“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” Mark 13:8
Ten years ago I had my first labor pain while pregnant with my oldest daughter. I remember feeling a sharp pressure in my lower back and excitedly announcing to my family that she was coming! We were at my parent’s house for Thanksgiving dinner and my grandparents were also in town for the holiday. As I was gathering my things to leave, I went to hug my grandmother and noticed she was crying. I looked at her face confused that she didn’t appear to be overjoyed like I was, and through her tears, she clutched onto to me and said, “I don’t want to think about you being in pain.” Many hours later, I was beginning to understand more of what she meant and I never forgot those words that perplexed me and then, somehow a decade later, soothed a new growing pain within me.
As I was praying over this stretching of my soul and the limits I thought I knew of how flexible my heart could be, the Lord confirmed His word over my life with many moments of surrender that have brought me to this very moment. It’s almost as if He was lingering and extending Himself toward me until I said yes to the unknowns of His Kingdom and divine plan. He actually replayed back my own prayers and illuminated how He was answering them in His own, better ways. Then He reminded me of a prophetic word released over Patrick and me on the first day of this year. A word we smiled at thinking it was a confirmation of knowledge, but not considering it was an expanding equation. I love that when we ask God to show us how we arrived at these cross sections of Heaven on earth, He recounts all the ways He ordered our steps and delighted in our obedience.
I’m sensing many of us are under a new level of pressure in the spirit and I believe the Lord is opening wombs of the heart. His hand is resting heavily upon those who have laid down their lives to serve Him and these things He is birthing in us are a preparation for the great and glorious times that are here and coming. The brewing of His mandates in us will cause discomfort, suffering, and agony. While the womb is developing, we are maturing into the people who can bring forth something holy and pure into a defiled and corrupt society. He is strengthening the walls of our homes and solidifying supernatural bonds in our marriages and with our children. He is restoring rest with the peace of His presence in the midnight hours. He is filling our minds with sanctified thoughts that open us up to the impossible destiny He has assigned for our lives. And He is giving us a deep desire to protect His heart, His children, and His fruit that is multiplying from the wombs inside of us.
I can hear this inner-groaning coming from the saints around me that is not defiance, but the sound of a sacrificial yes and a heart that is full term. I can feel the world around me pressing in ever closer, because even they’ve been made aware that a new thing is on the way. And I know the Holy Spirit is accelerating in these hours as hearts explode with Kingdom inheritance finally being claimed in His name!
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