one of our most fervent prayers has been that our children would meet Christ at an early age.
we've prayed proverbs 22:6
Train a child the way they should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.
We pray a multitude of things for our tinys; but this surpasses them all.
From the day she was born she has had the most tender, sensitive gentle spirit.
It went into to hiding for a brief period crossing from three to four; but quickly returned!
She has compassion and empathy that far exceeds her almost five year old self!
From the time she could just say a few words she would recite the same prayer every night.
I couldn't help but smile as her little tiny voice said 'jesus name, amen'.
We've always had conversations with Lillian about God, who He is and why we believe what we do. On January 2nd, 2010 that conversation started like most of ours :: Her asking consecutive questions without pausing to breath!!
Lillian :: "Mommy is Santa real?"
Mommy:: "Well, he was"
Lillian:: "No, mommy, is he alive"
Mommy :: "um, no, he's not alive"
Lillian:: "well then where is he?"
Mommy:: "if he had jesus in his heart he's in heaven,
Lillian:: "what if he didn't have jesus in his heart?"
Mommy::"um, well, then he's in hell"
Lillian :: "what's hell?"
Mommy:: "its everything away from God, its all the bad, yucky, unkind, nasty things of this world but way worse"
Lillian::"well, i DO NOT want to ever go there mommy, i want to have jesus in my heart so i can be with him and not in hell"
Mommy :: "well, there is a really simple way to do that, you know who God is and why he sent jesus to die for you for all your..(interruption)
Lillian :: "for our sins mommy, all the yucky things in our hearts"
Mommy:: "you just ask jesus to live in your heart and trust that he will be with you always, so he's always there when you're afraid or sad or happy. he helps you when stuff is really hard and forgives you when you disobey"
Lillian:: "mommy i want to do that, i want to have Jesus be in my heart"
Mommy::"ok(hold back the tears) lets put the tinys to bed and your daddy and i will sit and read you a story
Lillian :: "mommy, do you pinkie promise
Mommy :: "of course, but i don't need to pinkie promise; i'm your mommy!"
I know that was a lot to read, but I can't help but see the innocence in her questions.
of course after the tinys were passed out we all sat down together and read a few stories from scripture. It was absolutely the holy spirit at work in her heart, her inquisition couldn't have been scripted any other way. She was amazed at how God could leave his son there to die and not help him. We asked her who god was, and what jesus did and why and if she needed jesus.
we then knelt on the floor next to our couch and Andy asked her to repeat a prayer.
Again, as her tiny voice was reciting I couldn't hold back
any more emotion and the flood gates opened.
was one of the sweetest moments with our oldest!! something we'll never forget
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing
zephaniah 3:17
