God created her, I carried her, now she is my happiness and my laughter.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Emma's First Steps

My personal prayer for my girls has always been that they will desire to have Jesus in their hearts on their own accord. With out the prompting of Sunday School teachers, family members, school instructors or peer pressure from friends, they would recognize through God's leading that they NEED Him. My Christian example, especially in the privacy of my own home, is not what it should be. There are many, many areas that I need to work on. But, I pray that some how my girls will see how I live my life, how other family members live their lives and compare it to how someone like their lost father lives his life. My prayer is that they will see a difference. A good difference. A difference from which they recognize the difference between having Jesus in your heart or not having him in your heart. And upon realizing this difference along with the Bible teaching that they have had, they will come to determine that they want Jesus in their hearts and that the Bible is true and faith in God's Word and complete trust in Jesus IS what they want. As a second generation Christian I believed in God and the Bible in the same way that I might have learned a family trade. It was always in my parent's life, I was always in church and it simply seemed like the thing I was supposed to do. I'm very thankful for this upbringing. Don't get me wrong. But, it wasn't until my adulthood that I was able to fully realize the affects of sin, what that meant for Jesus having to die on the cross for me, and now as a believer in Christ, how I am supposed to live my life. My prayer for my precious girls, is that they can by-pass the confusing third generation Christian doubts and with the Lord's leading and Grace move straight into understanding while also having a deep DESIRE to WANT Jesus in their lives.

Well, Emma mentioned on the way to church last Sunday that she had decided to trust in Jesus. To be honest, my heart did not jump with joy, at first, because we had talked about trusting in Jesus many times over the course of the last year. Emma often times would bring up Jesus simply for a conversation starter. But, as we continued on our journey to church I couldn't help but notice the difference in her tone of voice as she talked about Jesus this time. She seemed almost giddily happy. She started mentioning all the people she wanted to tell about her decision. I actually started to get nervous because, I thought, "Could this be it? Could she be getting saved right now?" But, I quickly decided not to label it. I never want her to feel confused about that moment in her life. I started to get excited with her and we went over again what Jesus did for us on the cross and how we can pray to Him any time when we are happy or sad, grumpy or disappointed or afraid. Later, after church, we got a Christmas tree and headed home. Emma was still talking about Jesus and how she was going to trust and believe in him the whole while. When we got home, I went around to open the garage door as our openers don't work. When I got back to the van to unload I opened the door to find Emma finishing a prayer. She told me she was telling Jesus how happy she was that she decided to trust in Him.  It was in that moment that I knew this was a real feeling for her. So, I made the next crucial step of posting it on facebook. I wanted the family to rejoice with her. However, at church again that night she wasted no time sharing her news with everyone else on her own.

I know that Emma does not fully understand sin or the consequence of sin, yet. But her desire to have Jesus in her life is now. She may not be one of those Christians who has a major turning point or an exact day of salvation. But, I truly believe her to have a change in her heart that only God can do in a person. I truly believe God to have answered my prayer in a time when I really needed to see Him working in my family's life.

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