Today Bryce got in trouble for doing something I told him not to do (almost seconds after I told him not to do it). I was talking to him about his punishment, and how what he is doing when he disobeys me, is also disobeying the Lord. I'm not stern or harsh when we discuss these things. The last thing I want is to cause him to feel like the Lord does not love him when he makes mistakes. As gentle as I was being, I could see the guilt in his spirit and all over his face. He said to me, "Mom, I need a minute by myself." I asked him why and he said he couldn't tell him. So I told him I would close my eyes and he could tell me when he was ready for me to open them.
So I peek out of one eye, and he is hiding behind the rocking chair in my studio. He comes back and and I ask him, "Can you tell me what you were doing?" He said, "I was asking God to forgive me."
Talk about melting my heart. The next thing out of his mouth was, "I ask Jesus into my heart almost everyday!" Wow. That hit me like a huge weight.
Since the day he was born, I've thought over and over how our talk with him about salvation would go. I was so nervous in that moment when he said that. I felt almost unprepared. Not because I don't know Scripture; but because he is my son, and it's such a huge thing. I want him to have a clear understanding of what Salvation is. I think I fear that I won't say the right things..or have the right explinations. I want him to understand that the prayer does not save him. It's not him; it's Jesus who saves him.
I know it's the devil who wants me to be nervous about it. So I'm going to pray that the Lord will remove that from within me.
We talked for a few more minutes, and then we left the room and I decided that I won't bring it up, I will wait until he wants to discuss it more.. Well, a few minutes later he wants me to come sit with him on the couch. He starts to ask me how he can know if he has Jesus in his heart. At this point Victor was sitting with us, so we discussed a few things with him.. and we both feel like he doesn't quite grasp all of the details about it. I told him that whenever he feels ready to talk about it again, to come and get me. He mentioned baptism, and that he was very shy about that. :) It was cute.
So, I just wanted to jot all of this down so I can look back on it. I'm praying that the Lord will give me the exact words I will need when the time is right; for each of our boys. I also found this resource to be super helpful when explaining salvation to children.. kids benefit greatly from visual resources; so I will for sure be using this with Bryce the next time we discuss this. You can find it here:
http://threethirtyministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/How-to-Share-the-Plan-of-Salvation.pdf
And here's a sweet picture of my Bryce! :)
1 comments:
Love it. Melts my heart too! And you're right...biggest decision he'll ever make. May God continue to pierce his little heart and prepare y'all for that day as well.
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