I am always amazed by my girl Emma. I am blessed beyond measure to call her my daughter. She is truly the kindest person I know and has such a heart for other people and a love for the Lord that is inspiring. You just can't be around her and not see it...and she's only seven.
Emma became a Christian this past fall in our van on the way home from a Sunday School mission project with our church. We had a long drive home and she started off asking a lot of questions about the children's home we were just serving at. She then became very persistent with good questions about Jesus needing to be her personal Savior. Emma's had lots of spiritual questions over the years that she's talked to Will about, but this time was different...she began talking about her sin. She said she understood that she did bad things, that these things separated her from God, and she needed Jesus to forgive her. She said she wanted Jesus to be Lord of her life and asked if I would pray with her. She wasn't just "asking Jesus into her heart" (whatever that means), she was truly recognizing her sin and her need for forgiveness. Ummm....yes I will pray with you while driving my silver Dodge mini-van up I-55. What a privilege for me to be there and I'm so thankful the Lord allowed me be a part of it.
Since then we have talked to her about the seriousness of this decision she made to follow Christ with her life. There are now reasons why we do things like obey our parents, be kind to others, read our Bible and do our very best in school. We are to glorify God in all we do. Same as adults as for kids. It's not about her being lazy and making an F on a test, but it is about her not doing her best to glorify Him...and she gets it. She also has to come into service with us once a month to observe communion. She doesn't exactly look forward to this part, but she needs to partake in it now that she's a believer just like the adults do...and she gets it.
The other night the 4 of us were eating dinner and we were talking about how excited we all were about Costa Rica. We asked them if they were sad at all and would miss anything. They both immediately said no because God has asked us to do this. Emma sat there thoughtful for a moment, and then asked "How do we do this again? I mean, I know we're going to Costa Rica to tell people about Jesus, but how do I do that? Do I just walk up to people and say hey let me tell you about Jesus...or what do I say?" Love it. Evangelism 101 taught by my seven year old. We told her again about loving people, glorifying God in all she does, and look for times to share what God has done in her life...and she gets it.
Matthew 11:25-26: "At that time Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."
Emma before her hair cut of 8 inches
And after...she loves it
Jump rope camp at Riverdale...we'll miss that school
NKOTBSB concert for my birthday...awesome
VBS at Grace Evan...I taught Emma's first grade class
Both kids got to go to horse camp at Oak View Stables where I grew up riding
Lily, Emma's favorite horse who is now 15...I actually trained her mom Banjo before this horse was even born...makes me feel old
