×

Praying with Jesus in Pregnancy

How can Jesus walk with expectant mothers in the season of pregnancy? What does praying with Jesus in pregnancy look like?

When I became pregnant for the second time, I was heartbroken to learn that it was a “chemical pregnancy”—a very early miscarriage.

While my doctor was trying to console me, she told me that even science is unable to accurately force two cells to come together and lead to a feasible pregnancy. Despite everything science has achieved, there is still something supernatural about a successful conception.

Jesus was conceived supernaturally in the womb. It always astounds me to think that God planned his birth before the conception of his earthly parents.

But Jesus took on a male body, fundamentally different from a woman’s body. If he did not experience pregnancy on earth, how can he walk with me through my journey of being pregnant?

As a woman, I have often wondered, how can I relate to Jesus while expecting? What does praying to Jesus in pregnancy look like?

Praying in Pregnancy

From the time a family begins to try to conceive a child, it is a waiting game. You are waiting for the two lines on the pregnancy test. Then you wait for the doctor to give the go-ahead to start telling people. After that, you wait for the baby to come out.

Waiting can be hard.

Some women wait years before becoming mothers.

Once pregnant, 9 months can feel like 9 years.

Jesus also waited. He waited till it was his time to be born. Then he waited more than three decades  to finish his Father’s work. Just before the end of his waiting, he cried out in anguish for the Lord to take this cup away (Luke 22:42).

Nobody knows what it means to wait as Christ does.

Modern medicine and science have eased the experience of childbirth. But there was no easy way out for Jesus. He had to endure what was ordained for him, to bear the fruit of redemption for his people.

In any season of waiting, pregnant or otherwise, no one understands the emotions we experience in waiting, as Christ does.

The only difference is that in every season of waiting, Christ is perfect and sinless. By his power, even in our season of waiting, we can be transformed into his likeness by his sanctifying grace.

Nobody knows what it means to wait as Christ does.

Praying in pregnancy means relying on God’s word in seasons of waiting. It empowers us to wait patiently and to walk with him in trust and obedience.

Jesus waited and he waits with us in our seasons of pregnancy.

Walking with Jesus in Pregnancy

During each of my three pregnancies, I experienced growing friendship with other pregnant mothers. In my second pregnancy, I had the joy of sharing pregnancy with one of my closest friends.

Our daughters were born two weeks apart. It was her first pregnancy and my second. It was special to be able to celebrate her first pregnancy, to walk with each other, share our experiences, and bond over the growing babies in our womb.

Having fellow mothers and pregnant women around can be comforting. But everyone does not have this experience.

While waiting to become a mother, it can feel lonely, daunting, and overwhelming. In such moments, it helps to remember that Jesus understands loneliness, solitude, and isolation. None of his friends knew what he was experiencing, emotionally, or physically.

Jesus was praying for me in my pregnancy.

Before his public ministry, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit (Matt 4:1). In that 40 day period, he had the devil for company, tempting him. But he was not entirely alone. The angels came and ministered to him (Matt. 4:11).

In times of loneliness, it is easy to buy into the lie that we are walking alone. It helps to remind our hearts that the Saviour of our hearts has also walked alone. If angels attended to him, how much more, is our Bridegroom Redeemer, interceding and watching over us?

The God Who Sees

In the Old Testament, we read about Hagar, the slave. At the behest of his wife, Abraham went to her and she became pregnant. Then she was discarded (Gen. 16:1-8).

Single mothers in society today can often feel the same way. Society may look down or look away from them. But the story of Hagar shows that God sees her. He is compassionate towards her. Hagar describes the Lord as “the God of seeing who looks after me” (Gen. 16:13).

God is not disconnected from the pregnancy of the single mother or the mother whose husband is entirely disconnected from her pregnancy. He sees and loves her more than any man can.

Experiencing the Presence of Jesus

Whether a woman has a normal delivery or a Caesarean, she has to undergo the pain of childbirth alone. A few hours before our firstborn came into this world, I was writhing in pain on the hospital bed. To my left was my husband, asleep and unaware of the pain I was going through. In that moment, I felt terribly alone and overwhelmed.

One of the hardest aspects of being pregnant is to trust that God has everything under control.

In a few hours, there was a barrage of nurses and doctors, cheering and encouraging me to push our daughter out.

As I reflect on it now, I did not have to walk that journey alone. I felt seen and heard. The same God who saw Hagar, who sent angels to minister to Christ, was by my side. Jesus was praying for me in my pregnancy.

Seeing the Suffering of Jesus

Christ has endured more agonising pain than any mother can imagine. He carried the crushing weight of the sins of the world, in his body on the cross. No mother has had that kind of crushing weight on her shoulders, no matter how painful the process of childbirth.

More than anyone else, Jesus sees the anguish of a pregnant woman’s heart. In moments of overwhelming emotional and physical anguish, when we cry out to God for mercy, he does not turn his face away. He sees us.

Praying in pregnancy points our hearts to the suffering of Christ. He endured the cross alone, so we will never have to endure anything alone. He has paved the way for us to walk through every season of life—even pregnancy—without being alone.

More Tender than a Mother

In India, it is a common practice for girls to go to their mother’s home for their child’s delivery. Often we inform our mothers before we inform anyone else about our pregnancy. Our mothers or mother-figures play a crucial role in our pregnancy and postpartum.

But our mothers and caregivers are limited by their experience and knowledge. Praying in pregnancy means every woman needs to turn to Christ, more than to any mother on earth.

Imagine being guided by someone with real experience in being human and deep knowledge of the human body. This is what the Father offers to us in Christ through his Spirit who lives in us.

Always in Control

One of the hardest aspects of being pregnant is to trust that God has everything under control.

When you are being rushed into an operation, to pull the baby out pre-term, when the doctor says labour has to be induced, or when things seem like they are spinning out of your control, our hearts need to remember that the Creator of the earth is also in control of our lives. He is also in control of the lives of our unborn children.

God may not always lead us to what we planned or imagined. For some of us, this might mean a pre-term delivery. For others, it might be a stillbirth, or long hours of labour followed by a Caesarean. Whatever he leads us to, pregnancy is only one season of our life on earth.

Pregnancy teaches us to wait, in anticipation of a new creation that will enter our lives.

We await the new creation Jesus will bring when he redeems the earth and makes all things new (Rev. 21:5). Pregnancy is a beautiful reminder of what God has in store for us in eternity. No matter what God leads us to on earth, he is leading us to eternal union with him (Col. 3:1-4).

Ultimately, praying in pregnancy reassures us that we are his children who were born, not of blood or the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but born of God (John 1:13).

LOAD MORE
Loading