Glory to God in the highest heavens. This is a good news post. I can’t hold it in any longer.
We are pregnant (I’m not sure that expression is entirely accurate, as pointed out to me by an editor friend, but it does seem to be common usage these days).
I’m getting cravings and forgetting where I parked the car. Sympathetic symptoms I call them. Anyway, it takes two, right? Well, in this case it took three.
This is definitely a God thing. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a miracle. That’s why I have to share it. I have to shout it out because this is a testimony that just feels irrepressible.
I still can’t believe it’s happening. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions but, overwhelmingly, joy. After being married seven years and having no joy in terms of successful conception, this is such an unexpected blessing.
Early last year I wrote something of a lament on our trouble with falling pregnant. Prayers and support flooded in. We started a journey of consulting doctors and specialists to see if we could do anything about the problem. Those things we carried with us into 2019.
By any considerations, before receiving this news, 2019 had already been a big year for us. My wife Lina and I had started the year with a decision to invest time and energy into our health. Together we lost around 40 kilograms. Apart from wanting to improve our overall health and wellbeing, we were fighting to start a family.
Lina had been through countless appointments, blood tests and emotional turmoil. We were finding out more about our options, but eventually it got a bit much and we decided to take a break.
Meanwhile, I was preparing to hike Kokoda with the team from 10,000 Toes and ADRA.
In the lead up to Kokoda I had to give some talks where I reflected on our experience with infertility and our struggles. During the trip, I was asked to share my testimony and as part of my journey that related to 10,000 Toes, I shared about our health and infertility journey. The people there prayed for us and promised to keep praying. When we got back there were a couple more opportunities to speak. At this stage, I was feeling at peace with the whole thing. I knew that God was working. I knew that either a child was on the way, or else God was engineering something else in our lives, a contentment and fullness that would fill the emptiness and give us peace. [pullquote]
Kokoda was an amazing experience, as I’ve written about previously. I had to invest a lot of energy—training, fundraising, writing about it—and it was a massive focus for me. When I returned, however, I struggled to readjust. It’s like there was a hole in my life. I had to travel and catch-up with work almost straight after, so it was hard to process the experience.
In the middle of this period, my wife’s grandma passed away. We found out Lina was pregnant on the same day. It was a muted joy. We felt guilty celebrating our news when the family was mourning. Yet, it seemed like a message that life goes on—even in difficult and painful times, new life and good news is possible.
And we had waited and prayed and strived for this news for years. This news that pushed out all other thoughts or negativity. God had answered our prayers and the prayers of many people from all over the world who had been praying for us.
There’s so much more that could be said. I still feel compassion for those wrestling with infertility. We’ve already had some pregnancy challenges, which you may get to read about in time. Our lives are already changing, along with our priorities. But, for now, we’re just praying for a healthy baby to arrive around its due date! Thank you for your prayers and praise God for His faithfulness.
