GUEST BLOG: Embracing the Unexpected

“I still don’t feel entirely ready to take on this new challenge,
but I’m learning that God does not wait until we are ready – and we can’t either.”

On so many levels, I’ve had an easy and predictable life. I didn’t have to spend a lot of time embracing the unexpected. For the most part, life had rolled along according to my plan — until recently, when things took a turn that I never saw coming. I can say with certainty that nothing in my life has been as life-altering as this upcoming next chapter: motherhood.

My Soft Never: I never thought I would be a mother so soon. Married only nine months ago, my husband and I did not anticipate kids for a good while. We had our plan, and a child was not first on the agenda. Not that we didn’t want children at all — we just had a lot of life we wanted to do first.

Truthfully, I never really thought I’d be able to get pregnant. I have multiple health issues stacked against my fertility, so I thought the odds were pretty low. But lo and behold, I am now almost seven months pregnant with a healthy baby boy.

If you asked me a year ago what I thought my life would look like, it was definitely not like this. Not only was I able to get pregnant, but our little guy has made it past the high-risk zone and survived through my continuing health problems. He is a little miracle from God.

I never thought I would have had the strength to get through this. I never could have imagined how this would test my new marriage, but how we would grow so much stronger because of it. And, best of all, I never expected the joy that would fill me at the thought of my unborn son.

This whole experience has shown me that with God, anything truly is possible. While I thought we would have years of trying and fertility problems and miscarriages, God had another plan for us. While I thought my mental and physical battles would be altogether defeating under these circumstances, He has been preparing me mentally and physically to raise a child.

So, I’m embracing the unexpected. I still don’t feel entirely ready to take on this new challenge, but I’m learning that God does not wait until we are ready— and we can’t either. We have to be willing to step into whatever He has for us, even if it seems too big and scary. He’s proven faithful enough far too many times in my life for me not to trust Him now.

So no, I never planned to be a mother this soon, but it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.