Episode 04: Don’t Be Like Rachel

Alright, alright, alright. Ok, so, first off, sorry for taking a break. Had some personal things going on; major life events going on. In my last episode I mentioned that I had a surprise up my sleeve and I still have that surprise (just can’t say it out). I’m not pregnant, so just let’s put that out there. 

But yeah, doing some major things. It’s pretty exciting. 

But! This episode!

The devil is definitely after me — for sure, because what I have to say is like straight up coming against the spirits of darkness. So, I’m going to pray before I get started. This is definitely going to be unscripted/off-the-cuff, just like my original intention. I was so nervous with the first couple of episodes that I actually wrote out what I was going to say. If it sounded scripted, that’s because it was, lol. Some moments weren’t, but the majority of it was.

This is going to totally be unscripted. 

Now, this is the second time I’ve recorded this, because the first time I did it, I did it incorrectly. And now I have more ammo because of all of the attacks that have happened since I first recorded it earlier this week. I might get into that, I might not. (who knows?…the Lord knows…)

Alright, so I’m going to pray.

“Heavenly Father, thank you so much for today. Thank You for whoever is listening. Thank You for the promise that You have for us as Your children. Thank You for putting Your Words in my mouth, and I know that as I speak out that the kingdom of darkness and the realm of darkness will not prevail. The gates of Hell will not prevail in the Name of Jesus. And I know that You are going to protect me from everything that the enemy is meaning for harm and You’re going to turn it around for good. So, I ask the Holy Spirit that the words that come out of my mouth are the ones that You want the people to hear. In Jesus’ Name. Also, guide this conversation. Amen.”

So, ok! Getting straight into it.

Gonna be talking against witchcraft. Now, you may be questioning, “Ok, this is about — this is a podcast/blog about infertility, why are you bringing up witchcraft?”

Well, because one day I was searching on Etsy and I was looking up t-shirt ideas so I could create my own infertility t-shirts to help support the blog, podcast, everything of that nature. And when I typed into Etsy, “infertility t-shirts” I saw a whole bunch of ads and items for sale for: incantations, witchcraft spells, candles, herbs, all for conception for fertility. And, I was like, “Uhm, I’m sorry…what?”

No. 

First off, no. 

Second off, it opened my eyes to see that women can be very desperate to obtain children through their own bodies that they’re willing to turn to the kingdom of darkness for it. And that’s not what God wants. That’s not what God wants for you, my friend, at all. I say it in loving kindness, that’s not what He wants. At all. 

Ok? So…And the Bible does talk about this! Ok? The Bible does talk about this!

And there have been countless of women who have struggled with infertility, and there have been two stories that come to mind of women who were very desperate to get pregnant that they cried out to the Lord.

First person was…well, the first person cried out to the Lord. And that was Hannah. Hannah was so desperate for a child because her husband’s second-wife, Peninah, was a total…mean…person. She was a meanie! She was taunting her. And, just, she wasn’t nice. Ok? She just wasn’t nice. And finally one day she was like, “I’ve had enough!” And she went into the Lord’s Temple and she cried out to the Lord. 

Now the prophet, Eli, thought that she was drunk! But, she was just crying out to the Lord in anguish and in desperation.

Now, the second lady — and if you don’t know the story; the Lord heard her prayer through Eli. Eli blessed her and said, ‘Surely next year you will have a son.” So, the Lord honored that and she became pregnant.

Then, the second lady — this was like in the very beginning — was Rachel. Rachel was so desperate for children that she went to Jacob and said, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” “Give me children lest I die!” (That’s in Genesis 29 - so let me turn there now.) 

*hums elevator music*

Ok, so obviously, you know, Jacob also had two wives (well he had four technically). The story between Leah and Rachel — they were sisters, and then when they realized that they weren’t getting pregnant, they gave their maidservants to Jacob as wives so he wound up with four wives. Go him.

So, ok, skipping all of this. Alright, Leah had four children and then she stopped having children. So going to Genesis 30, “When Rachel saw that she wasn’t having any children for Jacob she became jealous of her sister. She pleaded with Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’ Then Jacob became furious with Rachel, ‘Am I God?’ he asked. ‘He’s the one who has kept you from having children.’ Then Rachel told him, ‘Take my maid, Bilhah and sleep with her.’” …dada, dada, dah…

Skipping more…Leah realizes she’s not getting pregnant again so then she gives Zilpah…

Ok, right, right right — here we go. Verse 14 of 30. “One day during the wheat harvest, Reuben [this is one of Leah’s sons — the first one]. Reuben found some mandrakes growing in a field and brought them to his mother, Leah. Rachel begged Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” But Leah angrily replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you stole my husband? Now will you steal my son’s mandrakes, too?” Rachel answered, “I will let Jacob sleep with you tonight if you give me some of the mandrakes.” So that evening, as Jacob was coming home from the fields, Leah went out to meet him. “You must come and sleep with me tonight!” she said. “I have paid for you with some mandrakes that my son found.” So that night he slept with Leah. And God answered Leah’s prayers. She became pregnant again and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob.”

First off, these two sisters are hilarious! Fighting for time with Jacob. I don’t know; I find it funny. “I paid for you. Come and be with me tonight.” He’s not a pimp y’all; he’s your husband. 

So, alright. Now, mandrakes — I chose this story specifically because Rachel turned to Jacob (“Give me children or I’m gonna die”); Hannah turned to God, and said, “Lord, You are King of the Universe. I love You. I honor You, but this sucks! Ok?”

And so each had two different outcomes. Rachel turned to the things of this world to try and give her life. Hannah turned to the only One who can provide life, and that’s God. He’s the only One who can breathe His Breath of Life into your womb - into life. I mean, He turned Adam — who was made from the dust of the Earth — and He breathed His Spirit into him. And breathed His life into him, and he became a living being. So, those are the two differences between these two stories. 

Rachel turned, like I said, turned to the things of this world. It’s not ok. First off, we already talked about the motives. If you’re doing things to better your body, like vitamins, exercise, changing your diet; that’s all great. That’s healthy. Do that, but don’t be obsessed about it. If you’re tracking your ovulation, tracking when you say, “Ok, baby makin’ time”; if you’re tracking all of that, that’s fine, just don’t do it obsessively. Because then it starts to creep into scheming and my motives are wrong here. 

Now, mandrakes are a thing of this world. They are a “Mediterranean plant of the nightshade family with white or purple flowers, and large yellow berries. It has a forked, fleshy root that supposedly resembles a human form. And was formerly, and widely used in medicine and magic, allegedly shrieking when pulled from the ground.” 

They look like people. 

If you Google what mandrakes look like (which I did…) — they look— oh, God, I can’t even. I can’t. I can’t. I did, but now I can’t. They look like people. And like the definition said, they were used for medicine or witchcraft.

Now, fun fact, going to — oh what’s the word I’m looking for?…technical? If you wanna get technical, “Let’s get technical, technical”. The word “witchcraft” in the Bible in the New Testament, is *struggles with pronouncing it*. Ugh, Google…”pharmacy word in Greek”…“pharm-a-ko”! I knew what it was. I could see it in my brain; but couldn’t pronounce it. So, excuse me. 

Pharmako. Pharmako is “medicine” but also can be translated as “witchcraft”. So, the two are very, very similar. If you look at all of the drugs in the world, there is — I mean people use them for “enlightenment,” to “have an experience”. It’s witchcraft, ok?

Now, mandrakes we’re used for medicine and magic. It’s the same thing. Pharmako. Witchcraft.

So, you can clearly see here that Rachel was turning to the wrong form of how to get pregnant here. So, later on when Leah starts having more children and you know the next time that Jacob laid with Rachel she didn’t get pregnant. So, her turning to the things of this world didn’t actually work in her favor because she didn’t even get pregnant from that.  

And, it wasn’t until later — years later — Leah had many children after that. And then in verse 22 of charter 30, “Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. ‘God has removed my disgrace,’ she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, ‘May the Lord add yet another son to my family.’”

So then after this she’s still honoring God — which is amazing — even after she turned away, or turned towards the things of this world, turns toward (more than likely) witchcraft to get pregnant, she acknowledged God. And that’s awesome. 

But later, Jacob flees from Laban. And as he’s fleeing, Laban catches up to him, and he’s like, “Why did you have to deceive me like this? Why’d you run away like a thief in the night? Like, what the heck? You’ve been here with me forever, why are you leaving? And while you left, did you have to steal my gods too?” And Jacob says, “‘I rushed away because I [thought] I was afraid,’ Jacob answered. ‘I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!’ But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols. Laban went first into Jacob’s tent…” and then Rachel lies and says, “Oh, I’m having my monthly period. Please don’t ask me to get up.” Because she was sitting on the idols!

So, this bit of context is important because, like I said, it gives context to why Rachel turned to the mandrakes. She was familiar with the idols in her father’s household. So, she turned to something familiar. She turned to the things of this world, to witchcraft because it was already prevalent in her house (by these idols). So why wouldn’t she turn to it in hopes that she would get pregnant? So, she was already very familiar with it. 

And that just speaks volumes of why people are so attracted to witchcraft. So, when you’re really thinking about it, she was already accustomed to her father’s idols because she lived with them for God knows how many years. So in today's time, why this is so important for me to talk about this, and why it’s so relevant, is because if you just look on Disney+, if you look on Netflix, if you look on Hulu, whatever Marvel is doing (especially with Marvel; oh my gosh it’s so bad), and billboards on the side of the road, people on Instagram, TikTok, these influencers - they are promoting witchcraft so heavily, and they’re trying to desensitize you to it. That, “Oh, I saw this on Netflix.” “Oh, I saw this online, so let me look into it.” And then when you start looking into it, you open doors. And that’s how you get trapped, that’s how you get oppressed. 

So, for the purpose of the original topic of witchcraft and pregnancy — don’t even attempt to go down that route. I know it goes without saying for some people, but some people are obviously attracted to that and turning to it. Don’t! Please don’t, I’m begging you, don’t do it. You don’t know what you’re getting into. You're gonna get trapped. You’re gonna be oppressed. And, if you’re not strong enough, something may terribly go wrong. It’s just not a good idea to go down that route. It’s not good for yourself. It’s not good for your soul. And, it’s definitely not good for a child that you’re wanting to bring into this world. For sure. Not a good thing.

So, if you really look back at Rachel’s story. It started off great. She was the favored one of Jacob. She was the most beautiful of the sisters. She was it. You would expect to have lots of children because of how much Jacob loved her. 

Not the case. 

So, if you really think back on it, her story — I’m assuming, because I was literally just praying about this the other day (yesterday, in fact) — she probably had her whole life planned out and already to go. Didn’t even imagine that infertility would be a part of her story. And then Laban does his trickery, and comes in and throws her plan out the window. I’m assuming that’s what she was thinking. But if you really — in hindsight 20-20 — if you really look back at her story, she had to go through all of that heartache, all of those delays to get her heart in the right place for when God did bless her, she knew what she wanted to name her son, her first son, her firstborn. And God gave her Joseph at that time for a specific reason because he would save all of Egypt and his entire household. He—just like the saying from Esther— he was born for such a time as this. And we can’t see that in the now. We can only see it in hindsight 20-20, when everything has hit the fan. When everything has gone wrong, and we’re finally humbled enough to just let God be God.

For those that are going into things of this world to try and promote their pregnancy — you’re trying to be God. 

Imma let that sit for a little bit. 

Because even me saying that is like, “oh my gosh, I’ve been trying to be God for a couple of years now trying to get me and my husband pregnant to have a family.” Going the vitamin route, which like I mentioned “Pharmako” = medicine; which is the same word as witchcraft. Now, I’m not saying all medicine is bad because God enabled doctors to create medicine and all that stuff. Heck, I live with medicine every single day. If I don’t have it, I die. Like, I have to have my medicine. 

But the motives behind those vitamins, the tracking, all of that. The motives were wrong. And, I was trying to play God.

You’re not God, you can’t be. 

He is on the throne. He is the ultimate authority, and nothing happens without His say-so. 

So don’t play God. 

Don’t go through the witchcraft route. As I’ve been saying, it’s oppressive. It’s going to get you bound and trapped. And it’s only going to take one open door— one try, if you go through the incantations, if you go through the spells, if you go through even using crystals and salt lamps…All of that is witchcraft. If you even attempt to go down that route. You’re opening the door. And that is like a sign to the enemy, “Oh, ok, they’re already opening the door. Let me go through and start getting them oppressed and attracted more into this. And get them deeper and deeper and deeper into this hell-hole” (that’s what it is). Don’t do it. I am so serious, and I’m begging you; don’t do it!

Because in Revelation it says that those who practice witchcraft = not going into heaven. Not welcome into the Kingdom. There's a place prepared for them specifically and it’s away from God. 

It’s an eternal separation from God, and you don’t want that. You do not want that. 

Don’t— oh what’s the word I’m looking for? Don’t give up something eternal for something temporary. Don’t tr— that’s the word — don’t trade off a temporary happiness for an eternal separation from God. Eternal depression. Eternal death. You don’t want it. 

As much as it sucks to hear: wait a little while, stop worrying; God has got a plan. 

God still hasn’t opened my husband or myself up for children yet— even with the promise of children, He has still withheld the opening of the womb from us. And every time I try and speak out, something happens to make me close back up and not say anything. And every single time I do that, it’s the Holy Spirit coming in and saying, “What did I tell you to do? Sing, o childless woman.” 

If you sing, you have to open your mouth. It sucks, but you have to sing. 

That’s why there’s so many delays with these podcasts is because every time I’ve opened my mouth to say something, the enemy has come in against me to silence my voice. I have gotten sick every single time. Because, what I have to say is important. Other women need to hear this. So, I’m going to keep singing, and if I take a break, I take a break. I have a life. I have a job. I have a husband. I’ve got things to do. So, if I take a break, I take a break — there’s grace. But, it’s not going to silence me forever.

I’m going to repeat this again. 

Don’t trade an eternal decision for a temporary happiness. All the things of this world will fade away. Even the heavens will be shaken. The only thing that will not fail is the Word of God. 

And if He’s made a promise to you, He’s going to fulfill it. 

Signing off until next time.