NFP the Catholic form of birth control?

Interestingly, while we were engaged and during the first part of our marriage another couple confronted us with the question, "Isn't Natural Family Planning just the Catholic version of birth control?" This perplexed me and I didn't know quite how to answer. I certainly never thought of it like that before. Perhaps I just needed a few years of marriage under my belt to be able to say, "No it's 'not. It's not at all." (I hope that the next part of this post is not too personal, but I feel compelled to share the beauty of where we find ourselves right now).

With our youngest angel only four months old and with the confusion that breastfeeding can cause with respect to NFP, we've been delving deep into the beauty that periods of abstaining can bring to a marriage. What graces we have been given!! Praise God that He has allowed us to grow so much during this time. At times it has been a temptation to think that couples who use birth control really do have it better. Externally it appears that everything is wonderful for these couples and that their relationship is strong and beautiful, which may be true, especially for those who have not had the Catholic formation we have been blessed to have (a big thanks to our parents for that). However, we've been discussing how in these relationships it's not necessarily a matter of what is, but a matter of what cannot be with the use of birth control, with the withholding of fertility in the union of spouses. In our current situation we've been given the grace to see very, very clearly that NFP is in fact not at all equivalent to birth control. Yes, we are trying to avoid pregnancy, but the approach is rightly ordered because we are using our sexuality according to God's design and not according to our own. All too often we think about our sexuality serving us and our marriage. The Creator of our sexuality in His infinite wisdom knows so much better than we do. He has better plans for us than that. It's been extremely powerful to pray that our sexuality be at the service of God and that it always be pleasing to Him. This has certainly not been easy, and of course sexuality is a very important part of marriage (which is why we are now learning the Creighton method with the hopes that we can be a bit healthier about abstaining). However, there is far more beauty with a rightly ordered sexuality than this poor culture of ours can even begin to understand. I hope that we can be God's vessels to share with others the wonderful joy that it is to use His gifts as they were designed to be used.