My husband has gifted me with this afternoon to tuck away with the Lord, to ponder and reflect, and to hopefully (finally!) finish this forever procrastinated family photo album, before our lives are transformed forever with the birth of our fourth child.
I am absolutely raw with a myriad of keen emotions. I’m a tangle of joy and thanks and wonder and desperate, trembly prayers.... our homebirth soon (midwife arrives in 10 days!), our nephew due in 8+ weeks, just after the first anniversary of his big sister’s homegoing. Oh those days, these soon... gasping, aching, surrendering prayers.
You LORD, are Good. You are Sovereign. Anchor us to you with your promised sure peace.
“Approach my soul the mercy seat where Holy One and helpless meet. There fall before my Judge’s feet. Thy promise is my only plea. Oh God.... From war without and fear within, relieve the grief from the shoulders of crumbling men.” The theology is sung into my heart (in this free download tune.)
The people we are here for have so few resources but we are wealthy beyond all imagining. Such lyrics, sound theology set to tune to lift my head, fortify my anxious heart... I’m grateful.
And this child inside me... what a wonder! What a gift! I admit that I often have my eyes and heart set about one month out on the calendar, when I hope to be comfortable again and drenched in the bliss of snuggly kissing our littlest babe.
But these uncomfortable days are a gift too. Even my brainlessness and brimming emotion. Sometimes I want to call these all handicaps and only look forward to shrugging them off. There will be goodness at the end of this season but I want to cherish these days now too (most probably my last days ever pregnant....) definitely precious, wonderful GIFT.
Till then, may I treasure and cherish these gifts~
Kicks in the bladder, and crowding nudges on my lungs. Oh these movements! Deep throbbing and strong pressing against my insides and outward from my belly. Sometimes I’ve almost felt immodest if anyone in public were to glance by my belly to see some of this action.... incredible, hilarious, uncomfortable, wonderful, life! Oh to capture all the movement of these knitting needles at work inside me!
One night specifically, laying down to look at my love beside me and feeling a foot push my skin up at least an inch and travel probably 6 inches across my belly! I couldn’t stop laughing for a long time...
The big kids’ inquisitiveness about baby brother / sister??
Their trust that Jesus knows just the right time to open the door for the baby to come out
My dear JJ sending an inflatable pool to labor in- YOU are such a gift JJ! and thanks for the pool too!
Sharing pregnancy with a friend here, when both of us will be missing family at our births, and prayer time with her this week
A healthy pregnancy these 36 weeks
The dear friends who are gladly ready to watch the big kids when the time comes
Maternity clothes hand-me-downs and gifts
The past two days of feeling strangely strong and flexible with only occasional soreness
Sore moments that make me slow down (and walk like I’m 95!)
Old neighbor friends calling this week to check on me
And grateful for these excerpted words from this dear mentor about giving thanks... these words from the Word that are life changing for me... for you?
"It’s only in the uncomfortable places that we can experience the tenderness of the Comforter...
Counting one thousand gifts is to live the radical thanks of Christ. It’s about an exercise in the age to come coming now and finding comfort in the Comforter. It’s the culture of believers really believing, the culture of God and the Blood of the Lamb.
Counting one thousand gifts is about eucharisteo. That is Christ's command. Eucharisteo, that Greek word that expresses what Christ did at the Last Supper: take the bread of pain as grace. Give thanks for that which is hard. Endure the cross, all in view of the joy set before."
Counting one thousand gifts is about eucharisteo. That is Christ's command. Eucharisteo, that Greek word that expresses what Christ did at the Last Supper: take the bread of pain as grace. Give thanks for that which is hard. Endure the cross, all in view of the joy set before."
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