Sophie's Great Decision!

Well I have been a bad blogger this week, but I do have some wonderful news to share about our sweet Sophie!

On Monday evening, while we were gathered at the dinner table eating & talking, Sophie made the decision and prayed a simple prayer to ask Jesus to come into her heart! All praise be to God! We are SO thrilled & thankful that God has turned her heart towards Himself at such a young age & it is our prayer that Sophie (and all of our children) will follow Him faithfully all of her life.

Over the past several months, based on the things Sophie was saying & the questions she had been asking (especially about Heaven), I felt that she was pondering things in her heart and thinking about what it means to love Jesus. In fact, some of the Bible verses that I had selected to pray for Sophie this year are from Psalm 25:4-5...I had been praying along these lines "Show Sophie Your ways, O Lord, teach her Your paths. Guide her in Your truth and teach her for You are God & I pray she will accept you as her Savior & put her hope in you every day." I have also been praying for her from Paul's prayer for the Ephesians (chapter 3 verses 14-19)

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

So at dinner on Monday evening, I actually cannot remember how our conversation turned towards Heaven, but Sophie was asking questions about who goes to Heaven & how they get there (I wish I had written this down sooner because I'm pretty sure there was talk of bicycles carrying people up into the clouds!) Anyway, Sophie wanted to know if only "good" people go to Heaven? Can "bad" people go to Heaven? So Jeff reminded her that we are all "bad" people (something that they had just talked about in Awana last week)...that we all make bad choices & do things that are bad (sin.) But that Jesus came to the world to die for our sins so that we can be together with God in Heaven one day. Then it was Jack that pointed out that the people who go to Heaven are those who "love Jesus in their hearts"...people who have asked Jesus to come and live in their hearts and forgive them of their sins. So Sophie asked if Jesus lived in my heart and I said yes. And Daddy's heart? Yes. And in Jack's heart? Yes. So we talked some more & I asked Sophie if she understood what Jesus had done when He died on the cross & rose again & she said yes. So I asked if she wanted to pray to ask Jesus to forgive her sins & come into her heart, and she said yes! And so she bowed her head & prayed right then in her own sweet words to ask Jesus to forgive her & come to live in her heart.

What a precious moment, Sophie was beaming afterwards & SOOO excited that Jesus now LIVES in her heart! And we talked some more about what it means to have Jesus in our hearts & how Jesus calls us to share His good news with others! Sophie shared her good news with her teacher at school the next morning & has also told several other people this week. And my prayer continues to be that the Lord will show Sophie His ways & guide her in Truth all the days of her life!