A Spiritual Birth Announcement!

Yesterday was a very special day.

Our youngest child, our sweet Little Man, the last of the bunch, trusted Jesus as His Savior!

I didn't know when I awoke that it would happen that day. Some milestones you prepare for, you anticipate, you look forward to them (or dread them), while others sneak up on you, unawares. This was the "sneak up" kind. Suddenly I realized, this is going to be the day! It is SUCH JOY, as a christian parent, to lead your children to Christ, and then watch as they choose to receive His free gift of salvation. I feel that all of parenting is really one big "leading to Jesus". Constantly directing them to Jesus. Such a privilege. And such a responsibility!

Anyway. It happened at the beginning of the day, as we were about to start school. I suddenly realized what was about to happen, and told daughter G to run get daddy (who was preparing to leave for work). So it was that we were all together, all seven of us. I read through several verses, stopping and explaining them to Little Man and asking him to narrate them back to me (checking for understanding). He totally got it. If you are curious, these are the verses we went through:

Romans 3:23

Romans 6:23

John 14:6

Romans 10:9-10

I John 5:11-12

He wanted to pray, right then. To "confess with your mouth" as Romans 10:9 says. So we did. And Little Man became part of God's family! It is as real to him as it can be to a six year old. He can't remember a time when he didn't love Jesus, so in a way it was no big deal. Yet, he also knew it was something significant. And it is significant because it marks the beginning of his life-long walk with Jesus. Every journey needs a starting point.

Two of his siblings prayed afterward, that God would help him "grow in his faith."

And he is already growing....

For a while now he has said that he wants to be a professional football player when he grows up, and tell other football players about Jesus. Tonight at bedtime he said to me, "Mommy, I think it's hard for christian football players, because maybe they will start loving football more than they love Jesus, and it will get in the way." Wow!! We talked about how anything can become an idol, whether you're a football player or not. And we prayed that God would help us keep our eyes focused on Him, and our hearts turned to Him. How little he knows yet of the pull of the world! But now that God's Spirit lives in our Little Man, he will never be left to figure things out on his own.

He belongs to Jesus.

Amen!