As the mother of five children on earth and five children in heaven, and as the grandmother of seven delightful little ones, I certainly know what it entails to be "expecting."
As a pastor's wife for nearly 40 years, I have watched hundreds of young women announce their pregnancies, deal with swollen ankles, with aching backs and with ridiculous amounts of weight gain over the course of nine months of anticipation. I have observed that as these soon-to-be moms approach the due date of each baby, they become more uncomfortable physically, and they also become more strategic in their preparation.
When a pregnancy is announced, women begin to prepare; the mother now lives in a new normal of expectation, and she becomes strategic with her plans.
What are you expecting? Has God birthed something new in you lately? I believe that God is about to birth something new in this generation of women. Those of you who have never given birth to anything in the kingdom of God are about to become the mother of many. So begin to act like an expectant mother. Prepare for discomfort for the birthing process and for the joy of impacting the next generation.
I believe that this new season of God-breathed pregnancy is not just for a younger generation but that the Father is including many Sarahs, Hannahs and Elizabeths in this outpouring of new birth. In God's kingdom, age has nothing to do with the ability to give birth to a move of God that will impact the generations to come. God is willing to use the young and the old; He is looking for women with a past and for those who have lived quietly and righteously. God will give birth through women who are tired and through those girls who are filled with new passion and energy.
The Lord wants you to begin to live with an attitude of unmatched expectancy and life-changing expectation. When you open your Bible in the morning, do so with the confidence that God is going to speak to you through the sacred page. It is when we open our Bibles and read the powerful words of the Holy Spirit that a new seed of destiny is placed in each one of us.
When you enter into a personal time of prayer and worship, enter into it with the assurance that God will meet you there and that He will speak to your barren soul. It is when we commune with God on a daily basis that the transfer of a new dream happens.
My prayer is that you can declare, with Mary, with Hannah, with Sarah, with Elizabeth and with me, "I'm pregnant!" 
Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written five books: No More Ordinary, Holy Estrogen!, The Rooms of a Woman's Heart and Defiant Joy! Her most recent book is Refined: Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire. Her teaching DVD, The Rooms of a Woman's Heart, won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming.
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