I have never known God's peace so deeply as when I was in labour with Isabelle! How strange that sounds! One of our midwives said to me that normally the labour room is a place of stress and chaos, but she loved coming into our room because it felt extraordinarily calm and peaceful! The only way I can explain this is that God's presence was there.
God had prepared me for giving birth with Psalm 23. I had studied it word by word, over and over, letting the old familiar image of God as my Shepherd sink into the depths of my soul. By the time we got to the big day I knew it off by heart...
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores me soul.
Throughout my experience of labour I only had to close my eyes and I was walking beside my heavenly Father in a beautiful meadow. I had read a quote from H.W Beecher about this psalm which said: "It has charmed more griefs to rest than all the philosphy of the world. It has remanded to their dungeon more felon thoughts, more black doubts, more thieving sorrows, than there are sands on the sea shore." I can only add my testimony to this. The power of God's word to bring peace to a situation is beyond anything I have ever known. Between contractions if I felt at breaking point because of the pain Aaron would rub my back and say 'Go to your meadow'! It sounds silly, but I was really meeting with God in those moments, and it is what kept me going.
I wish I could say that since giving birth I have been able to meet with God as closely. But the chaos and constant demands of having a new baby have made it difficult for me to just stop and be with God. It isn't impossible, but I do have to learn to put aside some of my jobs and give up my highly organised routine. Never before has it felt more vital to just sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary did (story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10). My heart desperately needs to return to walking in my meadow with my Father. Do you know how it feels to walk with God? Is your heart longing to be with Him again? Shall we set aside some time to do that? Love,x
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