Well, hello LONG overdue recap of Q3.

To be fair, Q3 was a whirlwind as it also perfectly coincided with my first trimester of pregnancy, which was no joke. Nausea and fatigue were the name of the game and though I did maintain a fairly steady habit of reading through the Gospels, I did not journal as much as I would have wanted to.

That being said, here’s what I learned in Q3 of 2022.

I learned that God is so faithful. He is faithful to His promises, He gives the best gifts, and surrendering to Him is worthwhile. I learned that I am limited, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and definitely physically. I was humbled by my weakness in pregnancy and learned to become grounded in God and rely on His strength. I also continued to be better about asking for help and not needing to do everything for everyone.

I thought a lot of about humility and submission to God, to find the places where I need to obey instead of resisting Him. Am I avoiding Him because I am fearful of what might happen if I surrender? These are the questions I pondered.

And I think if I had to give a word to describe Q3 it would be one of surrender.

After trying for 12 cycles before getting pregnant, and experiencing early bleeding, I had to learn to give our baby up to God. To acknowledge that He was the one who brought this life into existence and He was the one who was forming our baby in the womb. God loves our baby more than we do and while He has blessed us to be this child’s parents, ultimately our baby belongs to God. It was a humbling lesson to learn but I think one that really will be beneficial in the future.

People attach worry with parenthood but I think instead of succumbing to that, I’m embracing surrender. Instead of allowing worry to rob me of the joy and excitement of growing, birthing, and raising this child — I am choosing to practice surrendering fear to God and trusting in Him to care for His creation. That doesn’t mean I get to take a step back and not do what I can do to love and nurture our baby, but rather it’s an acknowledgement that so much is outside my control and instead of fixating on what I cannot control, I am giving that all to God and focusing on the portions He’s given me to tend.

We’ll see how it goes.