Like a woman in labour

Conceiving your dream

"I have held My peace a long time, 
I have been still and restrained 
Myself. Now I will cry like 
a woman in labor." Isaiah 42:14

Anyone who has been close to a pregnant woman or who has experienced pregnancy for themselves knows that a pregnant woman does not behave normally. Her whole body is geared towards nourishing and protecting the growing child within her. Her sole preoccupation is to deliver this child into the world and into her arms - fit, healthy and well.

We should be in a similar state when we are "pregnant" with our dreams and goals. We have to nourish and protect the fragile dream growing within us.

The secret to receiving what you want is to become pregnant with your dream or idea in such a way that your sole preoccupation is in bringing this dream into existence. This process involves fighting our doubts and our fears.

A pregnant woman has to fight the doubts that her child might be born with some defect or health problem. In the same way we have to resist the doubts that something will go wrong with our idea or dream. We've got to ignore the (perhaps) well-intentioned advice we can get from others to just abort the idea.

One woman I know was told that the baby she carried had an 80% chance of being born with Down's Syndrome, and doctors recommended that she abort the child. She refused to listen to them. By her faith she told God that she knew that her child would be born healthy and she refused to kill the new life growing within her, seeing this as God's gift to her.

What was the outcome? Did this woman give birth to a child who would be a burden to her for the rest of her life? No, this woman's child was born perfectly healthy. She conquered her doubts by her faith and we need to do the same. When doubts assail us we need to fight back with faith, putting down the flaming arrows of the devil. It is now more than ever that we have to use the shield of faith to protect the yet unborn child within us.

Husbands, think. How would you behave if someone tried to attack your pregnant wife? You would jealously guard and protect her from all harm. So, we too need to jealously guard and protect the dreams within us, the dreams that we are pregnant with.

Pregnant women are well known for behaving irrationally and doing strange things, sometimes having bizarre cravings for unusual foods because they contain the necessary minerals and nutrients that the growing child requires. We too need to feed our idea - by faith.

Just as a pregnant woman visualizes a picture in her mind of one day holding her child in her arms and being rewarded for all the long months of painful waiting, we too need to visualize our own picture, the image of our dream in our mind, and not let go of it.

Pregnancy involves discomfort and inconvenience. Parts of a woman's body which would normally behave in one way, now behave in another - she cannot sleep at night, her appetite increases, her need for affection from her husband increases, her anticipation of the pain of childbirth increases.

All this because she is willing to carry and give birth to her child. She knows that the worst pain awaits her, the pain of childbirth. And yet she has the strength of mind to continue till the end, knowing that the pain will be forgotten when she holds her child for the first time. She draws strength from the faith that all will be well and that this day will come soon.

Take great care of the fragile dream growing within your heart. It is the Holy Spirit's gift to you - let it grow big and strong!

Fight the doubts.

Feed the baby.

Keep your dream in your mind!

Quote:

"Fight the doubts. Feed the baby."