I’ve never actually been pregnant, but I can still say unequivocally that the next sentence is 100% true.

Every woman who has ever been pregnant gained weight.

I feel about .27% less sure about the next statement, but I’m pretty confident that it’s true, too.

No woman who has ever been pregnant, and gained weight, enjoyed the extra weight.

That weight gain during the nine months (or more!!) of waiting causes a lot of discomfort. In fact, there’s probably a correlation between the amount of discomfort during pregnancy and the amount of weight gained.

Swollen hands. Swollen feet. Growing belly.

One look in the mirror makes you wonder where your body went, and who that other person is staring back at you.

Of course, some of that weight gain comes from craving-killing calories, but most of that weight gain is because your body is growing to support the life that you’re carrying inside you.

Back to making statements that I’m pretty sure are true, let me make another one.

I doubt any mother has ever looked at her child(ran) and said they weren’t worth the extra pounds, or even the discomfort caused by those extra pounds.

Let’s make a quick turn into the spiritual because the physical is so often a picture of the spiritual. There is a weightiness in the church now. A heaviness that is causing discomfort for many people on many levels, and I’m praying that the Holy Spirit would shift our focus from the heaviness that we feel to the holiness that we’re carrying.

You and I are literally birthing revival, and the new thing that God is growing inside us is weighty. Sacred. Holy. It’s something no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, and its newness raises an awareness in us that we aren’t ready.

Preparations must be made. Man caves will become nurseries. Money spent on drinks will now be spent on diapers. The mere fact that we can see our body being stretched and feel the extra pounds forces us to make different (some might say, mature) choices.

Put simply, growing out leads to growing up.

Understanding the purpose of the weight helps us deal with the pain of the weight. It also helps us trust in the process of the wait.

The next time you feel heaviness, or you sense the enemy telling you that you’ve lost the slim spiritual shape you used to have, laugh him off and tell him, “Of course I have. I’m carrying the next wave of revival that will bury you.”