Lessons earned, Lessons learned...

It humbles me that we serve a God who is patient enough with us to actually teach us things on a daily basis and is patient enough to lead and guide us through journeys of total discovery. Because He is God that blows me away, because He doesn't have to do that. He could just think it and we would do, and be anything He wanted us to be, but that's not His will. His will is for us to have free will and to CHOOSE Him and His lessons.
Well, I'm no less overwhelmed and overjoyed at the goodness of God after what I witnessed here with Cindy 2 nights ago (has it been that long?!? "Stop growing up so fast!!" *tear*), but He has been bringing back to mind things He taught me during her birth and things He is teaching me even now. The verse: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." kept coming to mind during the entire labor. That verse says so many things but I think people don't take the entire verse to heart, I know I didn't until 2 days ago. I think we get too comfortable (especially here in the states) and just read that verse as "I can do all things...." and just leave it at that because we've created a culture and a society that doesn't "need" each other. But it doesn't say that we could do all things on our own at all. It says that we can do anything we could ever imagine, or anything we couldn't ever imagine.....through CHRIST who gives us the strength to do so. When Cindy was pushing and trying to coax Harper out at the end, I felt such a piece and such an outpouring of God's grace and love because He said to me, "See, she couldn't have done this on her own...that strength you're seeing in your wife right there, that's me." So as much as I learned about how incredible my wife is, I learned how ultimately incredible my God is and how much He loves me and my family. When I held Harper after he was born and when I brought him up to Cindy's chest (that's right ladies and gentlemen, I GOT TO BIRTH MY BABY!!!), God told me that he was going to be the salve that would heal the wounds in my family, and the bridge that would cover the gap in the relationships with my parents and sister that needed healing and I'm already seeing that happen.
The bible also says that God's grace and strength is made perfect in our weakness. It was so incredible to see that when Cindy got to the point of total exhaustion and total human weakness, outloud she prayed right there in the birthing tub and said, "God, I can't do this without you, I get it now...I give you total control. Please give me the strength to have this baby." And God was faithful and he answered her simple, humble, perfect prayer of petition and submission to His glory and His will. In me He gave the ability to go over 30 hours with absolutely not one second of sleep because He knew, and I knew, and I knew that He knew that she wasn't going to be able to do this alone and that she needed every person on our team at their best with me most important of all. He gave me the physical strength to physically support her for over 18 hours actively, climbing into positions to apply pressure to her sacrum that I didn't know I could get into. But more important, He gave me the mental and spiritual strength to lead my family and take hold of the promise that God had given me months ago when He told me that He had some things to work with Cindy on during her birth but He promised she would have a perfect labor.
Those of you who know me and know what all God's been doing with me in the past 2 months know what this means, and those of you who don't know me or what I've been doing with God, you'll understand: please just say "YES!" to God, no matter what it is and no matter what it takes and no matter what He asks of you. It's worth it all. So just say "YES!"