how does your spirituality affect your birthing/dietary/etc. choices?

[sisteeesmama]

Hi Mamas~
I have not been lurking on this forum for very long because for some reason it never occured to me to look for it before, lol.
But I consider myself to be a very spiritual person, I love God/Jesus and feel that he answers prayers and provides beyond what I could have ever dreamed of for myself.
What I wanted to know from other mamas and thought might be an inspiring thread to read was how do your spiritual beliefs affect your choices in areas not conventionally considered spiritual aspects of every day life like what you eat and where and how you birth, etc.

I would say for me the Lord has influenced me in so many unexpected ways that always surprise me and usually delight me. I always said that I would never have kids of my own, up until God told me that I would/should. I never thought about how I would birth until I was pregnant and God told me that I should not go to a DR., should not listen to anyone but him and eventually led me to have a total UC with my first full-term pregnancy.
God has also led me in a totally opposite direction for my life than I would have ever imagined. I always liked fashion and clothes and sewing and art and thought I would do something in that vein, but now God is leading me in the direction of small-time sustainable agriculture and everything that comes with that which could not be more out in left-field from where I would have expected to be going, but which actually stimulates me and satisfies me to just think about. I am excited to see how it will all unfold.

So I would love to hear how GOD talks to you, how your spirituality affects you in your day to day life etc.

Thanks Mamas and love to all!:

[Magelet]

How does G-d talk to me? In many ways.

I have, a few times in the past, had G-d literally TALK to me. I did a vision quest last summer, and had G-d speak to me at the end of my 3 day solo fasting in the wilderness part of my quest. I had been pretty much just practicing paganism, and very little Judaism at that point, and He asked me to come back to Him (in His form as YHWH, as G-d of the Jews.) I didn't immediately become more Jewish, it took time, and life in general has led me back to him, though I think the initial conscious effort (small effort) started it. And His voice in my mind, in memory.

I know that G-d wants me to cover my hair, because when I go out in public, without a covering, I feel like I'm covering my hair (its a strange pseudo-physical/spiritual sensation which is discomfiting, and distracting, and mildly uncomfortable.) When I cover, I don't think about it, I just feel more comfortable. I know this is His way of asking me to cover, though I don't know His reasons. (As a currently unmarried, sort of engaged Jewish woman, I wouldn't in most traditions be expected to cover until marriage if then).

I keep kosher (to an extent. Obviously, one cannot keep every Mitzvah perfectly, I do make an effort, and have certain lines I won't cross.) because G-d in His infinite wisdom, commanded us to do so in the Torah. That too, is G-d speaking to me, just as it is He when I light the Shabbat candles.

I feel G-d's presence when I light the Shabbat candles, or Channukah candles, or when I pray, sometimes. Othertimes, I feel connected to all the other Jewish women in the world who are lighting the Shabbat candles. This too, is G-d.

I know that G-d calls me to become a midwife. This is perhaps, the most difficult to describe way that G-d speaks to me. Its... its a knowing. I know that I am called to be a midwife. I'm not sure I'm thrilled about the prospect of living on call (I keep thinking... if I weren't on call, I could get way way into the SCA, on call though, I couldn't get in so I had many responsibilities), regardless of whether I'm thrilled about that part or not (and I certainly am very excited about other aspects), its a calling, its something I MUST do, as much, equally as much, as I MUST become a mother. That too, is a calling G-d has given me. (though I admit, evolution might have a hand in that one. Still, evolution is G-d's tool, just as modern medicine, when combined with wisdom and judicious use, is G-d's tool of healing.) And really, I'm so excited about the idea of helping women have the best births they can, helping them feel safe and loved, and powerful and capable of giving birth. As G-d call's me, so I follow.

Sometimes, I hear or read something and I know, deep down to the core of my being, that it is true. This too, is G-d speaking to me. Or perhaps, the angel who teaches you everything there is to know, inside the womb, then makes you forget, and I am simply recalling that. (Its a Jewish or Yiddish folk tale, I believe, of an angel who sits with the babe in the womb, and teaches it torah and life and shows it the whole world, then taps it under the nose and makes it forget right before birth.)

Thus G-d speaks to me, and perhaps more ways I am forgetting.

Of course, religion influences my life in more ways than that. It is present in my reasons for wanting children, in my dreaming about what our marriage will be like, my baking challah, and my eating dinner, my reading, my thoughts, my prayers, my behavior, my dress. I try to be with G-d every moment of the day, even while I do other things.

[cappuccinosmom]

Our faith informs our life. Dietarily, we do not believe we are bound morally to a specific diet, but we do respect dietary laws, believing God gave them for good reason (healthwise). We are not strictly kosher but follow generally what is laid out in the OT.

With regards to birthing and medical stuff, we are not opposed to medicine per say. But we first trust God and the way he created us. We try to use His creation first when we run into problems. After that, if nothing helps, we are grateful that he gave the knowledge of medicine and gave some people the skills to use it. In practical terms, that means we don't take a doctor's word as gospel-truth much as they want us to.

[sisteeesmama]

I love readin others perspective and having a reminder of things that can be spiritual if you allow them to be, like baking or dressing yourself, so neat, thank you!

[alicewyf]

I'm a Pagan, which means different things to different people. I believe that the Earth is my mother and that natural processes should not be messed with--this is why I am having a med-free, midwife-attended birth. It would be a homebirth if we didn't live in an apartment, but for now it is at a birth center.

We also try to eat as mindfully as we can within the constraints of our budget. If we buy meat, it is organic about 80% of the time (depending on availability). I make a lot of our food from scratch, because I view natural rhythms like cooking for oneself and cleaning for oneself to be the stuff that life is truly made of.

We also use herbal and homeopathic methods of healing before turning to things like antibiotics.

We also will not circ because we believe men's bodies were created the way they were meant to be...if we weren't supposed to have foreskins, we'd be born without them.

So yes, my sprituality does have a huge impact on the most basic choices I make in my life.

[sisteeesmama]

Yeah, I agree with all of that 100%

I would like to add, unrelated to the OT, I birthed at home and I lived in an apartment and our neighbors never knew anything the whole night, even when my husband called the paramedics to come and check out the baby(even though I told him everything was fine, lol. The y came with sirens and everthing and it was literally 3 in the morning and they never heard anything. I labored the whole night walking up and down the hall, in every room and they said they heard nothing! So I don;t know if that changes anything, but I thought I'd add it anyway. Good luck with whatever you do choose to do, though.

[Tuesday]

I'm of no particular faith but I do believe in God and attend church and read Scriptures (of various faiths). For me - these days - I try to fast (nothing major - just skipping a meal or two or three during the week). The money saved from fasting - goes to worldwide social development programs.

And, I try not to consume. I don't shop as a pastime nor do I buy new things unless absolutely necessary. Trying to save the planet and share with others.

And, anyone whether they are atheist or religious, could do what I do.

So even though I believe my faith is motivating me - doesn't mean someone without any faith in God could not do the same thing.

I have changed my stance on the pro life/pro choice movement substantially as my faith has gone from indiffence to substantial.

[harmonyhobbit]

I'm Buddhist. I try to be mindful in all things, and have trust in the universe that it's way is the right way. I try to live in the way that nature has intended, eating real food, using medicines very sparingly, healing with nutrition and herbs, etc. I try to be in tune with my children, hear their needs and allow them to be responsible for themselves, and allow them to live freely as children are intended to.
Mindfulness practice includes those mundane activities of everydya, such as washing dishes, bathing, cleaning, cooking, baking and knitting. I try to see them not as chores to be gotten through, but as opportunities for reflection and gratitude. I'm not annoyed that I must cook, I delight that we have wholesome nurishment. I am not irritated that I must sweep the floor, but am grateful to have a home and am gratified in my job when it is finished. I take that time to reflect on whatever is in my mind.

[EnviroBecca]

I believe that this world is a fabulous gift from God, and one of our most important responsibilities in our earthly lives is to use the world responsibly and not abuse it. This informs many of my daily decisions. For example, I rarely eat meat, not because I believe it is wrong to kill animals but because I believe it is important to use resources wisely: use grain primarily to feed people rather than to feed meat animals, and use meat sparingly in our diets in hopes of having enough food for everybody of all species.

I believe that it is important to discern and respect God's path for my life rather than insist on following my own plans. My most challenging lesson in this area came when I was trying to conceive: Due to my very long cycles and my partner's high rate of sperm malformations, we were trying for a long time, and it was SO tempting to jump into the array of medical meddling that promised immediate pregnancy, and I unquestioningly reacted to each period and each delay of ovulation as a personal failing, and I was praying, "God, please let us conceive RIGHT NOW." When I finally gave in and placed it in God's hands and accepted that we would conceive when the time was right and that God was a better judge of that than I...almost immediately I got pregnant! :

I believe that the powerful process of birth is a gift from God that is designed to establish a woman as a mother. Unnecessary interference in childbirth blocks important experiences. I did very little actual praying during labor, yet I was very aware of God being right there with me.

[Smokering]

Hmm. Well, I'm pro-life, so I guess I feel the responsibility to do what's safest for my baby in labour regardless of how it might affect me, recognising that I'm responsible for another's life... but then, what mother doesn't? So while my childbirth decisions were in principle informed by my faith, it was as much about commonsense and maternal instinct as any explicit "I'll do this because says to", if that makes sense.

I believe in living mindfully, using resources wisely, taking care of our bodies and so on as well: again, partly for explicitly "Christian" reasons and partly for reasons of common sense and so on. At the moment I'm doing a kind of half-baked mostly-vegetarian wannabe-TF thing, without super success; it's a learning curve!

[AngelBee]

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[smeisnotapirate]

I'm Jewish, and my spirituality affects every aspect of my day-to-day life. The things I say, the things I eat, when I drive and stay home, those are all religious decisions for me. The stories I tell about family and friends are many times Jewish stories because most of my friends are Jewish.

I believe that G-d gave the earth to man, but also, that man was told to "work and watch" it. (Gen 2 something) We have bought and are rehabbing a crap-shack of an old farmhouse with land, to live lighter on the earth. G-d helped lead us to it when we were ready, and I see so much happiness already because of it. Things have been falling into place.

As for birthing, I knew what kind of birth I was having, planned it all out from the start of labor to birthing in the tub, and nothing happened the way it was supposed to. My perfect birth ended up with a c-section, and I was crushed. However, I believe G-d was part of that as well, because my baby never once had a problem and now I'm even more resolved to stay out of the hospital and at home. I'm also no longer afraid to tell everyone (if asked, of course) what I think about hospital birthing in this country. I will be a huge HBAC advocate once I have my HBAC (not pregnant yet, though ). I can see that while before I wanted the perfect birth but never would have appreciated it, now I can have my perfect birth and KNOW how precious it is. G-d taught me also to let go of things and trust, which I hadn't been doing before DS was born.