Turning into Dad: Miracles and Mercies

As I await fatherhood later this year, I plan on writing special posts in which I weigh certain thoughts that come to mind about being a dad. I’ll call this series Turning into Dad. You can read the technical first post here.

It was Thanksgiving weekend and barely a couple weeks after learning we were expecting our first child. Something occurred that gave my wife reason to fear that perhaps she was miscarrying. Since we were so early in the pregnancy, we had no idea what was a good sign or what should worry us. Our minds were soon put at ease when blood test results came back showing everything looking good thus far.

On the morning we found this out, I sat down to breakfast and opened an index card box that contained Bible verses I memorized. The verse I was working on then? Lamentations 3:22-23:

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

In a small way, I felt like we received a mercy that morning.

Pregnancy, I think, is a nerve-wracking ordeal for both mom and dad. For the first trimester, there’s a constant fear of losing the child. Even when moving into the more “safer” period, anything can happen. Indeed, if pregnancy teaches us at all, it shows that life is a miracle. A child coming through a 9 month gestation into wondrous life should humble us. The fact that it happens at all is a mercy from God.

While having children was the last thing on the Lamenter’s mind, I found great comfort and gratitude toward God in those lines. By His mercies our child will not be consumed in death. Every morning we wake and our baby still grows in the womb is a new mercy. And this should draw me to praise the Lord for His faithfulness.