pregnant with expectation

I feel like I'm pregnant.

I'm not (!) physically, but spiritually, I am.

I am heavy with waiting to birth whatever God is going to birth in me, in us, in this season of Dave-going-back-to-school-and-neither-of-us-is-working-in-the-traditional-sense-of-working-for-a-paycheck.

There is a time in pregnancy when the due date approaches, when the back aches and the waddle exaggerates and just turning over in bed is a special op maneuver and you know your baby can survive outside the womb that cradles... It's at this point you say "Now Lord. I'm ready for this baby to be birthed today. Please, let it be NOW!"

But He says, "Not yet."

So with every passing minute, you wonder if it is the minute for labor to begin. But the minutes keeps ticking into hours, into days, into weeks? Thankfully, those final stretch minutes don't tick into months and the longest I've heard any women going past their due date is three weeks.  A very looong, feels-like-another-trimester three weeks.

This is where I am right now.

Except I don't have the assurance of an end date in sight. Scripture is hardly comforting in this matter if you're looking for God to answer quickly. After all, Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel, Joseph, Hannah, Elizabeth and countless others were waiting years, decades, to hear God's "Now!" And will I be able to wait that long?

Enter: Faith.

It carries us beyond our ability to see, to hear, to bear. Through faith, we ride the current of God's faithfulness to see us through the gestation period. And when I don't think I can bear it one. minute. longer., He reminds me how the ones who waited and trusted in Him were blessed beyond all they could ask or image...

Abraham & Sarah...received a son in the line of Christ
Isaac & Rebekah...blessed with a twins - a double portion
Jacob...returned home with a family, wealth, a new name and to a brother who no longer wanted to kill him
Rachel...birthed a baby who would save his family from starvation
Joseph...elevated to second in command in all of Egypt
Hannah...birthed the prophet who would anoint David king over Israel
Elizabeth... birthed the prophet would would prepare the way for, and baptize, Jesus


Is there something you too wait for in expectation? Or do you have a story to share of a time you waited on God and are now reaping the blessings of waiting in faith? Please share that we may pray and be encouraged.