pinnable Quotes for Moms on Pinterest. (You can post them on Facebook too!

If you’d like to be an affiliate, sign up HERE.

Pin this excerpt by using the image below!