A Grand Adventure

I know a bunch of sweet ladies who are expecting babies right now.  In fact, I know so many women who are pregnant, I’m afraid to drink the water around here. I am kidding! 

You know, when you first find out you are expecting a baby you are filled with so much joy and excitement that you almost feel like you are going to burst. Some women see those two pink lines on the pregnancy test and immediately start calling every person they know to share the news with.  Others, are more reserved, savoring this time, holding on to that special secret till they are comfortable sharing the news with family and friends.

Whether you shout your pregnancy news from the mountain tops or calmly spill the beans at the 12 week mark, there is still so much excitement and anticipation early on in pregnancy.  You ponder such questions as: Will the baby be a boy or girl? Wonder if it will have my eyes or hair? Will it love Elvis music as much as I do – oh wait, maybe I’m the only one who pondered that, ha!

While you may be suffering from morning sickness or the need to constantly go to the ladies room, you still look like yourself.  No one would know you were pregnant unless you told them. (Unless you are expecting baby number two, three, four, etc. then your baby bump just pops out immediately!) Being pregnant, especially with your first baby, is new and fresh.  A grand adventure you have only just begun.

Isn’t that similar to how we are when we are new Christians? We accept Christ as our Savior and our lives are instantly different.  You cannot go back to who you were.  After all, you are a new creation (“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Cor. 5:17). Some of us, so on fire for God, we tell anyone and everyone who will listen about Jesus.  While others hold on to this news, this Good News, not quite sure who to share it with or how they will go about this new life, but joyful and excited about this new journey.

By your seventh or eighth month of pregnancy, you feel a bit weary.  You are tired from getting up a bunch of times all through the night for various reasons.  Your back hurts, or your feet are swollen, or a food you once loved and craved is now the grossest thing in the world to you (I’m talking about you potato soup!)  You are excited about the baby’s arrival but you are really hoping these weeks would hurry up and pass already.  You are still you, but not the “you” that you used to be.  Your belly is letting the world know either you are expecting a baby or just swallowed a giant watermelon. Your feet may have gone up a shoe size. Or maybe your once straight hair is now wavy.

That time in pregnancy reminds me so much of valleys we sometimes face in our daily Christian walk.  We are still excited about Christ but some of that “newness” has worn off.  We love the Lord but sometimes we allow the trials of daily life to take our focus off of Jesus.  We make some changes in our life that will more align us with our faith but there may be some unpleasant, even painful consequences to that. 

While those nine months of pregnancy (ok, really more like ten months, about 80 percent of women deliver their babies sometime between 37 and 42 weeks) pass by, you are busy preparing.  You set up the baby’s room, get advice from other moms, read child rearing books, and pack the all important hospital bag (your own slippers, don’t leave home without them).

Isn’t that true of how we go about living our lives as Christian women? We are preparing for eternity in heaven:  Attending a church and making it your home, reading your Bible consistently, maintaining communication with God through a vibrant prayer life, and enjoying the fellowship of other Christian women.

I have to tell you that I have learned so much about the Lord and grown in my faith by having strong, Christian ladies around me.  They have taught me and encouraged me in so many ways.  If you are missing this in your life right now, please pray for God to open this door for you and bring it to you.  You weren’t meant to live life on your own.

Then, just when you think you really can’t handle being pregnant one more day, when you feel you have truly had enough.  You feel like your belly just can’t stretch anymore and you wonder if you will ever fit in to your favorite jeans again.  When you reach that point when you just want this baby to come out, you go another week and blow past your due date. 

But…  Finally the big day arrives! You deliver your baby! And then!  Then my friend, everything you thought you knew about being a mother, all flies out the window. 

It’s different and awesome and wonderfully better than you ever could have imagined!

That’s what I believe it will be like when we go and meet Jesus face to face.  You have waited and waited.  You have pondered, thought, daydreamed about what this would be like.  You’ve endured trials, troubles, and tribulations.  You have finished the race as Paul says. (“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7). You see the nail scarred hands of Jesus, and then…  Then my friend, everything you thought you knew about being a Christian, all flies out the window.

 It’s different and awesome and wonderfully better than you ever could have imagined!