This picture of me in Times Square was taken by Rachel Scott when we were in New York together to appear on the Joy Behar Show at the beginning of Nov. Behind me is the Millenium Ball ~ kewl, huh? :)
All the best to you in 2010! We’re having an NLQ New Year’s Party in the Chat Room for anyone who happens to be up with nothing better to do ~ starting approx. 10 p.m. central time ~ hope you can join us!
by Arietty
In the years before the internet I relied on printed publications to nurture and sustain my life as a quiverfull homeschooling mom. It was within these publications that I found my own community in the Christian world, something which had eluded me before that.
I read Family LIfe, Above Rubies, The Teaching Home, Gentle Spirit and a variety of photocopied newsletters from families who had ministries of sending out newsletters. It was often frustrating to me that 3 weeks would go by with no new reading material in my mail box and then BOOM it would all arrive at once. I needed this Christian reading material. It was the friends I had coffee with, the counsel I turned to, even the gossip that passed (in prayer) along the homeschooling grapevine.
I had real life contacts with homeschoolers in my city and would and attend their monthly meetings but the contortions I would have to go through to make this acceptable to my husband made it a source of stress rather than solace. He resented greatly that I should wish to spend 2 hours once a month discussing the teaching of phonics with other women and leave him at home with the sleeping children.. and I paid for my forays every single time with moods and rages and sometimes worse. I tried to go to these meetings with my homeschooling friend but her husband reacted in the same manner so our plans were often set aside for next month. In contrast to this my magazines were always there and when my husband was at work I could read them to my heart’s content. Continue reading »
by Arietty
I began my journey into fundamentalism and a radical understanding of what it meant to be a mother via Above Rubies magazines. I was young, with an infant and toddler and my life was very lonely and isolated, made more so by my increasingly hostile husband.
One day my family and a few of my husband’s friends took a long drive to the docks to see a visiting missionary ship. This ship sailed all over the world handing out free Christian literature and putting on evangelical presentations wherever it docked. We had gone on a ship tour and I remember how the life on board seemed very appealing. The people living and working on the ship had a great sense of purpose, they had community and all kinds of interesting things happened to them. The bunks reminded me of youth group camps with all their intense camaraderie and no distractions from the dullness of day to day life, just plenty of opportunity for deep emotional connections. There were children on the ship and they did their lessons by correspondence. Their world was a safe and happy one, surrounded by caring Christian adults.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful I thought if my husband felt a calling to this ministry? We could set sail into uncharted waters of the mission field. We would be protected from all the stresses that made him so angry. I would be free from the feeling that I was doing nothing with my life. And surely here, on this ship that was a family, I would find my place in the Christian world. I had had my children young and often felt dismissed by Christians my own age at church who were still in college and unmarried. “Just a mom”, I knew that is how they saw me as they got law degrees and talked of working for World Vision or Tear Fund. They weren’t my husband’s kind of people any way so even if they had welcomed me into their little groups friendships would not have worked out. But here on this ship people of all ages and backgrounds were thrown together and I was sure my husband would succeed at being friends with diverse people if God called him to this mission.
Pausing from the tour our group was ushered into a small waiting room until it was time to watch a presentation about the ship’s history and mission work. The men launched into a heated discussion about what was wrong with the theology behind the mission group running the ship (no doubt their view of Revelation was flawed). Their wives talked excitedly about how laundry would be done on the ship, something our enthusiastic tour guide had not revealed. With nothing to say I started picking up the Christian magazines on display. And there was Above Rubies with a sticker on it saying “FREE, please take home”. Flipping through it I saw testimonies, families, recipes and a lot of cheerfulness. I had never seen this magazine before and I carefully put the three different issues available in my diaper bag. Continue reading »
Vyckie Garrison started No Longer Quivering to tell the story of her “escape” from the Quiverfull movement.
Over time, NLQ has developed into a valuable resource of information regarding the deceptions and dangers of the Quiverfull philosophy and lifestyle. Several more former QF adherents are now contributing their stories to NLQ and our collective voice makes these Quiverfull warnings impossible to dismiss or ignore.
NLQ is a gathering place for women escaping and recovering from spiritual abuse.
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