Sallie mentioned recently that we’ve come to a point in our pregnancy where Little Miss Peanut would have a chance of making it if she was born prematurely. This is a great comfort, but we want her to remain in Mommy for the next 14 weeks and grow to full-term and be healthy. Okay, maybe 12 weeks – we’re really looking forward to meeting her!
I look at Sallie’s baby bump and can see that we’re heading into the home stretch. This is really a wonderful time of anticipation. And Little Miss Peanut is really bumping around in there! Sallie is cherishing this time.
Sallie mentioned in a recent post about our journey through childlessness that our journey is not over yet. We’re not “out of the woods” yet. But when do we really come “out of the woods”? As much as we don’t like to think about it, there is no guarantee that any child will live a full life after she’s born.
When Little Miss Peanut is born, the Lord won’t be telling us, “Here she is. You’ll have a great full life with her and wait ’til you see the grandchildren she’ll give you in 2031.” We don’t get those guarantees. So how are we to face these realities?
When I married Sallie, I was so thankful that the Lord had brought me His best. Then I started to struggle with the fear of losing her. In a sense, I felt in my heart an attitude of “Thank you God for bringing me such a wonderful wife. Now please don’t take her away!” It’s not about gratitude at that moment. It’s more about something that Sallie’s father and I discuss at times: control.
We all want control. Much of life is about trying to be in control. We all want to feel we are in control of our circumstances. Our income will be stable, our children obedient, our home all organized, the government will do the right thing, Al Queda will never attack us again like on 9-11, etc. James 4:14 is very clear when it tells us that we do not know what will happen tomorrow, so we get no assurances or ultimate control over our circumstances. But, we are encouraged to deal with them with the Lord’s help one day at a time. Our lives will contain trouble at times, and Paul tells us how to respond to life in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.” We deal with life as it actually happens, not as it might happen.
That’s why I can rejoice with Kristen and her husband over their long-awaited pregnancy, and their joy over this miracle is so wonderful to read about. After so many years of waiting to find my wife, and then so many years of waiting to have a baby, I finally get to be a Daddy and at the age of 43! This is happy news and it has been a great experience to see others rejoice with me!
So now as we face the last few months of our pregnancy, we could be tempted by the Enemy to worry needlessly and take away our joy and anticipation of meeting Little Miss Peanut. But instead we choose to rejoice at the hope of our soon-to-be-born little girl!