I'm sitting at my desk and working hard to get all I have to accomplish done 
for family & children's ministries this week at our church. Meanwhile I have a precious little baby growing inside of me who is making his/her presence known in my body more and more each day! In fact this baby has been kicking me for the past 20 minutes straight, which is making me start to feel hungry and begging me to ask this question to my unborn child: "Yes? May I help you with something?"
Being pregnant and being in ministry is a fun combination. I'm sure other moms will testify that the months prior to a baby being born are both exhausting and exhilirating! I'm currently heading into my third trimester and I'm quite aware of the "nesting" that is happening both at work and at home. Suddenly I can see every crack in the wall of the preschool room at church, and find myself going through paint chips for the church nursery and our new child's room at the same time. At work every flaw in our children's programming feels gigantic, and I have this sometimes overwhelming feeling that I need to re-vamp our entire children's ministry program...just because. Don't get me wrong, I'm very aware that in less than three months I'll be leaving my post in the capable hands of someone else, and will simply have to 'let it go' until I return from my maternity leave. But it's a reminder that having "life" growing inside of you, makes you do EXTREME things.
Last week I realized that there is a part of me that feels invinceable when I'm pregnant. Afterall, if my body is made capable of nurturing, growing and sustaining a whole other life inside of me while I continue to function as a spouse, mother, pastor and friend...what CAN'T I accomplish?! Or so I reason. It's a strange 'I am woman, hear me roar' kind of feeling to say the least, but the life within me makes me feel strong and excited. Although at times I forget that I'm wearing elasticized pants and baggy shirts for a reason, it's when I feel this sudden kick in my abdomin that I'm reminded...oh yeah, someone else is there.
Without trying to be sacreligious, it's the closest physical resemblance to having the Holy Spirit living within me. We know the Holy Spirit abides in the life of a believer who has confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour. However, there are few times that we feel an actual physical kick in our gut to remind us that He is there and present. Yet He is. I'm thankful we have spiritual 'nudges' and sometimes even 'quickenings' in our hearts that tell us that God is trying to get our attention. The longer we have been aware of the Holy Spirit's presence, we begin to recognize how He communicates to us, and we stop mistaking it, in a way similar to first trimester 'butterflies'. But what if we made the effort to continually be aware of the Spirit's life within us? What if we carried within us not just a feeling, but the knowing that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us? What if we responded to the growing knowledge of His presence in our lives? What could we accomplish then, even though extreme?
I get really busy doing my job which is all for Jesus anyway, and I almost need that physical nudge to remind me to stop doing things in my own strength. We have the greatest resource available to us as believers that brings us life, strength, focus, encouragement, and sometimes simple and pure joy-like the promise of new life coming.
God, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit living within me.
Thank you, not only for the new life that is living within me, but the Life that is within me because of your Son Jesus' sacrifice.
Help me to embrace new life today.
for family & children's ministries this week at our church. Meanwhile I have a precious little baby growing inside of me who is making his/her presence known in my body more and more each day! In fact this baby has been kicking me for the past 20 minutes straight, which is making me start to feel hungry and begging me to ask this question to my unborn child: "Yes? May I help you with something?"Being pregnant and being in ministry is a fun combination. I'm sure other moms will testify that the months prior to a baby being born are both exhausting and exhilirating! I'm currently heading into my third trimester and I'm quite aware of the "nesting" that is happening both at work and at home. Suddenly I can see every crack in the wall of the preschool room at church, and find myself going through paint chips for the church nursery and our new child's room at the same time. At work every flaw in our children's programming feels gigantic, and I have this sometimes overwhelming feeling that I need to re-vamp our entire children's ministry program...just because. Don't get me wrong, I'm very aware that in less than three months I'll be leaving my post in the capable hands of someone else, and will simply have to 'let it go' until I return from my maternity leave. But it's a reminder that having "life" growing inside of you, makes you do EXTREME things.
Last week I realized that there is a part of me that feels invinceable when I'm pregnant. Afterall, if my body is made capable of nurturing, growing and sustaining a whole other life inside of me while I continue to function as a spouse, mother, pastor and friend...what CAN'T I accomplish?! Or so I reason. It's a strange 'I am woman, hear me roar' kind of feeling to say the least, but the life within me makes me feel strong and excited. Although at times I forget that I'm wearing elasticized pants and baggy shirts for a reason, it's when I feel this sudden kick in my abdomin that I'm reminded...oh yeah, someone else is there.
Without trying to be sacreligious, it's the closest physical resemblance to having the Holy Spirit living within me. We know the Holy Spirit abides in the life of a believer who has confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour. However, there are few times that we feel an actual physical kick in our gut to remind us that He is there and present. Yet He is. I'm thankful we have spiritual 'nudges' and sometimes even 'quickenings' in our hearts that tell us that God is trying to get our attention. The longer we have been aware of the Holy Spirit's presence, we begin to recognize how He communicates to us, and we stop mistaking it, in a way similar to first trimester 'butterflies'. But what if we made the effort to continually be aware of the Spirit's life within us? What if we carried within us not just a feeling, but the knowing that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us? What if we responded to the growing knowledge of His presence in our lives? What could we accomplish then, even though extreme?
I get really busy doing my job which is all for Jesus anyway, and I almost need that physical nudge to remind me to stop doing things in my own strength. We have the greatest resource available to us as believers that brings us life, strength, focus, encouragement, and sometimes simple and pure joy-like the promise of new life coming.
God, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit living within me.
Thank you, not only for the new life that is living within me, but the Life that is within me because of your Son Jesus' sacrifice.
Help me to embrace new life today.
