Through a series of circumstances, the Holy Spirit, Lisa says, the couple found themselves using NFP. The family lives in Mill Valley, but has been involved with telling other couples about their experiences through Bill and Pat Turrentine, who are NFP teachers at St. Dominic Parish.
“It changed everything. It changed our marriage. It changed how we viewed sex ourselves and, even though it was just quote unquote ‘birth control,’ it affected how we saw sexuality,” Lisa said.
The Murphys had two children, but Lisa had some precancerous cells discovered after the first baby so she shifted from taking hormonal birth control to an IUD. (The Pill has been implicated in increased risk for some kinds of cancer.) Jack always wanted four children, but coming from a traditional Catholic background in Long Island, he thought of NFP as an easy way to end up with 10 children, Lisa said.
“He is almost 4. We have continued to use NFP,” and times have been rocky financially. But the Murphys are convicted of the power of NFP to help their faith and their marriage.
“I think especially for me as a woman, it makes a huge difference to really respect the power I have in my body for life,” Lisa said.
“We see it as a more cooperative relationship between us and God,” Lisa said.
The couple is open to discussing this very personal turn their marriage has taken because others’ testimony affected them, Lisa said. “A friend had shared in a moms’ group that she used NFP. I remember thinking she was crazy. When I started discerning, that was who I turned to. That’s why I am not shy to talk about it.
