Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Bring Faith to Life

I am going to go with bringing faith to life in my children.  I have four...they are all so different, from the way they look, the way they learn, the way they act...and in the same way the way they have responded to God.
Molly, the rule follower, accepted Christ when she realized without him she would literally die and go to hell. She heard it, she believed it, she repented and she accepted him with a child like faith at the age of four.
Clara, the skeptic, she doubted that anything could be that simple or true.  At two, she questioned me on why I would choose to believe that Jonah could seriously live in a whale...absurd she thought.  She really struggled with turning her life over to Christ and the struggle began when she was very young.  I watched her fight a spiritual battle for several years and then one night she threw her hands up in the air and said..I am not fighting anymore...we prayed together and when we finished she said "whew I feel so much better!"...she was about 8.
Ellie was not much bigger than a toddler.  She loved Jesus...she wanted him in her heart and on our way to pick up the girls from school, she told me we needed to pray right then...and we did!  She knew what she was doing...she holds onto it.  
Silas did a lot of questioning, a lot of learning and a lot of thinking on his own.  He fretted but didn't stress.  Then one night he told me he was ready to ask Jesus in his heart...I got ready to pray..and he said ..Mom this is something I need to do on my own.  And he did...out loud in a room by himself.  
All four, so different.  All four, so real.  All four, life changing.  All four, a true commitment.
They all grew up in the same house, the same church, the same Bible.  But they all accepted it in their own time and in their way.  
For me, I wanted them to know the truth and I wanted them to accept the truth.  But, I knew there wasn't a magical age or prayer or whatever...that they had to do it on their own or it wouldn't be real.  So, our job as parents was to teach them the truth...pray with and for them...and let God do the rest.
I am so thankful, that each of them have accepted Jesus as their personal Saviour.  I am so thankful that they have that foundation laid and that they will be able to build upon it..precept by precept.  I am so thankful that not in my own power, but in His along that their faith was brought to life!

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

I love all of the wisdom you offer in this post! Thank you so much for sharing your encouraging words and for linking up!

Blue-Eyed Bride said...

Oh wow. I love this so much and love hearing the stories from a mom of 4 about the differences in the kids' personalities and in their faith journey. My oldest is a rule follower, too, and I have a feeling that it will all be a little "easier" and more "black and white" with him. Our youngest is a free spirit and I have a feeling that it won't be so easy with him. And until reading your post, I'd never really considered how their personalities could play a factor in their decision. (Duh!! Ha!)

So happy for you that they have all committed their lives to Jesus. You're obviously doing a great job with them and showing them a great example of a Believer. Thank you for linking up with us today.

Courtney DeFeo at Lil Light O' Mine said...

this is terrific perspective - i think my two girls are going to handle faith and their relationship with Jesus so different than each other. so glad you wrote this.

robin said...

Thank you girls for your encouraging words!

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