The faith of a child

As a parent there are moments in your children's lives that you will never forget.  Right now I have the privilege of walking both my girls through a children's study for new Christian's.  They both accepted Christ and want to be baptized.  It is important to Craig and I that they are grounded in their decision and that it is not driven by what a friend did, what church said you are to do or what we told them to do.  This is the most important decision they will ever make and I want it to be something they truly own.

One of the hard parts of this process is to allow them to express their knowledge and me not expect them to communicate it or know it as I do.  My girls are 6 and 8, I am learning to step back and allow them to think, talk and process at those levels.  The Lord is also helping me remember that their salvation is not tied up in their ability to say the "Roman Road" or the "ABC's of salvation" to a tee.  As we have begun working in their books I smile as I hear the Lord reminding me that they are walking this in the understanding of a child and we as adults tend to complicate more than simplify.  Yesterday when they were done and I was thinking over all their activities, I began to smile because you can't miss their love for Jesus.  You can't miss the fact that if you ask they KNOW he saved them from their sin.

Kathryn my oldest was stunned when I told her I had been praying for this since the day she was born.  Her face was full of amazement at the thought that I had prayed so hard for this.  However, when I asked her why she chose Christ in her own little words she could tell me.  As she did...she then wanted to know why I was crying.  In all my life this will truly be one of the sweetest moments ever!

What I have taken away from this process is the reality of how we tend to complicate something that is truly so simple a child can understand it.  We get ourselves so caught up in religion and ceremony that we forget how basic and raw salvation really is.  My girls are reminding me of this and I am enjoying as they teach their Mom to let go of all the excess and just allow God to strip it down to the essentials.  Oh how I love the wisdom our children truly have.