Whether just learning that you are pregnant or imminently awaiting the first pains of labor, many women turn to spiritual resources to guide them through this time of transition, excitement, and anxiety. Mothers-to-be can take solace in the knowledge that they are in good company as they experience the wonders of childbirth--from Sarah's laughter to Elizabeth's rejoicing, the Bible is replete with the experiences of women as they become mothers. What follows is a collection of quotations from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that offer insight, guidance, and community to pregnant women. Hebrew Bible:
God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'" Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within [Rebekah]; and she said, "If it is to be this way, why do I live?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. When she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid; for now you will have another son." Then the woman came and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name; but he said to me, 'You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'" Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother's breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Her children rise up and call her happy; her husband too, and he praises her: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for at the proper time he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb. New Testament:
Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.