Waiting Is Not Easy

As the Coronavirus rages around the world, I’m in lockdown waiting for the outbreak to become more manageable and allow us to move around without restrictions upon myself or my family. Honestly, everything reminded me of another season in my life when I spent a lot of time waiting. Can you guess what event I’m talking about?

My twin pregnancy!!

That’s right, back in Spring 2018 my midwife put me on “modified” bedrest for more than 10 weeks, as I waited for my body to go into labor, so Evelyn and Zoey could be born. If you want to take a minute and go read my twin birth story, I’ll wait until you get back. Just click here to read, "Evelyn & Zoey’s Home Birth Story". I just love birth stories and it’s awesome to remember how God was involved in each and every step along the way.

During my twin pregnancy, once I reached 30 weeks my contractions started to come more and more frequently. My desire was to have my twin girls at home, but if I wanted to do that I needed to reach 37 weeks and not go into labor early. As a result, my midwife place me on “modified” bed rest, which meant I would have to get off my feet every 1-2 hours for at least a half an hour or more. I could not believe what Lincey was saying!! Didn’t she know that I had three other kids to take care of and a husband who is gone for many days at a time as he worked in Dallas or Houston!? How on Earth was I supposed to do this?

I felt so discouraged.

For the next 7 weeks, my mission was to make sure my baby girls stayed put and let myself relax enough to ensure I wouldn’t go into pre-term labor.

Honestly, I was terrified my body would go into labor early while my husband was out of town. On top of that, waiting to see if my body would go into labor was hard. Every twinge, ache, and pain, which happens all the time during a twin pregnancy, I thought could be my body going into labor. Throughout those seven weeks, every time my husband was gone, I was often overcome with anxiety, fear, and worry. To me, the unknown is torture and waiting around for my inevitably labor was overwhelming.

During these days, I clung to God’s word. I wrote Bible verses on notecards and did my best to claim the promises in God’s word. One of my favorite verses is from Lamentations...

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."” - Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

To God’s glory, I reached 37 weeks!! What a relief. As long as I continued to stay healthy, I could finally have my baby girls at home. I wish I could say they came right away and the wait was over. However, that just wasn't the case for me. I continued to wait another 3 weeks and 3 days until my body finally went into labor. To my delight, both of my girls were born at my house just as I dreaming about for months. What an answer to prayer!!

I’m wanted to share this story with you and testify to God’s faithfulness, because we’re all struggling right now in lockdowns and waiting for life to return to “normal”. The days are long and life is challenging as we try to find our new normal.

In my own life, it helps me to look back and remember what God has done in the past, because it gives me courage to walk forward in my current situation. Times are tough and I pray you would turn to God as you wait for this crisis to pass. Sit down and write out what you remember about who God is and what He has done in your life. As you remember God's faithfulness in your life, He will fill you with courage to help you be brave on the hardest days. I hope and pray, even though life is overwhelming, you will look for God in the hardships. Only then can the Lord begin to transform your sorrow into joy, which will be your strength in the coming days.

Don’t forget, waiting is not easy, but worth it.

Evelyn Rose & Zoey Faith