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66:8). And as I shared in the first chapter, the whole earth
“groans and labors with birth pangs”
for deliverance
“from the bondage of corruption”
(Romans 8:21–22).
    In due time, you and I and the entire earth will be delivered. Through the prophet Isaiah, God made plain the outcome when He offered the following inquiry:
“Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery? …Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?”
(Isaiah 66:9). Just as Jesus was
“proof that came at the right time”
when
“He gave himself as a payment to free all people”
(1 Timothy 2:6 NCV), you can be sure that you too will be proven and positioned to deliver at the right time. Of course, that requires you continue to put your hope in God. You must
“labour therefore to enter into that rest”
(Hebrews 4:11 KJV), and to
“humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you”
(1 Peter 5:6-7).
    Remember,
“to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,”
most especially,
“A time to be born”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 KJV). God is faithful, for Paul said,
“He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but…will [always] also provide the way out…that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently”
(1 Corinthians 10:13 AMP). God’s Word is being perfected in you and will be revealed through you at the perfect time.
    “A woman does not give birth before she feels the pain; she does not give birth to a son before the pain starts. No one has ever heard of that happening; no one has ever seen that happen. In the same way no one ever saw a country begin in one day; no one has ever heard of a new nation beginning in one moment. But Jerusalem will give birth to her children just as soon as she feels the birth pains. In the same way I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born,” says the Lord. “If I cause you the pain, I will not stop you from giving birth to your new nation,” says your God.
—I SAIAH 66:7-9 NCV
    If we tarry here we expect to labor in the cause of salvation and if we go hence we expect to continue our work until the coming of the Son of Man. The only difference is, while we are here we are subject to pain and sorrow, while they on the other side are free from affliction of every kind.
—W ILFORD W OODRUFF (1807–1898)

Chapter 5
THE MIDWIFE
    Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great.
—M ARK T WAIN
    B irthing is a process requiring love, trust, and support from others. When a woman is in the midst of hard labor, she not only taps into intense inner strength and tenacity, but is also at the same time intensely vulnerable. To bring forth the life she carries, to deliver and be delivered, a woman needs to be surrounded by those who are looking out for her best interests as well as believe the best of her. Author and professor of sociology Barbara Katz Rothman astutely observed, “Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers—strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.” 11 In the words of author and midwife Claudia Lowe, “Only with trust, faith, and support can the woman allow the birth experience to enlighten and empower her.”
    In one of the most ancient and sacred books to come out of China, the
Tao Te Ching—
believed to have been published in the sixth century BC—we read this word of advice for the aspiring midwife:
    You are a midwife, assisting at someone else’s birth. Do good without show or fuss. Facilitate what is happening rather than what you think ought to be happening. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in