I've heard it many times...the excitement in her voice when she tells me she's expecting. I've heard hours worth of discussion on how being pregnant is the best feeling in the world.
I've also seen and heard the misery as that ever looming due date draws close. I've heard about the heart burn, the miserable discomfort, the sleepless nights, the restroom stops, the phantom contractions, the waiting. Oh, the waiting. Waiting on the dream to come.
And, I've been there at the bedsides of life when my friends have lost their sweet gifts. The lives they looked forward to holding and loving in the real world slips from their hands. I've lived their agony with them and done my best to carry them through. My heart still breaks now as I think of those God inspired lives lost from their mothers' arms until eternity's peace brings them back again.
I've never been pregnant with a child. I've never had that privilege. In same ways that gift seems almost illusive. But I have been pregnant with a dream. In my mind this invisible pregnancy is just as real. The joy is real. The pain is every so real.
I've felt the agony of that dream being ripped from my soul. I've laid on floors with my heart bare before God. I waited up for hours in the night. I've
burned with deep passion. Hoping. Praying. Waiting. Waiting on the dream to be birthed, hoping no more, but experiencing the actualization of my dream.
burned with deep passion. Hoping. Praying. Waiting. Waiting on the dream to be birthed, hoping no more, but experiencing the actualization of my dream.
You've been there too. I feel that from you.
I'm still there now. Pregnant with a promise, hoping on a dream.
Waiting sometimes seems to be all there is to do, but thank God there is more. Much more.
First, we must grow our relationship with Christ. We will have to sacrifice some of our own wants to get closer to Him. We have to make room for Him in our life. Jesus must be #1 above anything or anyone else. Yes, he must be before our kids. He must be before our husband (or boyfriends or dogs).
We grow in our relationship with God by getting back to the basics. Reading our Bibles. Praying everyday. Fasting to kill our sinful nature. Fellowshipping with other godly believers who will help us grow.
I guess we could call these elements our Lamaze coaches. They help regulate our breathing and they help us know when to push. We need the presence of Christ, the wisdom of His Word, and the sanctuary of His people to see our birthing season through.
We need each other and we need Christ.
Second, we must start somewhere. Do something. Quit waiting on God to magically open the one door in front of you and look for another door that is open. When God gives you a dream, start talking about it. Get it in our mind and in your mouth. See it start to happen. It won't be long until you find your dream is right in front of you.
Last, we must never, ever give up.
In Galatians 6:9 Paul wrote, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Waiting is difficult, but that doesn't mean we just give up. Maybe the reason your dream hasn't shown up in our life is because God is using the hardships, the trials, the waiting to produce character in you.
Does labor hurt? Yes. It's supposed to hurt. But remember, "pain may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5).
Don't let the waiting and pain and hurt keep you from the joy of a dream fully birthed.
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