Laboring in Faith

I am experiencing a stirring in my spirit. Excitement. Faith. Courage.

Don't get me wrong. This week has presented several opportunities that I have had to choose between giving "it" to God and leaving "it" there or picking "it" back up. I have wrung my hands, experienced worry. Leaving me to ask myself, just exactly what is the status of my faith these days. In the end I keep hearing, "This is where the rubber meets the road, Jo Ann." This is it. This is where my talk meets my walk. :)

We all experience situations where our faith and trust in God is shown or not. This is where I get to live out the things that I proclaim. God is my Provider. God is my Shield. And the innumerable other things that He is to me and anyone who calls on Him.

Isn't it strange how it's easier to totally surrender some circumstances compared to others? At least, that's the way it is to me. Anyway, I could go in about a gazillion different directions with this and I don't want to.

This is what I want to share. I believe that God can give me a pain-free birth. Let that sink in a minute. Pain-free birth. Yes, say it with me, pain-free birth. Jo Ann's very short version of the basic premise is that the curse of painful childbirth over Eve (Genesis 3:16) was broken when Jesus died on the cross.

About a month and a half ago, I felt the Lord was building faith in me to believe that I would have a childbirth that involved minimal pain. Then yesterday as a good friend and I were talking, she asked if I had thought about a pain-free birth. What? Is that even an option? Seriously though, I have heard a little bit about it, but I just couldn't really answer her because I wasn't sure where my faith fell.

Can I possibly have enough faith that it will involve no pain? I think I'm up for the challenge, as long as baby girl waits long enough for me to cover and soak in God's Word concerning this. I'm the type of person that likes a good stretching, a good toe stepping :), anything that brings me closer to God. And if I can trust God with this, something that the world and most Christians would say is impossible, why would the other situations in my life pose a faith issue?

I know I'm putting myself out there and some will scoff and doubt. Okay, just don't expect to be in the delivery room, you will be asked to leave (Mark 5:35-42). :) A long time ago, I told God that I wanted to be radical compared to this world. In Romans 12:2, we're commanded to not be conformed to it. I don't believe in any way that a pain-free birth is radical when it comes to the things of His Kingdom.

Rubber meet road, road meet rubber...

Update: Don't you know that immediately after I post this, the enemy of my soul begins to bring doubt and unbelief to me, my flesh wants to reject this transplant of faith. What ifs and ideas of failure, both public and private, abound. Not only that, but this is the second time that I'm trying to type this because for "whatever reason" it didn't post when I just tried. Deep breath, that's okay. Look, I'm just being real here. I'm making my choice to stand. Let's walk this thing out.

I Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

II Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Mark 8:33-36 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?