Pregnant With Promise

Sunday morning (the 20th) I felt spiritually pregnant with actual physical indications of labor. It's a little difficult to put into words what I was experiencing, but I feel that it is important that I do.

I could physically feel a spiritual reality, I was physically experiencing a spiritual reality. LCF (My church) has been spiritually pregnant with promise... and we are now 'full term'. THere have been many times where it felt like labor was in process - but that was the body preparing. The water has broken, the promise is in position and we must begin to push.

In our lamaze classes, when we were pregnant with our first child, the course had described the stages of labor, physically and emotionally. In the beginning there are a few good pains, but it is manageable pain and the woman giving birth is still bale to communicate.... she can focus outside of her self... but as the labor progresses the woman eventually ends up where the pain is so tremendous that it takes all of her energy and everything she has left just to focus on breathing and birthing the child. The only thing you may hear from here is a deep, laborious groan.

Sunday morning all I could do was that groan. It reminded me very much of being in that final stage of labor.. being in that zone where all that mattered is finishing this process... giving birth. All I could hear was 'push' and all I wanted to do was push.

There is also a stage in physical labor where the woman feels so tired and worn out.. like she can not possibly endure anymore of this. I can even remember uttering "I can't do this" ... I wanted to give up... but I knew that I could not. To give up would kill me and the baby. The nurses and my husband encouraged me to keep going and to keep enduring .. to birth this baby. Our bodies tell our brain that "hey this hurts, quit it, do what it takes to remove the discomfort. " the flesh is resistent because of the pain.

So with this understanding, this is what God is saying, not only to us, but to anyone who is pregnant with promise.
John 16:21-22 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. NIV

I am so excited that I really don't know how to express myself. I feel like laughing, I feel like I could cry, I am excited that I could run, but nervous at what it all entails.

We are experiencing turmoil because OUR TIME HAS COME. We are about ti give birth to our promise and experience God in ways we can not possibly imagine. Discouragement is present because our flesh is resistant to discomfort. We must encourage one another to press in and to continue to press on. If we die emotionally and spiritually because of giving into that discouragement... that promise dies with us. The anguish is temporary, where the eventual joy is eternal and can NOT be taken from you.

I was not the only one who experienced this yesterday. I really believe that this is part of why we are to rejoice when we experience the trials and tribulations... because the hardest part of labor is right before the baby is born. So when you are in great turmoil, praise His name and hold on to Him for strength to endure until your promise is birthed. When you behold your promise, the anguish is forgotten and the journey will be worth it!

Kizzie