Shortly after Alyson was born, we hit a rough patch in our marriage. We both believe the rough patch would have happened with or without a baby. Also, we have both admitted that if it hadn’t have been for her, we probably would have thrown in the towel. However, we fought, for our marriage and for our family. We began searching for guidance, and that led us to the Lord. God healed our marriage, and we are now stronger than ever. I couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if we wouldn’t have fought for us. If we wouldn’t have felt that we had a reason, a person, a family, to fight for. (Disclaimer: Having children will NOT fix a marriage, I am simply stating that for us, when we did hit a rough patch (after having children) it gave us a reason to fight for our family.)
If you are newly married, or considering having children, I encourage you to pray about it, and think about the blessings being a young parent offers. Yes, there are benefits to waiting also, and sometimes you don’t have that choice if you meet your mate later in life. But, sometimes, society tells us we have to wait until the perfect time, till we have all our ducks in a row, and until we have had time for ourselves.
God tells us that children are a gift from the Lord, and that the fruit of the womb is a reward, Psalms 127:3.
There is no perfect time to start a family, there is no perfect marriage, no perfect job, or no perfect moment that will tell you “NOW” is the time. You have to trust the Lord, your spouse, and do what you feel is best for your new family. For some that may be to wait, but for others (like us!) it may be to go ahead and start a family.
This article originally appeared at Joy in the Journey.
