The contractions and pangs of spiritual childbirth are not less than those on the physical order. You have experienced both. I have often been encouraged in the midst of my little difficulties by these words of our gentle Saviour: “When a woman is in labour, she is in great distress… but after her child is born, she forgets the suffering because of the joy of the child born to her” (Jn 16:21). I think these words will comfort you too if you ponder them and repeat them often. Our souls should give birth, not outside themselves, but within, to the dearest, most charming and handsome male child that one could wish for: it is Jesus who must be formed and brought to birth in ourselves (see Gal 4:19); you are pregnant with him, my dear sister, and praised be God who is His Father… The Child is well worth whatever we endure in order to bring Him to birth and to be His mother.
Saint Francis de Sales to Saint Jane Frances de Chantal