Waiting in Wonder

Growing in Faith While You're Expecting

Catherine Claire Larson

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781400242634
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Gynecology, Obstetrics & Midwifery

Pregnancy is an exciting time, and you don't want to forget a single moment of this journey. Waiting in Wonder inspires you to record stories and prayers for your baby as you create a memory book you'll treasure for years to come. And you'll feel the comfort of God each day with devotions and Scripture selected especially for moms-to-be.

This devotional includes:

• A helpful "Points for Prayer" section and a "Mommy's Memory Verse" for each week
• Weekly entries that trace the growth of your baby
• Daily devotions that lead you closer to God

With its invitation to draw near to God while you're expecting, Waiting in Wonder is a sweet and memorable gift for friends and loved ones for baby showers, or as a gift for yourself at this momentous time of life.

Embrace and prepare for the calling of motherhood with this devotional journal, a gift you can one day give your son or daughter as a reminder that you loved and prayed for him or her even before birth.

YOUR GROWING WONDER

Second Trimester

Pregnancy Week 14

The Wonder Within

This week while walking the produce aisle, pick up an apple. That’s about the size of your little one, stretching out to about 3.5 inches long (crown to rump) and weighing around 1.5 ounces. That little apple of yours is mastering some new skills this week: pursing the lips, frowning, and squinting. Don’t you wish you had a womb with a view! Even though it will still be weeks before you feel your little kickboxer, his or her arms and legs are more active, and the movements have progressed from something like twitches to much more fluid motions. While the head has up to this point dwarfed the rest of the body, by the end of this week, arms and legs will have grown much more proportional.

What about you? As you enter your second trimester, you’ll likely feel your energy returning. That’s because, by the grace of God, most of the fetal organ development has taken place—but that’s not to say there isn’t a lot more maturing to do. Your uterus has been pushing just beyond your pubic bone for a couple of weeks now, which in turn means your pregnant belly may already be protruding. You may experience some discomfort as your uterus continues to grow and push aside your other organs. Isn’t it marvelous, though, how God has designed a woman’s body to make way for Baby?

POINTS FOR PRAYER AND PRAISE

As you enter the second trimester, the risk of miscarriage drops dramatically. Praise God for the healthy development of Baby so far.

Pray for the maturation of key organs this week, such as your baby’s spleen (producing red blood cells now) and intestines (now producing meconium).

Pray for self-control and healthy decision-making as nausea decreases and food begins to sound good again in the next few weeks.

MOMMY’S MEMORY VERSE

The grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

TITUS 2:11–12

Date: ____________

Green Pastures

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

PSALM 23:2–3

Congratulations on reaching your second trimester! Doesn’t it feel great to know that the most difficult days of morning sickness are likely in the rearview mirror? Many regard the second trimester as the best season of a woman’s expectant journey. While your morning sickness may still be lingering, it should soon be gone. Your appetite starts coming back; your energy begins to return; your belly starts to show; and your discomfort is minimal. These are truly precious days worth seizing and enjoying!

God is so good to allow life’s hard seasons—the valleys—to be tempered with seasons of green pastures and quiet waters. The hardest part for us is walking as closely with God in times of ease as we do in times of hardship. In the valleys, we pray desperately. But in the verdant pastures, we tend to forget Him and think we have earned the goodness happening to us. God warned the Israelites of this. He said, “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers . . . filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide . . . be careful that you do not forget the LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:10–12). So how do we stay mindful of Him? Offer God continual prayers of thanksgiving—whether you’re in the valley or on the mountaintop. Doing so will remind you that the blessings you enjoy are not a matter of your own merit, but are all because of His grace.

As you look back on the first trimester, how has God ministered to you in the valleys? What have you learned about Him in this time?

[Your Response Here]

What do you have for which you are thankful, especially as you consider the first trimester coming to a close and the second beginning?

[Your Response Here]

Date: ____________

The Fingerprints of God

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

ROMANS 12:6

You know, not even identical twins are identical. One way in which they are different is actually going on with your baby this week: fingerprint formation. While the overall ridge and valley structure of fingerprints have a genetic factor, the density and position of the amniotic fluid in the womb actually affects the curves and ridges of the fingerprints, creating those utterly unique patterns in utero. As your baby moves his fingers through the fluid, the particular, detailed patterns are formed. Amazing, isn’t it?

It’s not just fingerprints that make us each so thoroughly unique. For His own glory God gives us different personalities, different gifts, and different callings. His absolute creativity and His vastness are reflected in the uniqueness of His creations. As we fully allow our personalities and gifts to be redeemed, developed, and used, we bring God glory in the greatest of ways. That’s because in doing so we reflect another aspect of His complexity, diversity, and creativity as no other person has or ever will—because there’s only one you. And when our gifts are being used, we are complementing one another not just for the purpose of doing good works, but also for the purpose of illuminating the bigger picture the world sees of who God is—a magnificent and vast Creator.

Think for a moment about the infinite and absolute creativity of God in making us all so different. How does this lead you to praise Him?

[Your Response Here]

Write a prayer for your baby, that he or she will one day fully discover the unique talents God has given him or her. Pray that your little one may use and express these fully, not for his or her own glory, but for God’s and for the good of His kingdom.

[Your Response Here]

Date: ____________

The Glow

They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.

PSALM 34:5 NKJV

You may have had someone tell you that you have that pregnancy “glow” about you. Or maybe you are still green with morning sickness. But interestingly enough the pregnancy glow isn’t just another old wives’ tale of pregnancy. There is actually a biological basis for it. During pregnancy there is an increased blood flow, and that extra volume of blood causes the cheeks to look flushed. It’s similar to the way you might look after extra exertion or excitement. Additionally, your skin glands are producing extra oil, which may give your face a certain sheen. And you thought people were just being nice when they told you that you were glowing!

The Scriptures also talk of a glow that believers of Christ should have. In Psalm 34 David said that those who look to God are “radiant.” And in 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul referenced Moses having to wear a veil because of how his face shone with radiance after seeing God’s back. Paul contrasted how, on this side of the Cross, “we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” What did both David and Paul point to as the reason for our radiance? Apparently, the secret lies in looking to or contemplating Christ. We shine with His radiance as we are transformed into the image of God.

Brides are often called radiant. How do the joy and happiness of a woman reflect the good character of the bridegroom? Does your countenance reflect the goodness of Jesus, your eternal Bridegroom? Contemplate His goodness.

[Your Response Here]

Dear Little One,

Some people call it a glow. I call it love. My heart is full of so much love for you and it can’t help but come out on the outside. I want you to know that before I ever held you, I loved you. I want you to know . . .

[Your Response Here]

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Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Ebook Instructions
• Contents
• Introduction: Seize the Wait
• Your Awakening Wonder: First Trimester
• Your Growing Wonder: Second Trimester
• Your Coming Wonder: Third Trimester
• Epilogue
• Endnotes
• A Challenge and an Invitation