On September 4th, it was almost bedtime and I was tending to some things upstairs. I heard little footsteps creeping up the stairs and then I saw it was my Bella. She sat next to me and said, "mom, how do I know when it's my time? I'm afraid I'm going to miss my time to be saved!"
Now let me precede this moment by sharing that over the past few months, Bella has been asking us a lot about being a Christian and what it means to be "saved." She's been recognizing her sin and understanding that she does wrong every day and needs forgiveness. She knows that everyone will die and that those who know Jesus will live with him forever! So, over the past months as we've read Bible stories, memorized scripture and prayed, she's been very inquisitive. She really enjoyed seeing our church's lake baptism this past summer. That really gave us an opportunity to explain the meaning of believer's baptism...sharing with everyone that you have made a decision to follow Christ.
So, back to our conversation on the stairs...
I answered her by saying, "Well, if you can't stop thinking about Jesus and being saved, then that's Jesus knocking on the door of your heart. And now it's your decision to make. When you are ready to answer Him, then you will be saved!"
She looked at me with her big brown eyes...."well I'm trying to not think about it but every time I try I just keep
thinking about being saved!"
I said, "well let's go and sit down in the yellow chair in the nursery and talk about it."
So, I asked her, "what separates us from God?"
She said, "sin."
I asked, "now what is sin?"
She said, "it's the bad things I do!"
I asked her what Jesus did to save us of our sin so we don't have to be separated....
She said, "Jesus died on the cross."
And we talked about how Jesus was dead but on the 3rd day he rose and is alive!!
She loves talking about heaven and who she wants to see one day.
So I told her that Jesus is knocking on her heart and when she is ready she can answer His call...she immediately said she wanted to do it right then. I told her to just talk to God and tell him!
She closed her eyes and prayed, "Dear Jesus, I know I sin and do bad things and I know you died on the cross. I pray you will forgive me and come live in my heart and save me. Amen"
I really wanted this to be her decision and her talking to the Lord...and I'm telling u it was the sweetest little prayer knowing it came straight from her mind and heart.
And as simple as that child like faith, a flood of peace came over me...I knew she understood as much as her mind could at the age of 5. I know she has been searching and listening. I know the Lord was knocking on her heart that evening and she heard his knock and answered. And that was the most precious moment of parenthood I have ever had the privilege of experiencing. Praise God!!
We quickly rushed down to tell Daddy and brothers! And the next day we called all our grandparents to share with them the exciting news! We even had a family icecream party with a fun game of charades to celebrate Bella's second birthday!!
I've been praying from the moment I knew I was pregnant for Bella's salvation. The Lord heard our prayers and rescued her from the filth of sin! And now she begins the best journey ever...a life of falling more in love with Jesus every day as she grows to understand His heart more and more and as he sanctifies her day by day.
We ended our icecream party and Bella looked up at me, "mom, I just love Jesus so much!!" :)
