Conversations

Last Thursday morning Cate and Ty and I were eating breakfast together and Cate started talking about Adventures in Odyssey*.  She was explaining which episode is her favorite- it went something like this:

Cate:  "My favorite episode is when Connie goes to California and asks Jesus to come in her heart and live there.  Connie decides to love Him forever, and she becomes a Christian!"

Me:  "Yeah, that's a really really good one."

Cate:  "I was thinking I want to do that this morning."  (Slurping her granola.)

Me:  "Um.  Do what, Cate?"

Cate:  "I was thinking I want to pray and ask Jesus to come into MY heart.  But I don't really know how."

{I promise, those are very close to her exact words.}

So I asked her some questions to see if she knew what she was talking about (she did) and we prayed.

Fast forward to last night:

The kids were going to bed and we did our normal routine- read a book, sang some songs and then we took turns praying.  I was about to take Ty to his room when Halle piped up from the top bunk-

Halle:  "Hey Mommy, do you remember that Cate prayed the other day and asked Jesus into her heart?  She said that she decided she wants to love him for the rest of her life."

Me:  "Yeeesss... did she tell you about that?"

Halle:  "Yep.  And I want to do that too.  Like- tonight.  Right now."

Me:  "Okay.  Tell me what you think it means to do that."

And she did.  And we prayed.

Ever since our kids were tiny (even tinier than now) we have tried to intentionally make our faith something that is woven into everything.  We want them to see it in action- not just some rules or a book that we read on Sunday.  We know that if we really believe what we claim, then it has to be more than words.  We thank God out loud for things like good parking spots, or finding lost princesses.  And we talk about death like its going Home- because it is.  And we try our hardest to get the Word into their little hearts and minds.  (It never ceases to amaze me how quickly they memorize verses and how they just intuitively know what it means!)

Funny story- my mom was telling me not long ago about how she said something to Cate about her "arm was about to fall off" (I think she was scrubbing the bathtub when we moved earlier this summer.)  Cate didn't miss a beat and said something back like, "Well, Nana, that's okay because you love Jesus and I love Jesus so we'll get to be together in Heaven even if your arm falls off and you die." 

Maybe that sounds morbid to you, but to me it sounds like the sincere faith of a child- death is no big deal- Jesus made a way for us to be together with Him and with others who love Him too. 

So, whether those prayers the girls prayed were life changing or just an extension of their growing faith doesn't really matter.  Only God knows their true hearts anyway.

Oh yeah- after Halle prayed last night she said something like, "Well, maybe TY should go ahead and pray with us too!"  I laughed and told her that I thought he was too little and didn't understand what we were talking about.  Then Ty spoke up, (he had to take his blankie out of his mouth first) "Well.  Jesus loves birds!"  We all laughed.  And then agreed.  Indeed he does, buddy.  Those sparrows. 

*Adventures in Odyssey is a radio program that has been around for 25 or so years.  Our awesome van only has a tape deck and a radio.  When we got it we (of course) had zero tapes, and living in the middle of nowhere there aren't many options on the radio.  So I bought several old episodes of Odyssey and the kids have listened to them over and over (I think we can all recite them by now.)