let your yes be yes...

so tonight when we got home from our worship team picnic, Harrison announced that he wanted to get baptized.

it surprised me because we haven't talked about it all that much. not very much at all. i knew that when we did talk about it he would be very agreeable so i wanted to find a way to "talk" about it while not pressuring him. i wanted it to be his decision AND for him to do it for the right reasons.

i guess the Lord took care of that for me. i'm so glad He's so good about that. why do i ever worry about these things??? :)

the kids love to watch Bibleman movies that they get from the church library. the best way for me to describe these movies is that Bibleman is like a superhero who uses Bible verses to fight evil. they love it.

the boys were watching this in the car on the way home and when we got out of the car Harrison made his announcement. i asked him why he had suddenly decided that he wanted to be baptized. he explained that at the end of the movie, Biblegirl was talking about the verse Matthew 5:37 ...let your yes be yes, and your no be no... and how he wanted people to know that he had said YES to Jesus and that he was a Christian. He wanted everyone to know and wanted to be obedient to Jesus. He also said that he wanted to start telling his friends more about Jesus.

I LOVE THESE MOMENTS!!! while it is TOTALLY getting harder as these precious kids get older, it is getting more and more rewarding! we talked more about what it meant to be baptized and that he would need to give his testimony. he is not worried a bit about that part. so excited for him. he was SO excited he wanted to be baptized tomorrow! wouldn't that have been the most perfect mother's day present? :) i did have to explain that we would have to talk to one of the pastor's at church to find out when he could be baptized and that it wouldn't be as soon as tomorrow. he seemed OK with that. whew...don't want to discourage his enthusiasm. :)

we also talked more about his desire to share Jesus with others. how exciting! oh how i long to think more like a child. i have been burdened for my friends this year, more than i have ever been! we were able to talk about how important it is make sure we are doing what the Bible tells us if we are going to try and share Jesus with our friends. it was a GREAT way to remind him that people are watching him and if he is going to tell them that Jesus loves them and how much he wants them to know Jesus...he needs to make sure that He is obeying Jesus too. we were able to explain that if he tells people that he believes in Jesus and the Bible but doesn't obey his parents like the Bible teaches...people will question whether or not he really does believe in Jesus. and we were able to give other examples of this. we were able to tie in Jackson's "i just want to be a sheep...i don't want to be a hypocrite" song from Lambs and it CLICKED. don't get me wrong. if you are confused by this, we weren't trying to discourage him from sharing. but, it was the PERFECT opportunity to tie in some OTHER things we are working on with him.

it was SO exciting to see that light bulb go off! to have another reason for him to THINK about his actions and to be aware that he is an example and a witness to others for Jesus!

what a fun night for us as parents!

i won't lie. many of you know because i TRY to be open on this blog. things have been tough lately. they are STILL tougher than i really like to admit. i KNOW so much of this is "normal" kids stuff and i'm probably way more worked up about things than i should be. by the time Addison is 7 i'll have calmed down. right? maybe not, i won't have had a 7 year old girl before. :) but sometimes i feel like we are fighting for his soul over here! even though he's a Christian, there is SO MUCH at stake!

we are loving him to death over here and praying like we never have...for ALL OF THEM. he's not easily convinced. if he wants to say it's blue, and it's really red, but he wants it to be blue...it's blue to him. and he'll hold his ground. sometimes i'm talking and talking and he's shaking that head and i know he just doesn't get it, doesn't believe it, doesn't want it to be true. and he's ok that i'm telling him something different than he believes to be true. he's just gonna go on about his business. and i'm sitting there thinking...now what???

THESE can be great qualities i tell myself...one day. but now??? i'm still learning how best to respond to him.

but to see something CLICK tonight...how precious! how exciting! how thankful i am that God has his hand on this sweet boy. how thankful i am to know that the Holy Spirit is living inside him and teaching him things and revealing His truth to him and that no matter how hard i try he won't "get it" until the Lord prompts his heart and makes him ready! how thankful i'm NOT in control even though i try so hard to be!

so, we'll be working towards that next step. getting baptized. i think he just might be ready! :)