Hard To Believe

Have you ever had one of those mementos where your faith in what God could do and then seeing him do it collided with each other? Today was one of those days for me. Many of you know that my youngest son Joel was born 3 months premature. For those of you who don't here is a brief description of his struggle. My wife's water broke completely at 16 weeks. Yes 16 weeks. We immediately went to the OB and he sent us immediately to a specialist who told us to abort this little baby because there was less than 0% chance of his survival. We called anyone and everyone who knew how to pray and decided that only God can decide life and death and so we went home praying that God would do something miraculous. My wife placed herself on bed rest and started drinking enormous amounts of water. In December, we went back to the specialist who were surprised that we were still pregnant. My wife was placed in the hospital and I became a single father and full time pastor for the next 3 months. Joel was born at 2 pounds 8 ounces on January 10th. He surprised the doctors at his progression and actually was released on oxygen a week before his actual due date.

That was a miracle. The doctors told us that his life would be less than extraordinary. He would have very little cognitive functions and very limited motor functions. They said he would more than likely develop CP or some other disorder. We received nothing but bad reports about him. But, we knew God had performed a miracle. Joel progressed and while he has had some difficulties and some struggles, he is functioning and doing well. That brings me to today.

My wife and I dropped my son off at school today for the first time. No tears were shed by my son. He was unbuckling his seatbelt to get up and get started with school. I took a snap shot of him holding his bear on the way to school. Beary will be sitting in the van today waiting for my son to come out of school. Joel hugged me said by dad and pulled away from me and was met by a teacher who was so excited to see him. He walked with her and as we pulled away did not even look back he just kept walking and went in to begin the next great chapter of his life.

That's when my mind flashed back through all the pictures of my son on monitors in the NICU. All the hours of therapy and stretching to make sure his muscles were loose. All the giggles and funny games we played together as he was growing up and surpassing expectations of physicians. It was in that moment also that God placed on my heart this one thought. "THAT'S WHAT FAITH DOES."

Faith enables us to walk without looking back. It helps us to overcome fear of the unknown. It strengthens us and brings us to a new level of confidence. Had we believed the doctors, my son would not be here. Had we believed the therapists, my son would be lower functioning and meeting their expectations instead of surpassing the expectations of man.

I shed some tears today as I watched my kids go to school. But, my faith was charged because I was watching the results of it in real time. Thank you God for your faithfulness and steadfastness. Happy first day of school.