Good morning…
On January 6th, 2022, the Spirit of God spurred me to write an email to a pregnant young mom in our church family. As her due date came closer my regular prayers for her intensified, giving birth to the email exchange I share with you now.
“Hello there,” I wrote, and the following words tumbled onto the page.
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I am thinking of you this morning in an extra deep way, praying that you are through COVID symptoms and looking ahead to delivering this lucky baby. I remember when I was pregnant with my second, I thought to myself, “How am I ever going to have enough love to go around? I am stretched so thin now with just the needs of one child. God how will I ever parent two well?”
I was particularly worried about the morning routine since our oldest son woke really early each day. I would get up with him in the dark and quietly nurse him in the rocker for his first year. Then when he started eating real food, we kept the ritual going. I would wake with him in the dark and rock him until his little feet were ready to hit the ground. I feared severing this quiet routine we had established since the day of his birth to take care of the needs of a newborn. What a great growing ground for sibling rivalry I thought. Gain a sibling, lose your mom each morning.
Our second child was due the day after our son’s second birthday. She came on her due date and has been a stickler for details ever since!
God graciously made our daughter a really good sleeper, right from the start. She wanted nothing to do with the early morning hours, so my son and I got to keep our morning ritual until he was ready to give it up naturally and once our son was off doing his toddler thing, then our daughter would wake and I would nurse and rock her privately. Miraculously there was enough time and love to go around. And the extra benefits were so wonderful, seeing my son care for his little sister and watching my daughter light up with his attention. God’s love just seemed to multiply in our home in uncanny ways, our few fishes and loaves fed us all a feast. We loved it so much we added two more. The miracle of abundance expanded right before our eyes.
Our family of four kids came out of our four years of infertility and our four miscarriages, so I have always felt extra blessed to have children at all. I know you also have wrestled with some similar challenges and I truly believe you will experience the same fishes and loaves abundance as you prepare to welcome into your home baby number two.
I think I am spurred to share all of this today since today is our son’s 27th birthday and tomorrow our daughter will turn 25 years old. What blessings they have brought into my life and what incredible love has multiplied among the six of us. I am praying that you also feel such joyful multiplication of God’s love in your welcoming home.
Please know that my prayers for you continue.
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Her loving response came by evening. “Hello, Sue,” her email began.
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Thank you for your beautiful message and for your heartfelt thoughts and prayers. I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Your experiences resonate so much with me. We went through five years of infertility and two miscarriages and are so blessed to have our little daughter and excited for this next one… and at the same time I have a lot of anxiety about how we are going to do this with two kids. It’s hard to imagine how we will be able to give the right care to both kids (and somehow take care of ourselves too, as best we can in the midst of sleep deprivation and everything else that comes with it).
Your message is heartening and I know that God has got this. I never could have imagined the love that I have for my daughter, and I have a feeling my heart is going to burst when I see her with her little sister or brother. We have a similar situation with close birthdays – her birthday is Jan 20th and I’m scheduled to be induced Jan 18th!
Happy happy birthday to your son and daughter. They are so lucky to have you as their Mom. Thank you, Sue. Your message today is so comforting to me.
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Today is Jan 18th, the special day this amazing young woman is giving birth to their second child. My thoughts and prayers envelop her from afar as her pregnant worry gives birth to the mysterious multiplication of love in their family of four. She is so right, God has got this!
As a follower of Jesus, I follow the loving path blazed by the first followers of Christ. Paul says this in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (TPT). Even though we could have imposed upon you our demands as apostles of Christ, instead we showed you kindness and were gentle among you. (Some reliable manuscripts have “We became like little children (infants) among you.”) We cared for you in the same way a nursing mother cares for her own children. With a mother’s love and affectionate attachment to you, we were very happy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our lives—because you had become so dear to us. (The footnote reads: True ministry is caring for others with a father’s love and a mother’s love—not exerting control or abusive authority over those whom we serve.)
So as I await the news that a special new sibling is born into our world today, I feel like a second mom nurturing a nursing mother. With a mother’s love and affectionate attachment, I am so happy to share the gospel of God, as well as my daily life, with so many of you who have become deeply dear to me. Through our own vulnerable bodies pregnant with worry, God births an expanding ministry of gentle, loving presence.
And let gentleness be seen in every relationship, for our Lord is ever near (Philippians 4:5, TPT).
…Sue…
