Did you know that there is a very accurate way to predict when your period will start? You can know for sure, about two weeks in advance. How? Well, it's all thanks to a fixed number of days in your cycle called your luteal phase. But, you might say, "My cycle is never the same length--it's different every month, and I never know when 'Aunt Flow' is coming for a visit!" If you think that, think again, because I'm going to let you in on a little secret that shouldn't be a secret, but should be taught to every 13-year-old girl. 

This post is shared from the Above Rubies Facebook page—a magazine that goes out free-of-charge to over 160,000 women worldwide, encouraging them that children are a blessing, based on Psalm 127. You can subscribe to the magazine here:www.aboverubies.org

"Did you know that most modern women menstruate about 400 times during their childbearing years? Did you know that this is ABNORMAL? God intended the ovaries to have resting times through pregnancy and lactation. Did you know this is one of the reasons why there is such an epidemic of ovarian and endometrial cancer?

"Did you know that a hundred years ago women only ovulated about 100 times in their entire lifetime? Did you know that this is NORMAL for the female body? Did you know that every time a woman gets pregnant and bears a child, her lifetime risk of ovarian cancer drops 10 percent?

"Did you know that women in their childbearing years are meant to be predominantly 'suckling mothers' rather than 'menstruating mothers'? This is far kinder to their female body and how God intended it to function.
Love from Nancy"

And so we see the truth of Psalm 127 confirmed, that "the fruit of the womb is a reward" not a burden!

I have been studying natural childbirth a good bit recently, and am seeing how some pain reduction techniques for childbirth and labor could help with monthly cramps as well. The key is relaxing into the pain rather than tensing up and resisting it. 

How could relaxing reduce pain? Well, the uterus is built of two opposing types of muscles:  longitudinal muscles, which are mostly on the top of the uterus; and circular muscles, which form the lower half of the uterus. During labor, or monthly cramping, for that matter, longitudinal muscles contract to clear things out, but if a woman tenses up, the circular muscles lower down "close the outlet, maintaining the uterus in its unemptied state. ... Then the muscles that empty the uterus and the muscles that hold it closed are working
against each other" (Childbirth Without Fear,  Grantly Dick-Read, M.D., p. 67) and pain results. Just as it can become painful when the bladder needs to be emptied but the timing isn't convenient, so there is unnecessary pain when half of the muscles of the womb are trying to clear out the uterus but the other half are tense and constricted. 

One aspect of Pleasant Pads that never fails to be pleasant is that you don't ever have to endure the embarrassment of shopping for disposable pads again! Let's face it, that was something about womanhood that never got fun—it was always an unpleasant task to check out of the store with pads. We all thought, "I hope my carefully-selected female checker doesn't change to a guy right when it is my turn to check out!" 

Yes, Pleasant Pads are so much less anxiety-ridden. Oh, the bliss of quietly pulling pads out of their cubby when the time comes, without any strangers looking on! That's what I'd call pleasant.

Whenever we ladies see the first sign of red that signals the start of our "way of women," let's be thankful!  For one, that worship-invoking color is one of the most gorgeous shades of red in the world!  To think that the Creator mixed it up on His palette one day, and then decided to let us women see it every month! 

How grateful we should be to be women!  The reality that parts of our lives are inconvenient and earthy shouldn't diminish our gratitude.  We are privileged!  To be: bearers of life (physical, and emotional by setting the tone of the home), nurturers (through nursing babies and also through our words, "The lips of the righteous nourish many" (Proverbs 10:21), and queens of our homes - each part of womanhood is accompanied with an aspect of glory.  

If tempted to loathe your time of month, remember that you'd much rather have it than not!  It shows you're healthy and everything is working properly, and there will be a possibility for new life to form within your womb sometime in the future.  How wonderful to receive a red "letter" of good news every month! 

It's true that the curse of the Fall has made aspects of womanhood painful (see Genesis 3:16).  But we can choose to transform our response to the discomfort.  Perhaps view cramps as preparation for undergoing childbirth someday - a practice run.  Or express gratitude to the Messiah for the pain He endured on the cross - which was much greater than any menstrual pain we might endure.  Or see it as an endurance challenge which reveals that you can go through great suffering and still come out fine in just a few days!

So, next time you pull out those Pleasant Pads, remember that it's time to be grateful!
Happy Thanksgiving,  ~Melanie

The journey of womanhood has many seasons.  The excitement of spring when the womanly growth first begins to sprout in all its tender delicacy (think of baby leaves just emerging); summer, with all the fruit it yields - babies, vibrant life..., and then comes fall.  Fall, the picture of shucking off the old, making way for the new: "Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed, but if it dies it bears much fruit" (as the Bible states in John 12:24).  This is a picture of mature women, putting off the role of themselves being fruitful (having babies), and taking on the role of mentor to younger women around them - sharing all the wisdom they have learned through their years of homemaking (Titus 2:3-5).  And then winter comes.  The time of winding down and not much activity, anticipating the end of life.  Yet it is still filled with splendor.  Like a beautiful tree covered in frost, there is an elegance to old age.  The Bible says in Proverbs 16:31 that "Gray hair is a crown of splendor, if it be found in the way of the righteous."

So, whatever season of womanhood you find yourself in today, let it be glorious!  May you shine today as you live out to the fullest the journey your Creator gave you as a woman - to be a nurturer and life giver in the home, no matter what the season!