I paced around the ultrasound room, reluctant to lie down in the chair by the machine until I absolutely had to. My husband sat in the corner, trying every trick he’d learned over the past six years of marriage to calm my feelings of dread.

Last October, we were in a similar room together. We came in expecting to see how my first pregnancy had progressed at 13 weeks. But the little heartbeat we’d fallen in love with a few weeks prior, was no longer there. I was so sad I couldn’t breathe.

A season of sorrow followed. We muddled through the holidays feeling melancholy and looked forward to a fresh start in 2017. Then in January, my father-in-law passed away. It was terrible. The grief that followed was uncharted and crushing.

Now here I was, pacing, nine weeks pregnant and certain that nothing good was possible. I’d been walking in darkness for long enough that light seemed like a myth.

The doctor came in. Sensing my anxiety, she spoke kindly and began her work quickly. I stared at the ceiling and waited for awful news.

“Everything looks great,” she said, “and there are two of them.” She turned the screen so that I could see the two, strong heartbeats flickering.

Twins! I laughed like it was the funniest thing I’d ever heard, tears in my eyes, roaring with joy. For days afterwards, I would glance at my husband and just crack up.

It made me think about Sarah’s reaction to receiving the news that she and Abraham were going to be parents in their old age. The Bible says in Genesis 18:12, “Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?’”

Some would say that Sarah’s laughter demonstrated a lack of faith. I disagree. When you’re in the middle of a losing streak, you expect it to last forever. When God sends such a lavish blessing in the midst of those difficult circumstances, it’s so ludicrously good and unexpected that laughter is a natural response.

When the flood that once covered the whole earth subsided and a dove returned to the ark with an olive branch for Noah, I bet some people on the boat laughed and clapped their hands. When the Israelites were starving in the wilderness and God sent quail that stayed low to the ground for them to eat, surely someone found that funny. When Mary delivered her precious baby Jesus, looked at the face of the savior of the world, and then realized that the only place to lay him was in a feeding trough, I imagine that somewhere in her mind she thought, “This is pretty ridiculous.” Did she look at Joseph and laugh, too?

We believe that God is good.

When we experience it for ourselves, God’s goodness always feels like it is too much. It’s an extravagant, unearned love that overwhelms. In this life, we will have suffering. This past year has taught me more than I wanted to know about that. But we will also have moments where we encounter a miracle or two.

When we do, I think it’s okay to laugh.