Malia Vago and I first met at MOPS where we bonded over our crazy birth stories. In the years since she’s welcomed another two babies and my family moved just down the street from hers. She teaches fashion design, has a brilliant eye for aesthetics, loves Jesus, has a heart of gold, and for a brief period had three kids three years of age and younger. She’s pretty much my hero.
Welcome, Malia!
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Preparing for What’s Next
by Malia Vago
When I was pregnant for the first time, with my daughter Sienna, I was filled with excitement and expectations about my yet-to-be-born baby girl. I picked cute outfits for her as soon as I found out her gender and set up her nursery to perfection.
However at my baby shower, other mothers told me of their traumatic and horrifying childbirths. One by one, mothers told me of their excruciating hard and long labors. With each story, I lost a little bit of my excitement and it was replaced by a new emotion. As my due date drew nearer, I was filled with fear.
I was eager to hold my baby girl, but I was feeling more and more petrified for the childbirth ahead of me. I prepared myself with all the knowledge of childbirth that I could get. However, I didn’t expect that it would be so hard to simply WAIT.
There was a little person growing inside me whom I couldn’t visualize, but I knew would she would eventually come and I would be able to meet her. People told me she wouldn’t stay in there forever, but at the time I’m not sure I believed them. My due date came and went and each day I woke with the question, “Will today be the day?” I worked myself into a sad and depressed state, as I became a hermit in my own home. Days passed and nothing happened. No sign of labor.
My labor began eight days after Sienna’s due date and lasted over two days. It was even harder than I could have imagined, but Sienna finally made her debut to the world. After she arrived earth side, I realized I had spent so much time dwelling on the labor and no time at all thinking about what life would be like when she finally arrived.
There was a lot of anguish leading up to that time, and if there was that much anguish for me, I can only begin to imagine what the people of Israel must have felt waiting for their Messiah to arrive.
When he did arrive, they were not sure how to receive him. Many did not come to realize he was the Messiah until after his death and resurrection on the cross.
Isaiah 9:1-2 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
Isaiah declares that his present age is filled with darkness, despair and adversity, but there will be a time when peace will reign over the world. The prophet was speaking of the coming of the Messiah, the promised future king. The Messiah would first appear in Galilee, a place of the Gentiles. God appeared in one of the darkest places to give people light.
Where is your darkness? Isaiah speaks of being lost in gloom, anguish, shame and despair. I’ve been there. My guess is that you have, too.
The light suggests peace, joy, and contentment. Jesus was coming to bring light to the darkened world with his good news and promise of salvation.
And get this: Isaiah was using past tense language. He wrote as though it had already happened. It was certain, even if it hadn’t come to pass yet in time. The Messiah would come. The promise was certain.
How are you trusting God although you cannot see what lies ahead? In this time of waiting, how do you rely on God?
Malia Vago is a Fashion Instructor at Saddleback College and writes for The Motherhood Kind, a blog about motherhood and raising kind children. You can also find her on Instagram or Facebook.
Courtney Ellis 