"I have no great joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." ~3 John 4
Ellie prayed and asked Jesus to be her Savior and Lord and put her faith in Him for salvation on April 21, and we celebrated her baptism a couple of Sundays ago (May 1). There's something so humbling, so miraculous, so exciting when your daughters become your sisters in Christ, when your son becomes your brother in Christ that's just beyond words.
Ellie began talking about Jesus as her Savior and her desire to be baptized when she was six years old, but it was important to me to be sure she understood Biblical doctrine about God and man and sin and could make the connection between her sin and her need for a Savior. Having grown up in church, Sunday School, VBS and the BSF Children's Program and being immersed in God's Word her entire life, she had a lot of head knowledge that I wanted to be sure was also heart knowledge. So we had lots and lots of conversations for quite awhile. And then she didn't talk about it anymore.
I've known for awhile that the Lord was really working and moving in her heart, and I watched her struggle with that. So I prayed. I'd always prayed for the day of her salvation and that the Lord would save her at a young age, but last summer I began praying like I'd never prayed before. I knew we were in a spiritual battle. I also knew Who would win.
Last year at this time we were anticipating that Ellie would begin this school year in a more traditional school setting and that I would no longer be homeschooling. We found out in August that wasn't the Lord's plan yet so we very quickly and unexpectedly switched gears, and I homeschooled both girls this year. When I got Ellie's 3rd grade curriculum, I found out that her Bible class this year was going to study through the book of Acts and some of Paul's letters. I just smiled, as I'd just taught Acts last year at BSF, and I knew Acts would be the perfect book for a sweet little girl who was struggling with a decision she knew she needed to make and yet was having a difficult time surrendering to. I had lots of opportunities for Gospel conversations with her as we walked through Acts together. I knew she was getting very close to making a decision.
A couple of months ago, Ellie was having a lot of trouble making good decisions regarding her behavior. It wasn't what most would call terrible, but I finally told her one day out of exasperation that her problem was she just needed to be saved. I'm not sure if that was one of my finest moments or not, but it was true, and I think it got her attention. Mid-April she finished a science unit on the human body and took a test. The last question asked her to write about what Psalm 139:15-16 means to her and how the truths in those verses make her feel. As soon as she read it, she started bawling.
"My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." ~Psalm 139:15-16
I knew exactly why she was crying. I knew the Holy Spirit was tugging on her heart. So we spent the next 45 minutes talking about how much God loves her, has a plan for her and that includes salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We talked a lot about sin. We talked about baptism, as that had been an area of fear for her. I explained again that it's not baptism that saves us (it's only an outward sign of what Jesus has done inside our hearts and gives testimony to others that we have placed our faith in Christ for salvation), which she understood, and that she could right then ask Jesus to be her Savior and Lord. But she was still holding back. I told her how I prayed to receive Christ as my Savior one day at VBS when I was a little girl. I told her all about the evening I was baptized and how my whole family was there. I went to my jewelry box and pulled out the little gold cross necklace that Pa and Grandmother gave me that night. She'd never seen that before. I told her about the Bible that Granddaddy and MeMama gave me and the stuffed squirrel that Uncle Charles and Aunt Gail gave me. We prayed together, and I asked the Lord to give her courage and make her brave.
The week after this conversation, we were in the book of Philemon. One of her assignments was to write a journal entry about a time she sinned and asked forgiveness and what happened. She started crying, and I knew again exactly why she was crying. But I didn't say anything that day. I just prayed. The next day was Wednesday, and we went to church that night. After church she and I were in the truck waiting on Mason and Hannah Kate to get done in youth. We were talking about prayer, and I was telling her my favorite places to pray. She asked me if she could pray in her closet (she has a little "nest" in there that's her favorite place to go if she's upset or needs quiet time), and I told her I thought it would be a great idea for her to have a prayer closet. Then she said she had decided she was going to "do it tomorrow morning in her closet." I knew exactly what she was talking about. So I asked her if she wanted to be saved, and she said yes. I told her she did not have to wait until tomorrow and that if she wanted to be saved, she could do it right then and there. She started crying and told me she wanted to. So we prayed together and then she prayed, admitted she was a sinner, acknowledged her belief in Jesus as God's Son and asked Him to save her.
"If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." ~Romans 10:9-10
And then she asked if we could go to Sonic. I, of course, couldn't say no! So we did.
As God in His sovereignty would have it, we had already decided to join our new church that very next Sunday. Last September He had released us from our church and place of service for 11 years. In some very specific ways and through some very specific circumstances during the months that followed, He showed us exactly where He wanted us to be. So when we joined our church that Sunday, Ellie did, too, and told our Pastor she wanted to be baptized. He met with her the following Wednesday to have a conversation with her about salvation and baptism.
She was a bit nervous about this, as it's still a relatively new place for her, it's a much bigger church than what she's been used to and she'd never met with the Pastor before. And I really didn't know what to expect. I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd have completely shut down and refused to say a word or even take a step. So we prayed about that all week, again asking the Lord to give her courage and make her brave. Our Pastor has a 9 year old daughter so he knows lots about little girls. And apparently he'd seen Ellie showing off some of her gymnastics tricks at the youth crawfish boil the week prior. So when we walked in, and he met us in the foyer, he asked her if she would show him one of her tricks down the hallway to his office. She proceeded to put herself into a backbend and then backbend-walked to his office. And that was all it took!
She told me later that she was nervous at first, but she felt better when she "knew all the answers to the questions he asked." And then she told me, "Mom!! Hannah Kate would LOVE his office. He has so many books! He has all these shelves, and they're just filled with books. His office is just like Beauty and the Beast's castle!"
And the very next Sunday she was baptized. We left Sunday school a little early so she could get ready. We had the sweetest couple, Mr. Bill and Mrs. Verna, helping us. After she put her robe on, they explained everything that was going to happen and how it was going to happen and what the Pastor was going to say. They showed her the steps where she would walk up and let her peek around the corner into the baptistry. They told her to feel the water. They gave her a marker and let her write her name and the date on the baptism wall (This is actually something new that they just started this year, and I thought it was the coolest thing! They'll never be able to paint over that wall though!). The night before she told me she wanted me to paint her fingernails white because that was the perfect color for baptism and would match her robe.
And then Pastor Goza came and met with us again. We prayed together, and he talked to Ellie for a minute.
Seth and I were able to be right there at the baptistry with her. She didn't hesitate, didn't waver. And she came up just a grinning. Immediately after she was up out of the water, the congregation applauded, and you could just hear audible cheers. It was such a joyful moment! There's just NOTHING like hearing your children pray to receive Christ as Savior and Lord and then watching them get baptized, and I'll never forget it!
PawPaw, MawMaw, Uncle Barry, Aunt Ashley and Abbie all came to church that day to cheer her on. And then afterwards we all went out to eat lunch together. Ellie had requested fried shrimp and onion rings. It was such a special day!
Hannah Kate's "day of salvation" and baptism story is here. And Mason's is here.
Glory to God.
All glory to God.