"Come into my heart..."

So this weeks marks a momentous occasion for our family. One "T" and I have been praying for a long time. I will relate it hear as it happened so that I will have it chronicled for future reference.

"A" has been a little bit obsessed lately with good, evil, and sin. It comes out in his play and in his questions. We have been trying to answer him truthfully while at the same time being sensitive to the fact that he isn't quite 5 yet.

So on this particular Monday afternoon, "A" and "G" were playing while I was getting some things done on the computer. All of a sudden, "G" came to me sobbing. Since she isn't quite talking yet (especially when she is crying), I asked "A" what had happened. He replied, "Oh, nothing really. I just told her that Daddy was on a work trip.". What??? Now, you must understand, my husband travels periodically for his job. Sometimes for weeks at a time. The term "work trip" is something I came up with to help the kids understand that Daddy won't be home for many days. So for him to tell "G" that Daddy was on a "work trip" when he was only out at the movies with the teenagers and would be back in a few hours, was a HUGE no no.

I sent "A" to his room while I got "G" calmed down and assured her that Daddy wasn't on a "work trip" but would be home when she got up in the morning. Not an easy thing to convince a 2 year old of when she believes everything big brother says!

Once that was done, I brought "A" back down and explained how what he had done was not only a lie (a big deal in our house) but it was also purposefully hurtful to his sister. I reminded him of our discussions about sin and told him he had just committed 2 and that he needed to pray to God about it. He did and then I had him apologize to his sister.

Whew! Mommy drama!

Skipping ahead a bit, I began fixing supper and had to scold "G" several times to not push buttons on the dish washer (very tempting for her). After I finally had to give her a little hand "thump" to help her remember, "A" chimed in that "G" had sin and he didn't . It doesn't come off quite right when I write it. You have to imagine him saying it in a very sing-songy, put-downish way. So I reminded him that, no, he sinned too (reminding him of what had occurred earlier) and for some reason the phrase "you have sin in your heart" popped out of my mouth. "A's" entire face crumpled and he began to SOB. This was completely new and a little out of left field so I asked him what was happening inside his head. He kept sobbing but managed to say, "You said I have sin in my heart, and I don't want it!". Now, knowing better what I was dealing with, I reminded him about Jesus dying on the cross and that He did that so that we wouldn't have to have sin in our hearts. And that when he wanted to, he could pray and ask Jesus to come into his heart and take the sin away. I waited with bated breath to see what he would say...

"Mom, can I have my ravioli now?" So much for that!

A few hours later, I had "G" tucked into bed and was working on getting "A" settled down for his goodnight story. I asked him to say his prayers first. He did. At first, it was similar stuff to what he uaully prays about (thank you for my good day, that you for my family, please help my have good dreams, etc.). Then out of the blue he said, very matter of factly, "Jesus, please come into my heart." I was dumbstruck. I barely heard the rest of his prayer. When "A" finished, he caught me staring at him and asked me why. I said, "That was just a really good prayer." His reply was, "Really? I didn't think it was one of my better ones." Sigh.

I waited until "T" got home that night to make sure what had happened had really happened. "T" said it sounded to him like it did but that we would have to keep teaching "A" about what it meant and he would have to take further ownership of his decision as he got older.

If there was any doubt, it was cleared up the next morning. When Tim asked him about his prayer, "A" confirmed that he had indeed asked Jesus to come into his heart and then said, "See my shirt Dad?", ("A" had chosen to wear his green "Jesus" shirt with the candle on the front that morning), "Yesterday, I had sin in my heart and today I don't!" I seems he understood things pretty well. :-)

So we are so very thankful that God chose to answer our prayers and drew "A" to Himself at a young age. It is an awesome responsiblity given to us as parents and I pray the same will be true for "G" as she gets older.

So to end this I will record that on July 28 of 2008, "A" had his name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Amen and amen!