When You Thought You Lost (A Poem)

When you’ve risked all to keep your treasured gift,
Because you dared to believe your godly intuition over the deadly royal threat,
Because you heard the voice of a prince in the cries of a babe, over and above the loud voice of fear;
Only to have to give it up for it could no longer be hidden.
Only to lay it down and walk away,
But not before you wrapped it up and sealed it in,
Not before you secured it and armed it against the crocs and serpents of the Nile.
Jacobeth, when you thought you’ve lost, you gained it back again.
You lost a baby boy and gained a prince,
Lost a son to gain a deliverer.

When you’ve endured the insults and provocation,
Fought back but lost to tears each time because they had many and you had none.
When you lost your will to fight with man you took up your battle with God,
And won through a vow.
Your sword a voiceless prayer,
Your shield a broken spirit,
Your crown, a son.
But your victory was short lived for by your vow you had to live,
So what you had asked for you had to return.
You weaned him off your breast while you weaned our heart from off of him,
Detached so you could surrender him to His will.
Hannah, when you thought you lost your one to her many,
God multiplied your one and returned to you five.
Your one became a seed,
You let it fall so it could rise,
And others with it.

When you had believed the angel’s voice,
Speaking against biology and challenging natural laws.
When you had braved the shame of speculations,
The glarying eyes and loud whispers,
Carrying the weight of your belly and the injured pride of your soon to be husband.
You ushered heaven unto earth,
Nursed God’s one and only begotten on your breast,
But a sword would pierce your heart,
You would falter and faint standing before a bloody cross,
Blood of your own.
Mary, when you thought you lost a son, you gained a saviour.
Your “loss” was the gain of all humanity,
Your pain, joy to the world.

To the women who thought they lost because he left;
To you who thought you lost because your womb couldn’t carry his seed to full term,
To those who think they lost because a baby hindered their life plan,
Or those who couldn’t risk keeping the baby and so lost.
To those who buried loved ones and surrendered dreams,
To my sisters who are losing their hair to cancer and smile to depression,
Hear me.

Re-evaluate your so called losses, for we do not lose.
We only surrender to regain in greater glory,
We only detach to reattach ourselves to what aligns with our destiny.
We do not lose,
We only walk away to move towards what affirm our identity,
We only give up the fight to pick it with the right enemy for we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
We are only lost so he can find us.
We do not lose because He is consistently working our losses into wins,
We do not lose because in Him we find strength to do all things,
We do not lose for in Him we are not just conquerors but more than.
So where you thought your lost, think again.