One More Huge Praise!

Last night Josh was on-call so he was not able to go soul-winning. He and the kids are still sick, too, so it was obvious that it wasn't meant to be for him and Jordan to go. Jordan was fine all day long until just before Josh got home. He was extremely tired, got a sore throat, and then developed a raging fever around 5:30. He and Josh fell asleep about that time and didn't wake up until after 7:00. It was a strange evening. Frustrating even, to a degree, because something has come up sporadically for the last six weeks preventing them from going soul-winning.

Josh was headed down to read his Bible when Dillon and Alia asked him if they would read to them first. He asked them what they wanted to hear about and Dillon said, "About Jesus dying on the cross" and Alia said, "And about Jesus being raised from the dead". Josh said it would be a long story, and they enthusiastically agreed. :) The did not want to go to bed. LOL Jordan, on the other hand, had only too gladly returned to his bed by that time.

Dillon and Alia both listened attentively while Josh told the story, and when he was finished he asked them both if they had thanked Jesus for dying for their sins yet. Much confusion then ensued.

There was confusion in regard to Alia being saved before when Jordan got baptized. She insisted that she was saved because she had prayed in Jr. Church with Ja'net. Ja'net had taken Alia back with three or four other girls who had raised their hands signifying that they wanted to be saved, but she didn't fill out a decision card because Alia didn't pray out lout while the other girls did.

Josh asked Alia about that time and she said that she had silently prayed and asked Jesus to come into her heart and save her, but she didn't remember Ja'net saying anything about confessing her sins because Ja'net was talking too softly. And she still worried about dying and going to hell. Then Josh talked to her about eternal security, but she told him that she thought she'd better just do it over again to be sure she did it right this time. :) Josh asked her if she wanted to pray right then, and, surprisingly enough, she said, "No, I would rather pray alone in my room with Mommy"!

On the way to her room, she started to cry a little and told me, "Mommy, I really want to get saved because I don't want to go to hell, but I don't want to get baptized. It makes me afraid." I reminded her how the devil is the father of lies, and that he wants her to believe that it's okay to put off salvation until she's reconciled to the idea of getting baptized. And then I told her the story of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man wanted Lazarus to dip just the tip of his finger in water because he was so hot and thristy in hell. If she didn't get saved and died and went to hell, she would forever be tormented at the foolishness of not getting saved because she was afraid of a little water. She would want nothing more than to be in that water then. With eyes huge and full of tears, she said, "Yes, Mommy, I want to get saved right now!" I told her that she could get baptized when she was ready and that we would not make her do it. And then she asked me to say the words so she could repeat them after me, like Ja'net did.

I wish you all could have witnessed the relief in her eyes when she looked up. She was so happy! I hugged her and told her I was very thankful that I'd get to have her with me in heaven someday, and she ran out to tell her Daddy.

We called Pastor and the first thing he said was "Praise the Lord! Now I get to baptize you!" Her face just fell. LOL She told him she was afraid and he reassured her that he would wait for her to tell him she was ready. Then she called Grammy. My mom had been sleeping for awhile, but she didn't mind. ;)

I wrote it on the calendar and noticed that three years ago the day before Jordan had gotten saved! It's possible that they have the same spiritual birthday because I didn't write it down right away and had to guestimate with Jordan. I love how God so masterfully weaves our lives with grace. Nothing is an accident with God. He knows exactly what He's doing. My prayer is that I will have the privilege of leading all of my children to the Lord, but I won't be picky. :) I'll just be thankful that they are saved.