Adeline's big news!

The following is straight from my five-year-old Addie's mouth.  I'm just typing it for her.  

"I got saved on March 19.  Saved means when you bring Jesus into your heart.  And then when you die, you'll be in heaven and always have a good time.  I knew I needed to ask Jesus into my heart right then because I really wanted to honor Jesus so He could be my King forever.  I knew I needed to accept Christ because we are all sinners and he is the only way to heaven because he is perfect and he died on the cross to pay for our sins so we didn't have to if we believe in him with all our heart.  Mommy and Daddy helped me by having me read verses in the Bible and I was able to explain them all really well, so they knew I was ready to accept Jesus."

I promise that was all word for word, even the "honor" part.  :)  Yes, last Saturday night was an exciting night at our house. After enduring the heartbreak of losing a young friend in a tragic accident the day before, we were rejoicing Saturday night with our little girl.  She has known for the past few years what Jesus did for her on the cross and has even been able to explain it very well for a long time.  But we didn't want her to make the decision to accept Christ just to please us or her Sunday school teachers or even because she just thought that was the "good thing" to do.  We wanted her to understand fully what Jesus did for her on the cross and to realize that asking him to save her also meant that she was surrendering her life to him forever.

So, when she approached Daddy out of the blue Saturday night and said she was ready to accept Jesus, we wanted to be sure she knew what she was doing.  We had her read these verses from her Bible.  

• In Romans 3:23, she knew that she was a sinner.  
• In Rom. 6:23, she explained that because of our sin, we deserve death and that death means eternal separation from God (hell).  
• But Rom. 5:8 told her that even though we are sinners, God loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to die in our place.  
• Then in Ephesians 2:8-9 she learned that it is only by God's grace that we are saved. It is a gift.  It cannot be earned.  She told us that no matter how good she was, she could never earn her way to heaven.  The only way was to trust in what Jesus did for her on the cross.  
• John 3:16 was a verse she already knew by heart and explained once again that God loved her so much that he sent his son to die for her and all she had to do was believe in him.  
• John 1:12 said that everyone who receives this gift is a child of God.  
• And finally, in 1 John 5:13, she read that if we believe these things about Jesus, we can know that we have eternal life.  That cannot be taken from us.  And we cannot mess up so badly that God disowns us.

After reading these verses, Addie knew right away that she wanted to pray and ask God to forgive her of her sins and become her Savior.  She actually said, "Please be my King," which we thought was so precious that she understood it like that.  She is now God's princess.  :)

I loved her excitement.  She jumped up and down, giggling and saying she was just so happy.  And she wanted to call her grandparents right away to tell them.

Right after she got off the phone, she asked me if she could read those verses again.  She just couldn't get enough of God's word.  :)

We, obviously, are so happy about her decision.  We pray for all of our kids from the moment they're born that someday they'll come to understand just how much God loves them and to accept his free gift of eternal life.  We believe it is our responsibility as parents to raise them up Biblically and teach them God's word, but we cannot place their faith in Christ for them.  That is in their's and God's hands.  As Chad said, "1 down, 2 to go..." ;)