The Wait Is Over

(Our family pic on Easter 2015, 3 days before our daughter was born)

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

Well, in my last post (http://bobbybenavides.blogspot.com/2015/04/why-we-need-to-wait-with-action.html?m=1) my wife and I were waiting with excitement for our baby girl to arrive and guess what…SHE DID! Yeah!

We got to the hospital and they did all the tests to figure out if it was a legit labor or my wife’s body playing a cruel late April Fool’s Day joke. It was the real deal. In just a few hours (more like 5 ½) we would be seeing the face of our beautiful baby girl.

I was pumped! I was thinking about all the great things to say while my wife was birthing the baby, like “C’mon! The Duggar girl just did it!” or “Man! That sounds rough. I remember when I had a pain like that when I stubbed my toe.” Then, I realized my jokes wouldn’t go over very well (kind of like when I read Stephen Colbert’s “I AM AMERICA, AND SO CAN YOU!” during our first child’s delivery), so I kept with the positive encouraging words like “You’re a great mom!” and “This child is blessed to have you as a mother.”

I was growing impatient because I wanted to see this bundle of joy, but I also wanted my wife to get through the pain. Don’t get me wrong, she was a champ! She pushed that baby out with gusto and power, but I would be an idiot to think she wasn’t in pain.

As I watched my wife push while I whispered encouraging words, I was so impressed with her.

While I was waiting I could not help but to think about our journey with God.

The birthing process is difficult. Now, I know I’m a man, so I won’t fully know what the woman goes through in labor, but I watched it firsthand and I know I felt bad for what she had to go through to bring life into the world.

If we think about it, this is what Christ did. His sacrifice on the cross was a painful process. He was beaten. He was scarred. He was mocked. He was ridiculed. This, ultimately, led to his death on the cross for us.

His painful death was necessary in order for His creation to experience life!

How awesome is that?!

Our burdens, our sin, our hurt, our struggle, our death, all of these things were conquered by His sacrifice on that tree. This is amazing and the image we gain with the birth of a baby into the world.

The pain is extreme. The process is messy. Yet, when the wait is over, the miracle of life is seen and within in our reach.

Some of us have been waiting for a healer. Some of us have been waiting for our burdens to be lifted. Some of us are wondering when the pain will go away and our new life will come. Christ came to say: “The wait is over!”

Life is found in the pain. Life is discovered in the outstretched arms of Jesus of Nazareth.

Just as I sat by my wife’s side waiting for her struggle to end in order to see the new life we are entrusted with to care for; Christ has ended the struggle for us and is waiting for many of us to accept the new life He has entrusted us to care for.

May we answer the call and allow our burdens to rest on the cross in order to live our life to the fullest.

QUESTION: What do you need to allow God to take off of you in order to fully embrace the new life through Him?