He may delay because it would not be safe to give us at once what we ask: we are not ready for it. To give ere we could truly receive, would be to destroy the very heart and hope of prayer, to cease to be our Father. The delay itself may work to bring us nearer to our help, to increase the desire, perfect the prayer, and ripen the receptive condition.- George Macdonald

Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work. – Peter Marshall

I am currently 37.5 weeks into my third pregnancy with my third daughter. I feel amazing and sometimes feel like slapping my face in the morning or something because I am so happy. As any pregnant woman, I have had some hiccups in the pregnancy, (nausea in the first trimester and a bad bout of eczema in the second) but overall I can honestly say this has been my smoothest and best pregnancy yet! In the last week or so, I have begun to “nest” which means that the house must be clean (there is nothing so satisfying to a pregnant mom than a very clean and organized house!! ok, well, this pregnant mom, anyways.) I have thought about this little girl inside of me, prayed for her, visualized her birth (which will be fulfilling a long time dream of mine to give birth at home), and talked about how this little girl is going to change our family forever with her beauty, grace, and smile.

Whether or not you have gone through pregnancy yourself, you must know that it is a time full of anticipation. I remember when I was pregnant with Grace, I read every book I could get my hands on and diligently avoided any sort of substance that could possibly harm her while she was in utero. Lunch meat, sushi, and medicine of any kind was off limits. Oh, and my beloved favorite morning latte was exchanged for decaf. Joel and I attended Bradley Method Childbirth classes to educate us and make us aware of how I should prepare my mind and body for the time when labor and birth would come. I loved the class so much that I am now a teacher myself. Like every pregnant woman, I heard horror stories of women who labored for days on end and had excruciating experiences. They scared me to death and I often found myself having to work through fears of what my own labor experience would be like. After a few of these stories, I got smart and started blocking my ears to these negative messages of all the bad things that could happen.

As prepared as I had made myself for birth, nothing could truly prepare me for the day when my water broke over 4 weeks early and my birth plan had to be altered from a home birth to a hospital birth in a matter of an hour. I simply wasn’t ready for her to come, but she came anyways! With Chesed (my second daughter), i found myself wishing that she would arrive early like Grace did – simply because I got so anxious and uncomfortable in my last month. I was so ready for her to arrive that I felt like I was going crazy! But, as with every birth, I couldn’t determine when she would come and she blessed me by arriving one week early. This time around, i find myself much less anxious about it all. I am not anxious for her to come today, nor am I afraid if she does. I am simply expectant for her arrival, whenever God has determined that will be. It frees me to enjoy every day as it comes.

You may not have a child or know what it is like to go though a pregnancy or a birth. But you do know what it is like to wait for something you really, really want. Maybe its the “perfect job” or a husband or wife. Maybe it is for a loved one to arrive home safe from service in the military abroad or to come through a major surgery. Not all waiting is marked with such a high level of anticipation. Waiting is something we all must experience every day. Whether it is waiting in line for your coffee or waiting for traffic to move forward, we must all wait. The question is: What kind of a waiter will you be? An expectant one or an anxious one? The definition of “expectant” is simply “one who is looking forward to something.” The definition of anxious, on the other hand is “Experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” They are entirely different postures of the mind or heart. One is positive and one is negative and we have the choice every day about whether we will embrace one or the other.

The Bible says that God loves and looks for those who are expectant for Him to move. Psalm 14:2 in the Message version reads, “GOD sticks his head out of heaven. He looks around. He’s looking for someone not stupid— one man, even, God-expectant, just one God-ready woman.” He not only is eagerly watching for those who are waiting expectantly for Him to move, He also directly tells us not to worry (0r be anxious) about anything. However, if you are human, you will worry! God prescribes prayer as the remedy for our anxieties in Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” 

What are you worried or anxious about today, child of God? your Father knows all of your needs, all of your desires, all of your cares before you even tell Him about them. But He wants you to tell Him anyways! To cast every care into His loving, fatherly arms and to leave them there. And then, with all the heavy weights and worries gone, to embrace an expectation of what God wants to and will do in your current circumstances. To pray with faith towards that which is unseen by man, but already determined by God.