“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1a).
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| After 15 hours of labor with Ben--emergency C-Section after 27 hours of labor 7/21/08 |
In fact at only 6 months pregnant, strangers would say things to me like “due any day?” I even had one couple at Wal-Mart staring at me and ask “Are we going to need to call an ambulance for you any minute?” You should have seen the shocked look on their faces when I told them that I still had 3 more months to go. And if their horrified expressions weren’t enough, they also said, “How is that even possible?”
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| Right before Abby's C-Section 8/1/11 |
Yep, you’ve got to love people who have no social boundaries. Let me take a minute to share some advice: The polite thing to ask a pregnant woman, if anything, is “When are you due?” And that’s only if you are absolutely 100% sure that the woman is even pregnant. I laughed out loud at a Jimmy John’s when I read a plaque on the wall that listed some 50 year old guy’s list of 16 things he had learned about life. Number 10 stated: “You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.” I think those are wise words for us all.
Let's face it, we women sacrifice our bodies for our kids. Why? Because we love them. The love that I had for both of my kids the minute I found out I was pregnant was so much bigger than the morning sickness…the constant hunger…the throwing up…the constant nausea…the “I have to have foods with flavor”…the “I have to have foods with no flavor”…the “I’m going to vomit if I go down the sauce isle at the grocery store”…the “I’m going to vomit if I even think about sauce, say ‘sauce’ or even type the word ‘sauce’”…the “I’m going to run to the bathroom because I’m going to throw up but nope, it’s just a giant sneeze” (did anyone else have that?)…the “I’m so big that I can’t bend down to pick anything up so is it worth the energy even trying?...the “I’ll just pick it up with my toes then”…the “I have to go to the bathroom every three seconds”…the “I can’t roll over in bed without some unusual grunting noises”…the “I can’t even peel my body off the floor at 5pm to make my family dinner because I’m so tired and don’t want to make anything with sauce so maybe they wouldn’t mind having potato soup again”…the puffiness…the swollenness…the varicose veins…the incredibly slow walking, I mean waddling…the “I have to pull my maternity pants down when I sit because even those are too tight on my stomach”. But, none of these things mattered. Uncomfortable?...yes....annoying sometimes?...yes, but worth it?...yes!!!
Both of my pregnancies were an amazing answer to prayer. And despite all of the uncomfortableness that went along with each one, it was all worth having the privilege of having a human being growing inside of me…moving…kicking…hiccupping…rolling…twisting…turning. It was awesome. And even more amazing was getting to meet my son, my first baby, Benjamin Alan Leeb (8lbs. 8oz. 20.5in. long), on July 21st, 2008.
And then a little over three years later, (almost a year ago), I got to meet my daughter, my little “Boopy”, Abigail Elizabeth Leeb, (7lbs. 8oz. 19in. long), on August 1st, 2011.
Both of my kids are incredible gifts from God and I love them so much. My love for them is bigger than anything else in the world. If you can even imagine this, God’s love for us is even bigger than the love that we have for our own children. Did you get that? It’s even BIGGER! We are His children and He loves more than we can imagine.
How do we know that God truly loves us that much? Sacrifice. Yes, we have made and will continue to make sacrifices for our children, but every sacrifice we make is worth it because we do them out of pure love. So did God. God is our Father, and He made the ultimate sacrifice for us. He gave His life for us through Jesus because He loves us! He loves us. He loves us so much that He wanted us to be free from our sins. But the question is, will we make His sacrifice worth it? The answer is entirely up to us!
This week, I pray that we will make the sacrifice of Jesus worth it. How? We can live in the freedom that His sacrifice brings. Live our lives knowing that God loves us no matter what we've done! No bad day, no bad attitude, no amount of anger or frustration or worry or doubt or shame or fear, no struggle or addiction, no sin can stop God from loving us. Only satan's lies will make us believe that His sacrifice meant nothing. So let's choose to let our Father's sacrifice for us be worth it to Him by letting go of our past, letting go of who we used to be and accepting our Father's unconditional love. Believe it. Live it. Today!
Dedicated to my baby girl who turns one on Wednesday. Happy 1st Birthday, Abigail! Mommy and daddy are so thankful for you!
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