How Pregnancy Changed My Perspective | John 16:16-22 & Matthew 24:3-8

The last time I wrote a blog post, I recounted the story of how God did the miraculous and healed me and my baby the night I found out I was pregnant (My Emergency Room Miracle Story | Jesus Heals). Now, here we are in September: the month I will meet my baby!

Throughout my pregnancy, I haven't had much motivation to write, and I think it is because God wanted me to sit back and take this season in. That is not easy for me as I want to put everything to words pretty quickly, but I needed to just receive what He had for me before I tried to articulate it for others.

With that being said, I have some thoughts that all believers could benefit from, especially as our world continues to get darker and darker.

About a month ago, the Holy Spirit put some of Jesus' words on my mind.

First, John 16:16-22:

“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father." Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you."

Also, Matthew 24:3-8:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains."

We can all agree that it seems as though there is more darkness, division, and evil in our world than ever. It takes about five minutes of the news or one social media scroll to see it. As someone preparing to bring a child into this world, it can be a bit scary and overwhelming. What will my son face? What will things look like as he grows up?

We could choose to focus on all of the negativity and unknown, or as Christ followers, we could look ahead to His promised return. Which one do you find yourself doing more often?

I am not in labor and have not experienced labor pains, but I have experienced the difficulties of pregnancy. Nausea, throwing up, extreme fatigue, leg cramps, back pain, etc. It is not easy and comes with pain! But, the thought of holding my son makes that pain fade to the back of my mind. God used this to show me that I should not let what the enemy is doing in the world keep me from waiting with anticipation for the day that Jesus comes in the clouds.

Back in July, Isaac and I saw Passion in concert, and they sang a song I had never heard before about Jesus' return. It had a line in it that said something along the lines of, "All of the hard times we see, it's just a sign He's getting closer."

Tears formed in my eyes as they sang that out because I realized how wrong my perspective had been. I was not viewing the state of our world with eternal eyes. I was focusing completely on the temporary.

The Apostle Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18,

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

If you have surrendered to Jesus as Lord of your life, you are a Kingdom citizen. Heaven is your home. So, as culture gets darker, let His light and the promise of His Second Coming shine brighter.

Just as I look past the pain of pregnancy and look toward the birth of my son, look past the present darkness and look toward God's eternal light.