Turning Nine

My daughter Anna turned nine this week. 

It doesn't seem that long ago that Elaine and I went to the hospital with the hopes that our daughter would appear shortly. 

Well, we met Anna for the first time about twenty-four hours later -- a very rough twenty-four hours for me and obviously, very much harder on Elaine.  I remember that long night clearly and I remember praying a lot for two people -- one of whom I had met and loved dearly and one of whom I had never met and loved, sight unseen.

It is easy to forget how dark and uncertain those moments are, when ten minutes of pushing turns into two hours of desperation and yet, it is in moments like these that God teaches us trust.  In times like these, we grow to doubt our own strength and throw ourselves on His unlimited strength.

The darkest hour is always darkest in that moment before I fully throw myself on the strength of my Savior.

Nine years later, there is no doubt that God blessed us in the early morning hours of October 26, 2006.  He blessed us with a little baby girl, but more than that, He blessed us with the knowledge that whatever dark times we face in the future, He will go through them with us.

That fact alone brings a lot of hope to a sometimes very hopeless world.