birth pangs

Romans 8:22-25 (the message):

“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

So many women around me are pregnant or adopting. Today a dear friend’s baby was born. Another wonderful friend will hold her new baby in a few weeks.

Neither of them carried their little ones in their own wombs, but I have known them both to be pregnant in their hearts for years. Their birth pangs have sometimes been hidden from the world, but I know that has not made them bear down or push any less than a woman who is in physical labor.

My heart rejoices for them as the light dawns on their previously unknown futures. The waiting has ended, and they will hold their babies at last. I can’t imagine a more beautiful picture of faith and patience than these two friends.

I have sown their seeds of faith and patience in my heart. Romans 8 waters the soil. The pain of the world and its troubles is good news, not bad. Hidden away in God, we are all pregnant with what God is birthing in our lives and in the world.

“The longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

There is no epidural for soul contractions. There is only the word of God to calm our anxious hearts, the love of those around us to sweeten the waiting, and the power of the Holy Spirit to carry us along.

We will feel all the pain as we wait. But at the end, we will feel all the joy and forget the overwhelming moments when our hearts longed for what we thought might never come. God’s love will not let us down.

I can’t wait to hold my friends’ babies, look into those cherished faces that are answers to prayers, and see the miracle of love triumph.

It’s a good day to be born, isn’t it?